extent and labour, is deemed by perfons who poffefs the beft information refpecting multifarious fubjects treated in it, to contain a confiderable number of errors and inadvertencies; fuch indeed as are fcarcely to be avoided in a compilation of this nature, and which that gentleman will, no doubt, be glad to correct. I hall beg leave to point out a few which happen to come within the compafs of my own perfonal knowledge or iminediate obfervation.

Page 2. Edward the Elder is faid by Mr. Lyfons to have built a fortrefs at Bedford, on the fouth fide of the river Oufe. In the fame page we are told that Bedford Caftle was built by the Beauchamps, probably on the feite of King Edward's fortrefs. Nevertheless, Mr. L. truly remarks, p. 46, "that the veftiges of the Caftle are to be feen at the back of the Swan Inn. On the Keep is now a Bowling Green." But the Swan Inn is, and the Caftle was, not on the fouth, but the north, fide of the river Oufe. Mr. L. fubjoins "that the fcite of the Castle, with the Swan Inn, is now the property of the Duke of Bedford, and it is prefumed that it paffed from the Goftwicks, by purchase, to the Marlborough family, and from them with feveral other eftates which had been in the Goftwicks, to the Duke of Bedford's grandfather." But why rifque random prefumptions in a work, whofe ellence it is to exhibit plain matter of fact? The Swan Inn and Castle Clofe adjoining, were purchased by the late Duke of Bedford foon after he came of age, of John Staines, efq. of Biddenham, a village near Bedford, who inherited the eitate from his father, to whom it was about half a century ago devited by the will of Mr. Henry Horton, an attorney of great eminence and refpectability, many years refident in Bedford..

P. 3. We are informed that Sir Samuel Luke's houfe was either Hawnes or Wood-end. But this was never before fuppofed to admit of a doubt. Sir Samuel Luke's houfe was unquestionably fituated at Wood-end, in the parish of Cople, about five miles from Bedford. It is now a farin-houfe, belonging to the Duke of Bedford, and contains many curious remains of antiquity. In his account of Cople, p. 71, Mr. L. exprefsly affirms, that Wood-end was the refidence of the family of the Lukes; to the memory of whom various monuments are erected in the parith-church. Mr. L. obferves, P. 92, "that the manor of Hawnes is Juppojed to have paffed by purchafe from

the Newdigates to the Lukes of Cople, who appear from the parith-register, to have refided at Hawnes occafionally, from 1626 to 1654." Some of that family may poflibly have refided at Hawnes, but the ancient eftate and refidence of the Lukes, according to univerfal tradition, was at Wood-end, which is still visited as an object of hiftorical attention, and established celebrity.

P. 14. "The estates of the Duke of Bedford now form (Mr. L. aflirms) what may be confidered as by far the largeft landed property in the County.” This is not perfectly correct. The Duke of Bedford is certainly the principal landproprietor, but Lord St. John and Mr. Whitbread are not very far inferior to him. Their united poffettions in this finall County, of which the rental is, however, in proportion to the extent very large, (not lefs it is fuppofed than three hundred thousand pounds per annum) are' estimated at more than forty thoufaud pounds yearly value; and are probably little inferior to thofe of any other ten proprietors. The Marquis of Bute, the Earl of Offory, Lord Hampden, Lady Lucas, Sir Philip Monoux, Sir George Otborne, and Mr. Pym, rank high in the fecond class.

P. 16. Flitwick Houfe is not in the occupation of the Right Honourable John Trevor, who refides at Bromham, the Bedfordthire Seat of his brother Lord Vilcount Hampden, but of Robert Trevor, efq. a different branch of the fame family.

P. 18. The village of Lidlington, where, occupying a farm of the Duke of Bedford's, lives the ruftic Poet Batchelor, author of "Village Scenes," &c. affords very pleafing profpects, as does the neighbourhood of Houghton Conqueft, Hawnes and Harlington; but for the most beautiful and picturefque fcenery in the County, is to be found on the north-west fide of it along the fertile and fecluded vale, through which the Ouse, since the publication of Cowper's charming Talk, a claflical ftream, winds its placid meandering courfe, occafionally spreading into broad and inagnificent expanfes of water. From Chellington, Odell, and Felmersham, the views are particularly rich and striking.

P. 23. There is no turnpike-road from Bedford to Eaton Socon, on the north tide of the Oufe. The old and new roads join, not at Barford bridge, but at the foot of Wroxton hill, beyond the village of Great Barford.

P. 47. Caldwell priory near Bedford,

was, till about the year 1790, the property of a family of the name not of Gardiner, but of Garnow. The laft proprietor of that name, was a merchant refident in the City of London.

P. 51. "A confiderable trade," Mr. L. remarks, "is carried on in coals brought by the Oufe to Bedford from Lynn and Yarmouth." Bedford being the head of the navigation, a confiderable trade is not only carried on with Lynn for coals, but for corn, timber, iron, falt, and various other commodities. There is no communication whatever between Bedford and the port of Yarmouth.

