firft inhabitants of North Britain; the face of the country, the manfion of the druid, and an account of his perfon, drefs, and character. Our author next defcribes an affembly of the druidical order; the building and confecration of the fane; the ceremony of lopping the mifletoe; the office of the chief druid; the office of the bards; and the subject of their fongs.

The following account of the tenets and astronomical difcoveries of the druids is very poetical and pleafing:

• But chief when filent night affumes her reign,
When stars unnumber'd gild th' ethereal plain,)
In concourse here, conceal'd from vulgar eyes,
Thy fons, great Nature, fat, and mark'd the skies!
Unfkill'd in modern arts or claffic lore,

On philofophic wings untaught to foar,
They talk'd of other worlds, that, as they roll,
All move inform'd by one inspiring soul.

Heav'n was their glorious theme; nor fkill'd to trace
With telescopic aids th’extent of space,

They view'd through tubes of fimpler frame, display'd
The lunar mountains, and the lunar fhade.
The vale they faw, the long-extended plain,
And ifles, like clouds, amid th' investing main ;
Her oceans pour'd abroad by Heaven's command,
And orb that speaks the Maker's forming hand.
No written monuments, ordain'd to last
To future ages, and record the past,
The druid chiefs preferv'd; but to the found
Of harps, the nobleft youths affembling round,
Learnt of their myftic lore; in ftrains that please,
With warmth imparted, and retain'd with ease.
Of fpirits they fung, that, when the mortal frame
Diffolves, in darkness fink, or mount in flame;
That, loft in brutal forms, fupinely lie,
Or foar on rapid pinions to the sky.

Whofe voice affrights, in founds difcordant born,
Or warbles in the throat that hails the morn.

They fhow'd the tyrant prince, whofe barb'rous hand
And iron fceptre aw'd and crush'd the land;
A ftern oppreffor, bent to fcourge, not heal;
The foe, not guardian, of the public.weal.
To fight reftor'd in fome unfeemly form,
The bear low-growling, or the crawling worm:
There, on the wafte, a folitary lord;
Here, on the dunghill's loathfome mafs abhorr'd.
The rageful foul, in yelling wolves they found;
The proud, in reptiles grov'ling on the ground:
Pale envy croaking in the obfcener toad,
And guile, the ferpent, in her loath'd abode.

• Guilt thus they punish'd:-while the purer mind
They taught, to forms of ipotlefs hue confign'd,
Frifk'd in the lamb, or 'mid the facred grove
Uninjur'd, wanton'd in the fportful dove:
Till the freed thought a happier feat poffefs'd,
And man's fair form receiv'd the welcome guest.

Oft in the fhrine, with facred raptures fir'd,
They touch'd a nobler theme, as heav'n infpir'd.
Of earth's wide field they spoke, a glorious frame,
'Once whelm'd in floods, but doom'd at last to flame.
As through the mift that wraps the mountain's height,
Dim ftands the fummit, half difclos'd to fight;
The woods that clothe his mighty fides appear
Like flitting clouds, that fhade th' autumnal fphere;
Such was th' eventful fcene before them brought,
Thus opening, ftruck the feer's prophetic thought.
Of central fires they taught, or folar rays
By Heav'n ordain'd to spread the gen'ral blaze;
Of melting elements that all confpire,
When nature finks, to light the funeral pyre;
When hills, woods, oceans, doom'd one fate to share,
In smoke, and fpiry flames, afcend on air.

But, rifing beauteous from a world o'erthrown,
They show'd a purer orb, a blissful zone:
Thrice happy manfions, for the just prepar'd,
And climes, where virtue meets her great reward
Of these they fung; while round th' attendant train,
All warm'd to tranfport, caught th' informing ftrain;
And cheer'd with hope to join the god-like few
In fairer regions, held the prize in view.'

The ftory of Edgar and Florella, towards the conclufion, is well imagined, and fhews that the author is equally happy in narration as in defcription. The hero and heroine of the tale acquire a dignity from their being the ancestors of Fingal and Offian. After a comparison between the manners of paft times and thofe of the prefent, the poem concludes with a panegyric on the inhabitants of Otaheite, which has much poetical merit.

Ah! in the depth of Tahaiteean groves,

She dwells with fwains that gain unenvied loves!
Far on the bofom of the temperate main,
O'er ifles remote extends her peaceful reign;
There oft the power with pleas'd attention stands,
And, fmiling, eyes the work of fimple hands,
Thefe from the grafs the finer threads prepare,
To weave their web, and thofe, the fhining hair;
Some with bright plumes their growing work infold,
A velvet mantle fring'd with flowering gold.

ENG. REV. Vol. IX. June 1787:

Dd

She

She fees the maid her jetty locks adorn
With beads, that fparkle to the rays of morn;
Or joins in focial ifles the mirthful band,
Or leads the dance on Monootopa's ftrand.
There fits the power, from bufier scenes convey'd,
There walks with nature o'er th' unbounded shade;
There footh'd to reft, and pleas'd with artless strains,
Reftores a golden age on Indian plains.

1

The fubject of this poem contains that mixture of the wild and the wonderful which is fo much adapted to strike the imagination; the ftyle is fimple and elegant; and the verfification flowing and harmonious in a very uncommon degree. In the notes the author explains the chief tenets of the druids from ancient authors, and difcovers much learning and erudition.

ART. V. The Rural Economy of Norfolk: comprizing the Management of Landed Estates, and the prefent Practice of Husbandry in that County. By Mr. Marshall, Author of Minutes of Agriculture, &c. Refident upwards of Two Years in Norfolk. 2 vols. 8vo. 12s. boards. Cadell. London, 1787.

