will but what he dictates, no industry They, however, do fome good. Part but what he infpires, no emulation but what he excites. If the condition of the peafants be fo highly unfavourable to the progrefs of improvement, the fituation of and character of the clergy are equally unfriendly to it. A final number of the fuperior clergy may be found eminent, among the Ruf fans, for learning and virtue; but, with this abatement, the order confits of men either ignorant or profligate, or both the one and the other. A great proportion of the regular clergy confits of the loweit of the free people, who have taken fanctuary from the bufinefs of their ftations in the torpor of the monaf teries. Many regulations have been made to prevent this abuse; but thefe regulations are calculated only to prevent the ftate from being deprived of the labour of men whofe induftry might be useful; they are not intended to make the monafteries fchools in which men might be train ed to learning and piety. The law fixes the age at which men are to be admitted, and that is an age at which it would be abfurd to expect them to begin their ftudies with any profpect of fuccefs. It determines alfo the number to be received into each monaftery, the degree of reftraint to be impofed on them, the prayers and pfalms, and homilies, and ringing of bells, of which the fervice muft confift, and other fuch momentous particulars but the only point in which fuch establishments can be useful, the education to which they fhould be fubfervient, is left, with only general recommendations, to the judgment of those who prefide over each monaftery. From fuch eftablishments little benefit can be expected ;-certainly, very little is derived from them. of thofe connected with them receive fuch an education as might have been got in the monafteries of England three centuries ago. They learn to read and write. Some of them acquire a knowledge of the Latin language; nay, even Greek may be learnt in fore monafleries. But the number of the clergy who acquire thefe lait accomplishments is very fmall. I have accolted a great many of them in Latin, but have met with only a fingle inftance of a priest who underflood me. The lives of the regular clergy, inftead of being devoted to literary purfuits or any other useful purpose, are flumbered away in the inanition of indolence, interrupted by the irksome frequency of prayers without devotion, and praifes without fentiment. The parochial clergy are ftill lefs refpectable than the regular. Nothing more is neceifary to the obtaining of this character than being married, and being able to read and write. The first of these qualifications is indifpenfable; the others, being lefs effential, are more eafily difpenfed with. I have often heard it affirmed, that the parochial clergy are the moft worthless fet of men in the empire. In fuch a comparifon it would certainly be difficult to determine to whom the preference is due. I therefore think this charge too general to be true, although there is, doubtlefs, abundant room for improvement in this clafs of men. Defpifed by the higher claffes of fociety, they are reduced to the neceffity of affociating with the meaneft of the people: hence, inftead of rifing to the rank of refpectable citizens, and afpiring to the praife of learning and virtue, they retain the meannefs of fpirit, the low fenfuality, and the difgufting vices of thofe with whom they affociate. DES DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT DESOLATED STATE OF VERSAILLES. FROM MRS WOLLSTONECRAFT'S HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, VOL. I. HOW filent is now Verfailles! The folitary foot, that mounts the fumptuous ftair-cafe, refts on each landing-place, whilft the eye traverses the void, almoft expecting to fee the ftrong images of fancy burst into life.--The train of the Louifes, like the pofterity of the Banquoes, pafs in folemn fadness, pointing at the nothingness of grandeur, fading away on the cold canvafs, which covers the nakedness of the fpacious walls-whilft the gloo. miness of the atmosphere gives a deeper fhade to the gigantic figures that seem to be finking into the em. braces of death. Warily entering the endless apart, ments, half shut up, the fleeting thadow of the penfive wanderer, reflected in long glaffes, that vainly gleam in every direction, flackens the nerves, without appalling the heart; though lafcivious pictures, in which grace varnishes voluptuoufnefs, no longer feductive, ftrike continually home to the bofom the melancholy moral, that anticipates the frozen lef fon of experience. The very air is chill, feeming to clog the breath; and the wafting dampnefs of deftruction appears to be ftealing into the vaft pile, on every fide. The oppreffed heart feeks for relief in the garden; but even there the fame images glide along the wide neglected walks-all is fearfully ftill; and, if a little rill creeping thro' the gathering mofs down the cafcade, over which it used to rufh, bring to mind the defcription of the grand water-works, it is only to excite a languid smile at the futile attempt to equal nature. Why does it now infpire only pity? -Why;-because nature, fmiling around, prefents to the imagination materials to build farms, and hospi table manfions, where, without raifing idle admiration, that gladnels will reign, which opens the heart to benevolence, and that industry which renders innocent pleasure sweet. Weeping-fcarcely confcious that I weep, O France over the vestiges of thy former oppreffion; which, feparating man from man with a fence of iron; fophifticated all, and made many completely wretched, I tremble, left I thould meet fome unfortunate being, fleeing from the defpotifm of licentious freedom, hearing the faap of the guillotine at his heels; merely because he was once noble, or has afforded an afylum to thofe, whofe only crime is their nameand, if my pen almost bound with eagerness to record the day that levelled the Baftille with the duft, making the towers of defpair tremble to their bafe; the recollection, that fill the abbey is appropriated to hold the victims of revenge, and fufpicion, palfies the hand that would fain do justice to the affault, which tumbled into heaps of ruins walls that feemed to mock the refifless force of time.