Ibid. The population of Bedford has not increased, as Mr. L. afferts from erroneous information, of late years. Perhaps no town in the kingdom has remained more stationary than Bedford, for feveral centuries past. From Speed's Map, of which the date is 1608, it appears to have been at that period of almoft exactly the fame dimentions as at prefent. The number of houfes is fomewhat diminished of late years, in confequence of the fire mentioned by Mr. L. which hap pened on the 25th of May, 1802, by which about feventy habitations were burnt down, most of them very mean and miferable cottages, wattled and thatched. The far greater proportion of them has fince been re-built in a manner that reflects credit upon the town. Many other tenements, old and ruinous, have alfo been taken down within thefe few years, and new habitations erected, to the great improvement, but by no means the general enlargement of the town.

P. 53. There is no houfe now occupied by the fingle brethren in the fociety of the Moravians. It was fome years fince converted into a fchool. The number of these recluse and inoffenfive fectaries has of late confiderably declined, and that enthusiastic spirit by which they were once fo much diftinguished, has very much abated. It might have been mentioned that there has been at Bedford, for forty years paft, a Methodist Chapel of the Wesleyan perfuafion. Mr. Welley is reported to have faid, that the Methodifts would not flourish at Bedford, because they experienced no perfecution. Within thefe few years, however, their numbers have, as in almost all other places, greatly increased, and a handsome chapel has been newly raised on the feite of the old one. A fmall Jewith fynagogue alfo has been established within the laft three years, encouraged by the fpirit of toleration which remarkably prevails in this place. The Jews fettled at Bedford are

perfons of unexceptionable conduct and morals.

Mr. Lyfons' has noticed the recent erection of the County Goal, the County Infirmary, and the houfe of Induftry; all of them buildings remarkably well adapted to their respective purposes, and planned by the fame excellent architect, Mr. John Wing, of Bedford, a man equally efteemed for his talents and integrity. In confequence of the laudable exertions of the inhabitants, very great improvements in the courfe of the last ten or fifteen years have been made, chiefly under the fuperintendance of Mr. Wing, in this an→ cient, but by no means unpleasant or unfocial town; and many others of confider able magnitude are in no diftant contemplation.

P. 82. Elfton is not a vicarage, but a perpetual curacy or donative, teuable with any preferment, and in the gift of Mr. Whitbread; by whom it was a thort time fince prefented, in a moft generous manner, to the worthy and refpectable clergy→ man who now enjoys it, without the least folicitation or expectation on his part.

P. 85. Jemima Marchionefs Grey, grand-daughter and heirefs of the laft Duke of Kent, was not the wife of the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, as ftated by Mr. L. but of the late Earl of Hardwicke, fon of the Chancellor, and uncle of the prefent Nobleman of that name.

P. 86. The only fon of the Duke of Kent was not known by the title of Earl of Harold, but fimply Lord Harold: his father being Duke, Marquis, and Earl of Kent, and Baron of Harold. He died when just of age, (and said to have been a young man of great accomplishments) in the year 1723, by a very fingular accident; being choaked with an ear of barley, inadvertently taken into his mouth, and which working its way into the throat, it was found impoffible to extract.

P. 89. No manor in Goldington or elfewhere, could have been purchased by the grandfather of the prefent Duke of Bedford, of the Duke of Marlborough, of of any other perfon in the year 1774, as John Duke of Bedford died in the month of January, 1771. The fame mistake occurs in the account of the parish of Ras venfden, p. 126.

I make no apology for troubling you with thefe obfervations, which, if not wholly undeferving of notice, you will have the goodnets to infert in your excellent mifcellany. Your's, &c. Bedford, WM. BELSHAM.

tian flaves) is rain-water caught in winter, the only time of rain in this country: it runs from the terraces, through well conftructed earthen tubes into large vaulted refervoirs, which are built of ftone and lime, and well coated with lime, and are in the earth below the influence of the fun; where it is preferved from filth, and when drawn for ufe it is remarkably clear, cool, and pleafant. The wells in and about Tripoli, for about two miles from the fea-fhore, produce brack ith water, which is used for fcrubbing and drenching the finks, neceffaries, fewers, &c. and for watering the gardens and orchards during the dry feafon. Sinks lead from the houfes through the bottoms of the neceffaries into very large common fewers, which lead into the fea, all of which are built of ftone and lime. The feamen and marines of the late frigate Philadelphia can atteft the vaft quantity of lime ufed in Tripoli; a number of whom were driven, by unfeeling barbarians, to work in it for nineteen

months.

The streets not being paved, are naturally very dufty; but every thing of the nature of manure is diligently fought for, gathered into large baskets, lung upon camels, mules, and aftes, and carried to the gardens and orchards, to raife the foil from its natural ftate of barrennefs, Thefe little plantations are each enclosed with high walls; they contain from two to fix acres each; several of them are cultivated by European gardeners, and are made to produce all the useful roots, plants, and fruits that are natural to the torrid and temperate zones. Thefe enclofures are about 2000 in number, all interfperfed with tall date trees, and are laid out in fuch a manner, that collectively they form a femicircle, which extends from flore to fhore, at a little diftance from the city. This ever-green half zone, the fandy defert which it lies upon, and the proud Atlas which borders the profpect, when viewed from the top of the caftle-gate of the city, or the thipping on the coaft, prefents a beautiful profpect.

