concerned the welfare of the family. This they were studious to promote. In this they placed their renown. They were strangers to difsipation; nor were they seen constantly abroad. Their own habitation was their delight; and the rearing their offspring their greatest pleasure. Content with a kind of domestic royalty, they considered every part of this administration as of the last importance. Queens without a crown, they were "a crown to their husbands :" and not only saved their earnings by their economy; but augmented their treasure, by their industry. This was the source of their pleasure; and the foundation of their glory. They maintained good order and harmony in their empire-every female servant at work under their direction-every unnecefsary waste prevented by their circumspection-such grandmothers! what blessings to their families! they enjoyed happiness in their chimney corners, while their deluded grand-daughters seek for it in vain, amidst the tumult of the world. Their good housewifery supported families, that have since crumbled into nothing. In fhort, the wife appeared to acquit herself of a tafk equal to the labour of the husband, in being occupied with an infinity of cares respecting her interior department. Careful to inspire her female progeny with the like afsiduity, she reared an offspring like herself. With such education (no French dancing masters then for country-girls, that ought to be at their spinning wheels) their daughters were early inured to join such amiable mothers, in causing the sweetand peaceable charms of private life to reign in the family. By such virtues and accomplishments, they recommended themselves to the other sex ; and, with their frugality and industry, were a better fortune without a groat, than a woman destitute of both, with thousands. Hence a man, inclined to marry, feared not to choose such a mate ; a mate that would save and increase, instead of squander, what he had; and was likely to perpetuate a race of diligent and attentive women. O how often have I admired the industry of our grand-mothers! How often, in being an eye-witnefs of their domestic afsiduity, have I applied to them those lines of Juvenal. "Vos trahitis lanam, calathisque peracta refertis "Vellera: vos tenui prægnaniem stamine fusum But now how remote are we from duties so simple and endearing! A regular and uniform conduet would seem a torment to our gossips and gadders. They want perpetual difsipation-all out of doors--full of vanity, and loaded with the gewgaws of London and Paris." Who can "find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above ru"bies. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly " with her hands. She riseth also while it is yet night, giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She layeth her hands to the spindle; and "her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her "hand to the poor; yea the reacheth her hands to the needy. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles to the merchant. Strength and honour are her cloathing, and fhe shall rejoice in time CC to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and her tongue in the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread "of idlenefs." 157. THE BEE, OR LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER, FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27. 1793. ON THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE IN ALTERING THE QUALITY OF WOOL. Continued from p. 60. 1. Of the influence of beat or cold on the filament itself. Ir has been long known by persons who work in wool, that the points of the filament, which form the outer part of the fleece of sheep, are in general much coarser than the roots of it, but the cause of this phenomenon never seems to have attracted their notice. The following experiments were made with a view to discover this, and seem to be perfectly satisfactory. They are recorded in Anderson's observations on the means of exciting a spirit of national industry published some years ago, p. 104, from which they are here transcribed. VOL. Xviii. A "It is some years since I first took notice of the above mentioned fact; (viz. the coarseness of the points of wool,) and having often had occasion to converse with people who had never observed it, I was on many occasions induced to show them some wool before they could be sati fied of it; so that I had many opportunities of seeing the experiment verified, without having met with one instance in which it failed, or was in the least doubtful. "In the month of June of this present year 1775, I took some filaments of wool from a fleece lately fhorn from the sheep, with an intention to fhow a friend the difference between the fineness of the root-end and that of the top; but although there was a perceptible difference between them, yet I was a good deal surprised to find that this difference was far lefs than I had ever observed it before. At first I imagined that my former observations might perhaps have been erroneous; and that what I had imagined to be a general rule was perhaps only a particular exception, arising from some accidental unobserved cause; and therefore, with some degree of eagernefs, examined several other fleeces; all of which I found to agree in this particular with the first. "Ata lofs to account for this singular phenomenon, I continued to reflect upon it for some time; and as I again and again examined with great attention the separate filaments of wool, I could not help remarking that the root-end of the filament was not the finest part of it, as I had till then imagined; but could plainly perceive, that it was sensibly smaller about a fourth or fifth part of its whole length from the root-end than it was there; so that the whole filament was of unequal thicknefs in every part, varying in this manner: At the point it was thicker than at any other place; from whence it gradually and slowly diminished for about three fourths of its whole length, from which it began, at first imperceptibly, but gradually more sensibly, to increase in size as it approached towards the root end. mer "This form of the filament soon satisfied me as to the cause of the phenomenon that had at first perplexed me, and at the same time afforded a very clear illustration of the great effect that the climate has upon the fineness of the wool. For it was here palpably evident that that part of the filament that was produced during the summonths, forming the points of the wool, was coarser than that which grew during the cold winter months, so that it grädually grew finer and finer as the rigour of the cold increased, till about the month of February, when the cold is usually most intense in our climate; after which time, the weather beginning to grow gradually warmer and warmer, the size of the filament as gradually expanded, till the middle or end of May, when it was separated from the body of the fheep. "I was, by this experiment, furnished with a very satisfactory answer to an objection that had often before been made against the opinion I had entertained, that the cold of the season in which it grew |