whole hemisphere for upwards of four hours. February. In the beginning of this mouth we had some heavy falls of snow, which covered the ground till the 9th; the weather then continued mild and wet till the 18th; this mild rain melted the snow suddenly from the mountains, which swelled the rivers here to such a degree, that in many places the banks and adjoining grounds were overflowed to a great extent. The latter part of the month was changeable with intervals of frost and snow, rain and sleet: auroraborealis on the 25th and 26th, horizontal arches and active streamers, which soon disappeared. March. The mean temperature of this month is the lowest that has occurred here since December 1804. The frost was particularly severe and accompanied with strong easterly winds and some heavy falls of snow, on the last of the month (Easter Tuesday) snow lay five inches deep on the ground. In the evening of the 13th, at 47 minutes past nine o'clock, saw in the W. S. W. a very large meteor with a sparkling train fall obliquely to the earth: this phenomenon was also seen upwards of one hundred miles northward of this city. April was intensely cold and frosty, with showers of snow till the 5th; the weather then continued mild and moist till the 14th, after which it was again extremely cold, with heavy falls of snow till the 23d, when the temperature suddenly changed to the opposite extreme, and the remainder of the month was uncommonly hot and sultry. On the 30th we had a violent storm of thunder and lightning, which lasted upwards of five hours. May. The former part of this month was cold and gloomy, with drizzling showers; after the 15th the weather continued warm bright and pleasant till the 25th, which was the hottest day that has occurred here since the commencement of this journal, viz. seven years (thermome ter 85° at three o'clock P.M.) about six or seven o'clock P. M. dense clouds gathered, and distant thunder was heard, ac companied with dreadful flashes of lightning which continued till next morning at sun-rise; the flashes came in such quick succession that the atmosphere appeared in a continued flame. The reDainder of the month was cold, wet, and gloomy. June. The weather during this month as not marked by any particular occur July. The first nine days of this mouth were cold and dry, the remainder was sultry, moist and showery. During the whole of the nights of the 11th, 22nd, 28d, and 24th, thunder was heard at a distance, accompanied with extremely vivid lightning August. The weather this month was invariably sultry and gloomy. The rain (1,93) fell in light showers, which were often accompanied with thunder and lightning. September was throughout remarkably cold for the season, the mean temperature being upwards of seven degrees lower than that of the same month of former years. The heavy rains which fell here this month occasioned destructive floods to the harvest in the low grounds in this neighbourhood. About the middle of the month we had some smart frosty nights, and as early as the 12th, ice was seen here. October. The weather during the greater part of this month was uncommonly gloomy, wet and sultry. So extremely humid and unfavourable has the weather been for gathering the crops, that the reaping which commenced in this district the middle of August, was scarcely finished at the end of this month. Ou the 23d, suow was observed for the first time this season on the tops of some of the highest mountains in this neighbourhood. November was marked by some of the most severe weather for the season, that the living generation has ever been witness to. In the former part of the month storms of hail and rain, frost, and snow, occurred alternately; after the 15th, we had continued frost accompanied with frequent falls of snow, which at the conclusion of the month amounted to about nine inches in depth; on the 3d, 4th, 19th, 20th, and 23d, the wind blew violent hurricanes, which drifted the snow in the mountainous districts in this country to the depth of three or four yards, and occasioned very great losses in the sheepfarms. In the evening of the 3d, saw a large ball of fire to the southward glance obliquely towards the earth, bursting in its descent, it illuminated the sky similar to a gleam of lightning. December began with open stormy weather, which continued till the 6th; it was then frost, with light showers of snow till the 12th; we then had open weather again till the 17th, and afterwards frost till the 25th. During the last five days of this frost, we had the thickest fog that has occurred here for a great many years; the remainder of the month was extremely wet and stormy. The absence of the aurora-borealis during the greater part of this year, may be deemed a very singular circumstance, none having been seen here since last February. The comet was last seen here in the evening of the 19th of December, It was then about half a degree north of a Cygni, and appears to have passed its maximum of north declination. Your's, &c. Carlisle, January 2, 1808. surveyor and ingenious mechanic, in his grace's establishment, who as soon as the man had finished, set about contriving a different apparatus and tools for works of this kind, and made several specimens, which proved in every respect so superior to the Frenchman's work that it was settled, that a new house which was then contemplated for Mr. Salmon's residence, near the Park-farm yard, should be built in pisée under his own directions. This was accordingly done, and this house, which has been inspected by many scores of persons interested in the success of this mode of building, is, perhaps, one WILLIAM PITT. of the best recommendations it can receive. Mr. Salmon extended his enqui ries to the best mode of finding or preparing earth for the work in different si To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. tuations, and of cheaply facing the out I SIR, AM concerned to observe, that the important enquiries by Mr. J. H. Moggridge, in your last volume, p. $15, respecting the improvements which have been made in the method of building en pisée, and on the present state of that useful art, have received no better answer than a reference (p. 553) to the account which the late Mr. Holland wrote several years ago. Soon after the Board of Agriculture had published Mr. Holland's account, above alluded to, the late public-spirited Duke of Bedford was induced to make trial of this mode of building at Woburn, and for that purpose Mr. H. brought down a native of France, who had been used to this kind of work in his own country, whose information and apparatus had principally, I believe, furnish ed the means of Mr. H.'s communication to the Board of Agriculture, and who had been some time employed by that gentleman in executing pisce buildings in this country. side with a durable and ornamental coat or stucco: he constructed garden walls, and ornamental columns in this manner, and several out-buildings; and, during the life-time of the late duke, instructed several labourers and furnished them with his improved tools and apparatus, who were sent for that purpose by His Grace's friends from their country seats, in different parts of the kingdom, so that the practice of it has by no means been con fined to Bedfordshire. Mr. Salmon, a builder of Shenley, sisuate between Barnet and St. Alban's (a brother of Mr. R. S.) is, as I am informed, extensively practising this art, in its improved state, in his neighbourhood. I sincerely wish that Mr. R. Salmon could be prevailed on, to give drawings of his apparatus and a full description of his process in your Magazine, whose extensive circulation and great repute could hardly fail of calling the attention of gentlemen builders to this useful art, becoming daily more important, as the prices of building materials and artificer's-work inA spot was fixed on by His Grace increase, so as to almost preclude the buildWoburn park, where this man, under Mr. Holland's directions, was to build a small lodge as a specimen, and in doing which he was fully to instruct some intelligent labourers, in the practice of his art. This novel experiment exciting a good deal of attention, I was among many, who frequently visited the work, which was no sooner commenced, than the clumsy and unimproved state of the frame and apparatus (the same exactly, as Mr. H. has described) which the Frenchman used, and the imperfect state of his work, was noticed by almost every one, particu larly by Mr. Robert Salmon, a very able ing of comfortable cottages for the poor |