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Our little arms, continued Julius (whom I' will interrupt no more) were nurfed into early vigour for the field: for our father, whofe bones

"May every Saint bless them, faid Neftor!

-have been repofing more than half a century, in different parts of Flanders and Germany, ftruck first into that mode of training which my brother has adopted. Other people's children have playthings given them, becaufe, forfooth, they whimper for them; but we were never allowed fo much as a hoop or a top till we gained it by victory. We knew the difficulty of obtaining the prize, and valued it the more; and thus were fitted for deeds of hardihood, ere other infants had an idea of glory.

"Poor creatures! faid Neftor's fecond fon fcornfully.

"We could vault upon the fteeds of the menage before they could keep the faddle of their wooden ponies. Ripe for practice, we were fent forth, at an early age, to the field, and both of us entered as volunteers in the service of our country.

We did fo, faid Neftor.

"Nature for which, ftump as I am, I ftill thank her-gave us no bad forms; and though we took the field with faces as effeminate as that of our mother [You was reckoned the very model of her, you know, Neftor]-yet the first campaign left us no room to blush upon that fcore. Our virgin engagement happened in the hottest glow of the fummer, and we were foon rid of a delicacy which is inglorious on the front of a foldier. Oh with what pleasure did we contemplate the alterations at our return!

I remember it, faid Neftor, fmiling,

The traits of the mother were quite worn out by the weather. In every lineament there was feafoning. The fun had written hero in our countenances, and we rejoiced in the dignity of the tan.

But mark the joke, fir; a fantastical pair of wenches pretended to love us, in our fair-weather fuit of features, before we made the first fally, that is, before we were worth loving; but took it into their heads to quarrel with our appearance the very moment we returned. They wanted ftill to fee the red and white of the woman, and fo took to themfelves new paramours.-The ades gave us up, fir, for a couple of fellows who would shudder at the patter of a hail-ftorm.

"So much the better, faid Neftor. We have had the fatisfaction to see one of the rafcals hanged for fheep-ftealing, and the ather you know is to be put into the pillory this day fe'ennight.

"And I'll be prepared for him, I warrant ye, exclaimed one of the boys.

"No, child, faid Neftor: he is no mark for the fon of a foldier.

"After this, fir, we had no lazy periods of peace. Some part or another of Europe was continually beating the drum.or found

ing the trumpet in the ear of England. It was our duty to go

forth in her defence.

"Father, faid the eldest of the boys, when is it likely we shall have a war?

"My brother, fir,-continued Carbine, who was not put out by any family remarks) —my brother, fir, had the honour of the firft misfortune.

"You do not call it by a right name, faid Nestor.

"He triumphed in the firft teftimony of the warrior.

"Iam an elder brother, faid Neitor, and the first blow was my birth-right.

"But I was foon even with him: for, towards the close of the campaign, a, random-fhot-when I was thinking of nothing lefs, gave the four fingers of my left hand to the enemy. In that condition we entered into winter-quarters,

"But no fooner was my brother cured of the wound in his face

"You may fee the mark of it here, fir, faid Neftor.

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heart!

in his face, than he received one much deeper in his

"In his beart, cried the youngest of the fix fons, clapping his hand on his father's fide ?-why, you joke: here it is alive and merry now. I can feel it beat.

"God keep it fo, answered the eldeft. It will be a fore day for us when that itops, I promise thee,

"Give me thy hand, Ferdinand, faid Neftor; and, brother, do you go on with your ftory; for it entertains the gentleman and his little daughter, and I like to hear it. You are always good at a story from a child. Go on..

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would you believe it fir, that a fellow fo fliced fhould have the impudence to attack one of the prettieft girls in England? "In the world, you might have faid, cried Neftor, fhaking

his knee.

her ta

"like a brave boy of the blade, he pushed his point right on, turned his worft fide to the wench, and infifted upon king the fears as a recommendation.

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Why they were fo, faid Neftor, holding his knee still while he fpoke.

in this manner he continued to batter the citadel which trembled in the bofom of the poor girl, and in lefs than a month (no time at all for fuch a fiege) he entered the fair caftle of her affections in triumph.

"By the blood that I have fhed, fir, faid Neftor, and by the drops which yet flow in my body, Frances was the best and bravest wench that ever lay by the fide of a foldier:

Neitor, faid Julius, hold your tongue. His limbs, fir, were almoft constantly on the move. War carried them away. What of that? His joke was ready. Never mind, Frances, (would he fay to his wife) I am the winner yet. Fear nothing. Were I reduced to my trunk, I should flourish fill, my girl.

A foldier,

whofe

whofe children have blood in their veins, is invulnerable. He is

immortal in his fons. "Let us engage, brandifhed his foil.

father! faid one of the boys eagerly, as he

"Thus would my brother heal up the wounds of the war: but be that as it may, wounds are but forry things in a family. Often has my brother difputed with me on this fubject. "Julius, (would he fay) thou art but half a loyal fubject ftill-thou givet to thy. country the fervices only of an individual, while I furnish it with the force of a whole family. As an individual, thou must soon die; but hadst thou taken care to multiply thyfelf as I have done, thou mightest well expect to live and conquer these thousand years. Brother, brother, it is a falfe notion; a foldier ought of all men in his Majesty's dominions the foonett to marry: he ought indeed.” Notwithstanding this, fir, I could never be prevailed upon. No, though an honeft girl offered to fling my knapsack across her fhoulder after the lofs of my thigh. To confefs the plain truth to you, I did not like certain ceremonies betwixt my brother and fifter at their partings. Frances indeed wept but little, but in my opinion fhe looked a much deeper forrow than is to be expreffed by a pair of wet eyes.

"Neftor hemm'd violently.