The winds from the north, north-east, and north-west, are generally very falubrious; thofe from the fouth, fouth-weft, and fouth-east, come over the parched continent, and are generally very op preffive: they are called the Sirocco, and fometimes rife to that degree of heat and violence, that those who are not able to find shelter in houses, tents, &c. often perith it fometimes lafts three days, but

generally not longer than the first twelve of the twenty-four hours. The want of proper apparatus rendered me unable to learn the different degrees of the temperature of the climate. The nights and mornings are fometimes cool after rain; but I never, while in Tripoli, faw any froft or fnow.

The principal market is held every Tuesday, on the fandy beach, about one mile easterly of the city, where a variety of articles are fold, and the butchers kill and fell their meat, chiefly to Chrif tians, Jews, and the higher order of Turks. Very little meat is killed in the city. The common clafs of people, and the Bafhaw's troops and feamen, eat but little meat; their diet is chiefly dates, olives, oil of olives, bread, and a variety of vegetables, which they cook in oil. The Turks are, with a few exceptions, trangers to luxury and diffipation."

The prevailing diforders among the natives of Tripoli were, ophthalmia in fummer, and catarrh and flight pneumonic affections in winter. The former I attributed to a remarkably ferene and brilliant iky, and the corching winds from the continent; the latter to the want or neglect of proper clothing. The dead, except those of the Bathaw's family, and a high order of marabuts, or priefts, are buried out of the city. On the beach, one cable length east of the cafile, and half a cable length above high water mark, myself, with our boatfwain and twelve of our crew, did laft fummer (through the defire of Captain Bainbridge, and permiffion of the Bafhaw) bury our brave officers and feamen, who were killed in the explosions and in the engagements off Tripoli, and who floated on shore. In digging the graves, our men hove up valt quantities of human bones. The Turks informed me, that they were the bones of the people who died of the plague many years ago; they collected them into barkets, and carried them away as fast as poffible, muttering and faying that they fhould not be polluted with chriftian bones.

The calcareous fubftances of which Tripoli is chiefly built, the well-conftructed drains, the killing the meat and burying the dead at a diftance from the city, the removing the offal and filth to the gardens for manure, and the tempe rate manner in which the Turks and Arabs live, have without doubt been the caufe of the late remarkable continuance of health in Tripoli.

J. C.

To

In the former of thefe years, the average heat encreased from month to month till Auguft; but in the latter there was no increase of heat after June: for that and the two following months, the mean heat was 620. It inuft indeed be in the recollection of all your readers, that the hottest days in the whole year were in June; and it now appears to have been fo much the cafe, as to equal the higher temperature that is ufually experienced in the months of July and Auguft. With regard to the whole year, the average of 1805 was rather lower than ufual, and that of 1806 has been higher than that of common years. The mean height of the barometer for the year is equal to 29.815, which is not quite th of an inch lower than it was for the preceding year; though the quantity of rain for 1806 has been equal to 42 inches in depth, while that for 1805 was only 25 inches: this is a fresh proof of what in the courfe of our monthly reports we have frequently referred to, that the quantity of rain is in all cafes is proportion to the high temperature of the atinofphere.

During the year there have been 141 days very brilliant; 119 in which there has been rain; on 17 there has fallen fnow or hail; the remaining 88 days may be nearly equally divided into fair and cloudy days: "among the latter muft

be reckoned about 10 days in which fogs have prevailed the greater part of the day..

lows. 10, S. 10, W. 84, E. 27, N.E. 48, S.E. 26, N.W. 76, S. 69.

The state of the wind has been as fol

The month of January was remark able for ftorms and heavy rains, that occurred ufually in the night. February was noted for its great variablenefs, both in the preffure and temperature of the atmosphere. March, for its fevere frosts and heavy fnows. April, for its north and north-easterly winds. May, for its easterly winds, which were attended with much mifchief to the gardens, particularly to the fruit trees. June was noted for the great heat of fome of its days, though on others the northerly and easterly winds were fevere; in fome parts of the Country there were forms, attended with thunder, lightning, and hail: this was a remarkably dry month. But the following month was uncommonly wet, and the heavy rains were accompa nied with fome tremendous ftorms. Auguft was alfo marked by the torminefs of many of its days; but on the whole it was favourable to the harvest. In September and October the weather was mild, and very fuitable to the season and climate of the country. The months of November and December were remarkable for their high temperature, and for the great quantity of rain which fell. It may be obferved, that there have been fewer fogs in thefe months than ufual.

For the Monthly Magazine. CONTRIBUTIONS to ENGLISH SYNONYMY.

One. Only. Alone. Lonely. Lonesome.

UN

NITY is the common idea which pervades all these words. That is one, of which there are any. That is only, of which there are no more. That is alone, which is actually unaccompanied. That is lonely, or lonefome, which is habitually unaccompanied. One child. An only child. A child alone. A lonely child.

According to the Gentiles, Jupiter was one god, and Neptune another; according to the Jews, Jehovah was the only god: if god means an object of human worship, the Gentiles were right, and the Jews were wrong; but if god means the Supreme Being, there can be but

B 2

one