BEFORE the commencement of our Review Mr. Mar

fhall wrote a book, entitled, Minutes of Agriculture, which was very favourably received by the public; nor will the volume before us detract from the reputation he had acquired. The plan of the prefent work is entirely original, and will be beft understood from the author's own words in his introductory address.

Having enumerated the benefits that would result from individuals taking exact minutes of their own practice in agriculture, he thus proceeds:

His (the author's) prefent plan is, to extend his obfervations to the practice of others, more especially as it appertains to the breeding, rearing, and fattening of cattle; to the dairy management; to the management of fheep; to the draining and watering of meadows; and to the grafs land, or by-management in general. After he is become proficient in these departments, his intentions are to extend his SURVEY OF PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURE to the arable, or plough management.

His intended mode of observation is this: Having pitched upon the branch of management to be ftudied, and the diftrict which excels in the practice of that particular branch, he propofes to fix his. place of refidence, during TWELVE MONTHS, in a farm-houfe; if poffible, in the houfe of the beft informed farmer in the district

pitched

pitched upon; and there, with daily attention, minutely observe and regifter the living practice which furrounds him; not the practice of theoretical, but of profeffional farmers; or rather the provincial practice of the diftrict, county, or country obferved; nevertheless, attending to improvements and excellencies, by whomfoever prac tifed.

• Nor is this plan confined merely to obfervation; he means to acquire, by felf-practice, a competent knowledge of the MANUAL OPERATIONS incident to the department of husbandry which is the immediate object of his study; as alfo to collect fuch IMPLEMENTS and UTENSILS as may appear peculiarly adapted to the purpofes for which they are feverally intended; not sketches nor models, but the inftruments themselves, which he has feen in common use; and of whose uses he has acquired, by manual practice, an adequate knowledge.

In order to furnish himself with every advantage which may forward his general defign, his further intentions are to employ his lei fure in taking a complete REVIEW OF WRITTEN AGRICULTURE, from Fitzherbert in 1534 to the prefent time; (excepting the works of fuch authors as may be living at the time of clofing the review) and, after this judgment has been matured by a furvey of provincial practice, to comprefs into as narrow a compafs as may be the useful information relative to British agriculture, which has been already re corded, whether it appears in incidents and experiments fufficiently authenticated, or in hints which may furnish subjects for future expe,

riments.

Briefly, his plan is, reciprocally to receive and to offer information; to communicate provincial practice to the public at large; to collect and comprefs the ufeful information which is at prefent fcattered in almost numberless volumes; and to reduce thefe joint accumulations of agricultural knowledge to fyftematic science; confequently to offer to the prefent and fucceeding generations a comprehenfive SYSTEM OF ENGLISH AGRICULTURE, as it now ftands; and to raife it on a bafis fo ample and fcientific, as that future acquifitions may be added to it from time to time.'

Such is the general outline of the plan that this ingenious author chalked out for himself; and, though circumstances have not permitted him to carry it exactly into execution according to the precife mode here prefcribed, yet the prefent work exhibits the practice of agriculture in Norfolk, as the knowledge of it has been acquired by Mr. Marshall, by a mode, in every thing that is effential, the fame with the plan above delineated; and is, therefore, well entitled to the attention of the public.

Mr. Marshall very properly accompanies his account of this district with a map, and begins with a general defcription of the country. The climate, we are told, is cooler than we should naturally expect, when compared with other places in the fame latitude. The furface," though dry, is

Dd 2

an

an almost uniform flat;" the rivers few, but the rivulets very numerous; roads "unpardonably bad;" enclosures, "in general, fmall, and the hedges high and full of trees." "The CHARACTERISTIC OF FARMS in this diftrict is, invariably, ARABLE UPLAND, with, generally, a fmall "proportion of moory grais-land, called meadow."-" But, "viewing the diftrict at large, the grafs-land bears fuch a "finall proportion to the arable, that its leading character"iftic is that of an arable county"-principally inclofed. The foil is every where a fandy loam, though of very different degrees of fertility. The manure of the most general utility in that county, independent of farm-yard dung, common every where, is MARLE, (which Mr. Marshall accurately analyfes, and particularly defcribes the manner of ap plying it). The farmers are reprefented as a plain, induftrious, active fet of people; the fervants and labourers uncommonly alert; the breed of horfes fmall, hardy, and indefatigable; implements few, and of fimple conftruction; length of leafes from 14 to 21 years; buildings, in general, large and convenient, especially barns; fences ditch and hedge, the hedges well kept.

The principal objects of the Eaft Norfolk husbandry,' we are further told, are

Bullocks,

Barley,

Wheat;

the other productions of the district being, in a great measure, fub ordinate to these three; from which chicfly the farmer expects to pay his rent, and fupport his family.

The bullocks are fattened chiefly on

and fometimes finifhed with

TURNIPS,

RYE GRASS and CLOVER;

which laft are alfo raised for horfes, flore cattle, and the dairy.

QATS 1

too are raifed, in fmall quantities, for horfe-corn; and

Buck, (polyconum fagopyrum, or brank) in great abundance, for pigs and poultry. Some few

PEAS

are alfo grown for fwine (or are bought up by millers to improve the colour of their wheat flour-[we greatly doubt this fact; has Mr. Marshall investigated it with attention ?] and fome, but very few,

for foiling horfes.

WELD,

VETCHES,

HEMP, (in very small quantities)

HOP