-Down fell the temple of defpotifm; but--despotism has not been buried in it's ruins !-Unhappy country!-when will thy children cease to tear thy bosom ?— When will a change of opinion, producing a change of morals, render thee truly free?-When will truth give life to real magnanimity, and juftice place equality on a stable feat? Lo! this was the palace of the When will thy fons truft, begreat king!-the abode of magnifi- caufe they deferve to be trusted ; cence! Who has broken the charm? and private virtue become the gua 3 G 2 will rantee of patriotism? Ah!- when moft perfect, because thy citizens are will thy government become the the most virtuous? THOUGHTS ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SWALLOWS. T FROM PENNANT'S BRITISH ZOOLOGY. HERE are three opinions among naturalifts concerning the manner the fwallow tribes dif pose of themfelves after their difappearance from the countries in which they make their Summer refidence. Herodotus mentions one fpecies that refides in Egypt the whole year; Profper Alpinus afferts the fame; and Mr Loten, late governor of Ceylon, affured us, that thofe of Java never remove. Thefe excepted, every other known kind obferve a periodical migration or retreat. two curious relations of undoubted credit; the one communicated to him by Mr Wright, mafter of a ship; the other by the late Sir Charles Wager; who both defcribed (to the fame purpose) what happened to each in their voyages. "Returning home," fays Sir Charles, "in the Spring of the year, as I came into founding in our channel, a great flock of fwallows came and fettled on all my rigging; every rope was covered; they hung on one another like a fwarm of bees; the decks and carvThe fwallows of the cold Norway, ing were filled with them. They and of North America, of the diftant feemed almost famished and spent, Kamtschatka, of the temperate parts and were only feathers and bones; of Europe, of Aleppo, and of the but, being recruited with a night's hot Jamaica, all agree in this one reft, took their flight in the mornpoint. ing In cold countries, a defect of infect food on the approach of Winter is a fufficient reafon for thefe birds to quit them; but, fince the fame cau, probably, does not fubfift in the warm climates, recourfe fhould be had to fome other reafon for their vanilling. Of the three opinions, the firft has the utmost appearance of probability, which is, that they remove nearer the fun, where they can find a continuance of their natural diet, and a temperature of air fuiting their conftitutions. That this is the cafe with fome fpecies of European fwallows, has been proved beyond contradiction (as above cited) by Mr Adanfon. We often observe them collected in flocks innumerable on churches, on rocks, and on trees, previous to their departure hence: and Mr Collinfon proves their return here, in perhaps equal numbers, by This vaft fatigue proves that their journey must have been very great, confidering the amazing fwiftnefs of thefe birds; in all probability they had croffed the Atlantic Ocean, and were returning from the shores of Senegal, or other parts of Africa; fo that this account from that molt able and honeft feaman confirms the latter information of Mr Adanfon. Mr White, on Michaelmas day, 1768, had the good fortune to have ocular proof of what may reafonably be fuppofed an actual migration of fwallows. Travelling that morning very early between his houfe and the coat, at the beginning of his journey he was environed with a thick fog; but on a large wild heath the mit began to break, and discovered to him numberlefs fwallows, cluflered on the standing bushes, as if they had roofted there. As foon as the fun burft out, they were inftantly on * Phil. Tranf. vol. II. part II. p. 459. wing, and, with an eafy and placid flight, proceeded towards the fea. After this, he faw no more flocks, only now and then a ftraggler *. This rendezvous of fwallows about the fame time of year is very common on the willows in the little ifles in the Thames. They feem to affemble for the fame purpose as thofe in Hampshire, notwithstanding no one yet has been an eye-witnefs of their departure. On the 26th of September laft, two gentlemen who happened to lie at Maidenhead bridge, furnished at least a proof of the multitudes there affembled; they went by torch-light to an adjacent ifle, and in less than half an hour brought afhore fifty dozen; for, they had nothing more to do than to draw the willow twigs through their hands, the birds never ftirring till they were taken. The Northern naturalifts will perhaps fay, that this affembly met for the purpofe of plunging into their fubaqueous Winter quarters; but, was that the cafe, they would never efcape discovery in a river perpetually fifhed as the Thames; fome of them muft inevitably be brought up in the nets that harrafs that water. The fecond notion has great antiquity on its fide. Ariftotle and Pliny give, as their belief, that fwallows do not remove very far from their Summer habitation, but winter in the hollow of rocks, and, during that time, lofe their feathers. The former part of their opinion has been adopted by feveral ingenious men; and, of