"And as to my brother, though he cocked his hat fiercelypretended to have caught cold-rubbed up his accoutrements, and blustered mightily, he never was fteadily himself-and how the devil bould he be for a week after. These things, fir, are against the grain. The brush of a bullet is nothing at all: it may take off your head, or it may only take off your hat: either way, no great matter-but the cries of a woman-the piercing agonies of a wife to come across one's thoughts in the laft moments-no, fir-no, damn it-there is no bearing that-I will live and die a batchelor!

"But this is not the worst, fir. Death fometimes comes at the bottom of the account to unfoldier a man. He knocked at brother Neftor's door, and carried Frances away while fhe was nurfing him of a fever, into which he was thrown by the pain of a wound. Zounds! that was a terrible day, Neftor, was it not?

"Terrible! faid Neftor, turning his head from the company. "She died fuddenly. Courage, faid I, brother. He waved his hand and fpoke not. Brother, faid I, have courage. "Fool, replied he, in a paffion (if he had called me fo in cold blood Í would have had him out-Fool, faid he, (in a way that one could not but forgive him, ftamping his foot on the ground at the fame time) am I, thinkeft thou, before GOD ALMIGHTY or the enemy? What has courage to do before HIM? thou fhouldst tell me to be patient. I laid no more: for the poor Frances lay dead before his eyes; and there being but one bed of any fize, the living and the dead lay together.

"Child, (faid Neftor to the little girl, his daughter, who was fobbing at the fide of the bed, with her apron thrown over her eyes)come hither. Thou art like thy mother-kifs me.

4

Nettor

Neftor (continued Julius) tied the crape round his arm, and his foul was in mourning. He gave Frances to the earth. De..

cency.

"Go no farther, faid Neftor.

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Decency required my attendance, Sir. My poor Carbine fhed then the first tears that I ever faw upon his cheek. Oh! he was melted down into fomething fofter than his 'mother. He wanted to prevent the man from striking the nails into the cof fin.

"Julius, GO NO FARTHER, I fay, (cried Neftor) preffing his daughter close to his breast.

"I wish my uncle would hold his tongue, faid one of the boys. "He opened the closed lid, and peeped in, (continued Julius.) He caft a lingering look into the grave. He drew his hand gently over the coffin as the fexton was beginning to lower it. He kneeled down to fee that it was put foftly into the ground. He let it go, and faid he was perfectly refigned; then came away, and then returned, then went off a fecond time, and fought the grave again, wringing his hand, and declaring he was perfectly refigned all the

time

Wilt kill me, Julius? faid Neftor; stop, I fay!

"in fhort fir, he-he-he-did fo many things upon that occafion, that, surely, if a man has any love for a woman, he ought to be a batchelor.

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[The fragment is here defaced, and illegible for fome pages.]

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« **** after the engagement, the folemn thoughts again came on. Julius rubbed his face twice or thrice along the pillow, and declared that while the wind continued in that quarter, his old achs would twinge him a little.

"And in this hospital, fir, we are now laid up for life, faid Julius.

"He rubbed his face again upon the pillow. Well, said he rifing, every dog has his day!

Upon this Neftor began to whistle:-not one of those tunes, which arife from vacancy, but a whistle truly contemplative; it was more flow and penfive as he proceeded, and in its clofing cadence, a tear started from his eye. Streaming almoft to the borders of the upper lip, it fettled there, and though as he waved his head backwards and forwards, it trembled upon the edge of his cheek, it did not fall.

When he had opened the door, I, ftole an opportunity to put fomething into his hand.

"He took it as money ought to be taken by a brave or worthy man who wants affistance, and fees no fhame in receiving it. A fo ber fmile came into his countenance: but the TEAR continued. "His daughter's hand was ftill clofed in his; but he looked at the tear, and was taking out her handkerchief.

"Let it alone, my dear, faid Neftor. IT IS YOUR MOTHER'S.

"How

"How are the Carbines to be envied, faid I, when we were

ftepping into the street!

You flatter us, replied Neftor, bowing gently.

"I went two paces, and turned back.

"The tear had verged off, poffibly while he was bowing.

"It had got upon my little girl's face; and there it hung like a dew drop from a rofe-bud.

"Good God, faid I, how rapid an exchange!

"In faying this I found it had vanished from the cheek of my daughter, in the time that I was making the exclamation!

"Alas, it is quite gone then! faid I.

"No! upon lifting my hand to my face fometime after, I found the precious offering of fympathy had changed a third time its refidence, and was trembling on my own cheek. I bleffed it, and

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Letters and Papers on Agriculture, Planting, &c. Selected from the Correspondence-Book of the Society inftituted at Bath, for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, within the Counties of Somerset, Wilts, Glocefter, and Dorfet, and the City and County of Bristol. To which is added, an Appendix, containing a Propofal for the further Improvement of Agriculture; by a Member of the Society; and a Tranflation of Monf. Hirzel's Letter to Dr. Tiffot, in Answer to Monf. Linguer's Treatife on Bread-Corn and Bread; by another Member of the Society. 8vo. Dilly.

[Continued from our last.]

Agreeable to the promise we laft month gave our country readers, to take an opportunity to extract from this collection, fuch papers as might appear calculated to promote the useful ftudy of agriculture, we lay before them the following papers relative thereto.

"General Rules for the Improvement of Lands, by Claying and Marling, as practifed by us.

66 I. Lands that have been many years in plough tilth, and are become foul, may be made clean by fummer-tilth. When this is done, lay on from fixty to eighty tons of clay, or from twenty to thirth tons of marle, per acre. Work it well into the lands, and then fow turnips as before directed. Feed the turnips off, or at least half by the treading of the cattle and their manure, the clay will incorporate and work more kindly with the foil. The fpring following fow it with barley.

"To clay upon a clover-ftubble before the wheat is fown, is a VOL. XI.

Ddd

very