late, feveral proofs have been brought of fome fpecies, at leaft, having been discovered in a torpid ftate. Mr Collinfon favoured us with the evidence of three gentlemen, eye-witneffes to numbers of fand-martins being drawn out of a cliff on the Rhine in the month of March, 1762+. And the Hon. Daines Barrington communicated to us the following fact, on the authority of the late Lord Belhaven : that numbers of fwallows have been found in old dry walls, and in fand-hills near his Lordship's feat in East-Lothian; not once only, but from year to year; and that, when they were expofed to the warmth of a fire, they revived. We have alfo heard of the fame annual difcoveries near Morpeth, in Northumberland, but cannot fpeak of them with the fame affprance as the two former; neither in the two laft inftances are we certain of the particular fpecies ‡. Other witneffes crowd on us to prove the refidence of thofe birds in a torpid ftate during the fevere feafon. First, in the chalky cliffs of Suffex, as was feen on the fall of a great fragment fome years ago. Secondly, in a decayed hollow tree that was cut down, near Dolgelli, in Merionethshire. Thirdly, in a cliff near Whitby, Yorkshire, where, on digging out a fox, whole bushels of fwallows were found in a torpid condition. And, Lafly, the Rev. Mr Conway, of Sychton, Flintshire, was fo obliging as to communicate the following fact: a few years ago, on looking down an old lead mine in that county, he obferved numbers of fwallows clinging to the timbers of the fhaft, feemingly afleep; and, on finging fome gravel on them, they just moved, but never attempted to fly or change * In Kalm's Voyage to America is a remarkable inftance of the difant flight of fwallows; for one lighted on the fhip he was in, September 2, when he had paffed only over two-thirds of the Atlantic Ocean. His paffage was uncommonly quick, being performed from Deal to Philadelphia in less than fix weeks; and, when this accident happened, he was 14 days fail from Cape Hinlopen. † Phil. Tranf. vol. LIII. p. 101. art. 24. Klein gives an inftance of twifts being found in a torpid fate. Hift. Av. 204. change their place; this was between All Saints and Christmas. These are doubtlefs the lurkingplaces of the latter hatches, or of thofe young birds who are incapable of diftant migrations. There they continue infenfible and rigid; but, like flies, may fometimes be reanimated by an unfeasonable hot day in the midst of Winter; for, very near Christmas, a few appeared on the moulding of a window of Mertoncollege, Oxford, in a remarkably warm nook, which prematurely fet their blood in motion, having the fame effect as laying them before the fire at the fame time of the year. Others have been known to make this premature appearance; but, as foon as the cold, natural to the feafon returns, they withdraw again to their former retreats. I fhall conclude with one argument drawn from the very late hatches of two fpecies. On the 23d of October 1767, a martin was feen in Southwark, flying in and out of its neft; and, on the 29th of the fame month, four or five fwallows were obferved hovering round and fettling on the county-hofpital at Oxford. As thefe birds must have been of a late hatch, it is highly improbable that, at fo late a feafon of the year, they would attempt, from one of our midland counties, a voyage almost as far as the Equator, to Senegal or Goree: we are therefore confirmed in our notion, that there is only a partial migration of thefe birds; and that the feeble late hatches conceal themfelves in this country. The above are circumftances we cannot but affent to, though feeming ly contradictory to the common courfe of Nature in regard to other birds. We muft, therefore, divide our belief relating to these two different opinions, and conclude, that one part of the swallow-tribe migrate, and that others have their Winter - quarters near home. If it fhould be demanded, why fwallows alone are found in a torpid ftatc, and not the other many fpecies of foft-billed birds, which likewife difappear about the fame time, the following reafon may be affigned: No birds are fo much on the wing as fwallows; none fly with fo much fwiftnefs and rapidity; none are obliged to fuch fudden and various evolutions in their flight; none are at fuch pains to take their prey; and we may add, none exert their voice more inceffantly. All these occafion a vaft expence of ftrength, and of spirits, and may give fuch a texture to the blood that other animals cannot experience; and fo dispose, or, we may fay, neceffitate, this tribe of birds, or part of them at least, to a repofe more lafting than that of others. The third notion is, even at first fight, too amazing and unnatural to merit mention, if it was not that fome of the Learned have been credulous enough to deliver, for fact, what has the ftrongeft appearance of impoffibility; we mean the relation of swallows paffing the Winter immersed under ice at the bottom of lakes, or lodged beneath the water of the fea at the foot of rocks. The first who broached this opinion was Olaus Magnus, archbishop of Upfal, who very gravely informs us, that these birds are often found in clustered maffes at the bottom of the Northern lakes, mouth to mouth, wing to wing, foot to foot; and that they creep down the reeds in Autumn to their fubaqueous retreats; that, when old fishermen difcover fuch a mafs, they throw it into the water again; but, when young inexperienced ones take it, they will, by thawing the birds at a fire, bring them indeed to the ufe of their wings, which will continue but a fhort time, being owing to a premature and forced revival *. * Derham's Phyf. Theol. note d. p. 349. Pontop. Hift. Norw. 193. That |
