yet, as the effects produced by the compofition, and by the varied modes of applying it, were remarkably fimilar in the different forts of grain, planted at the fame time, and in the fame foil, I think fuch an objection cannot reasonably invalidate an experiment of this nature; more especially when it is confidered, that a greater degree of accuracy and precision can accompany fimilar attempts upon a smaller fcale, than when extended to a greater scope; and, if I am not greatly miftaken, fome of the very ingenious obfervations which the fearned chymift, Dr. Ingenhoufz has lately given to the world, with refpect to the nutriment and fupport of vegetable life, have been found upon experiments even more confined in their extent, though not lefs worthy of attention on that account, than thofe above cited.

ANTIQUITIES

Temple of Dendera, in Egypt; from Sonnini's Travels in Egypt.

Twas not in their architecture

played that affection for pofterity, that love of immortality which prefides in all their works; they withed alfo that the painting they employed thould be equally durable. The colours of which they made ufe, the two-edged tool ferving to incorporate them clofely and for ever with bodies as hard and as folid as ftone, are fo many proofs of their profound knowledge in the arts, and fo many fecrets, which our refearches have not yet been able to difcover. The ceiling of the temple of Dendera is painted in frefco, of the brilliant colours of azure blue, with which the vault of the firmament fhines in fine weather: the figures in relief firewed along its bottom, are painted of a beautiful yellow; and thefe paintings, at the expiration of fome thoufands of years, poffefs ftill a brilliancy to which our fresheft colours do not approach, and they are ftill as lively as if they had been newly laid on.

I have faid that the front of this temple, an admirable and but little known work of the genius and the patience which, among the ancient people of Egypt, produced wonders, was a hundred and thirty

two feet, and fome inches in length. I took its other dimensions with the fame exactness. The depth of the periftyle is a hundred and fifteen

fixty feet eleven inches. The two i fides of the edifice are two hundred and fifty-four feet nine inches and a half in length; finally, the depth is a hundred and ten feet eleven inches. The fummit of the temple is flattened, and formed of very large ftones, which are laid from ona pillar to another, or on two wals of feparation. Several of thele maffes are eighteen feet long and fix broad. Rubbifh heaped "", and the fand which collec there, have raifed the foil to a level with the roof of the building and you eafily afcend it from behind, although the front is ftill elevated feventy feet above ground. The inhabitants of this canton had avail ed themselves of this difpofitier: they had built a village on the very fummit of the temple, as on a bar's more firm than the inconftant fards or marfhy earth, upon which they generally erect their dwellings, When I was at Dendera, this modern village was defolated ard overthrown; its ruins of hardened mud formed a fingular contraft win the magnificent remains of the an cient city of Tentyris. We belie there with forrow the moft complete

proof of the total annihilation of the arts, in a country which had given birth and fuch an aftonishing perfection to them, and the ftill more deplorable decline of the human mind.

Singular Tenure of the Manor of Wichnor, in Staffordshire, granted by John of Gaunt to Philip de Somerville; from Shaw's Hiftory of Staffordshire.

EVERTHELESS, the faid fir

and fuftaigne one bacon flyke hanging in his halle at Wichnore redy arrayde all times of the yere bott in Lent to be given to everyche mane or womane married after the daye and yere of there mariage be paffed; and to be gyven to everyche mane of religion, archbishop, bishop, prior, or other religious; and to everyche prieft after the yere and dave of their profeffion finished or of their dignity refeyved, in forme following: whenfoever that ony fuch byfore named wyll come for to enquire for the baconne, in theire owne perfone or by ony other for them, they fhall come to the bayliffe or to the porter of the lordship of Wichnovre; and fhall fay to them in the mannere as enfhewethe"Bayliffe, or porter, I do you too knowe that I come for myfelfe (or, if he be come for ony other, fhewing for whome he demaunde) to demaunde one baconne flyke hanging in the halle of the lord of Whichnovre, after the forme thereunto belonging;" after which relacioun, the bayliffe or porter fhall affigne a daye unto him upon promife by his feythe to retourne and with him to bring tweyne of his neighbours. VOL. XLI.

And in the meyn time, the faid bayliffe fhall take with him tweyne of the freeholders of the lordshipe of Whichenovre, and they three shall go to the manour of Rudlowe belonging to Robert Knyghtleye; and there fhall fomon the prefeid Knyghtleye, or his bayliffe, commamling him to be ready at Whichenovre, the day appoynted, at pryme of the day wythe his caryage; that is to fave a horfe and a faddylle, a fakke and a pryke, for to convey and carye the faid baconne and corne a journee owtt of the countee

And

then the faid bayliffe fhall, with the fayd freeholders, fomon all the tennants of the fayd manoir to be redy at the day appoynted at Whichenovre, for to doo and perform the fervices which they owe to the baconne. And at the day affygned all fuch as oue fervices to the baconne fhall be redy at the gate of the manoir of Whichenovre from the fonne ryfinge to none, attending and awatyng for the comyng of hym that fetcheth the baconne. And when he is comyn, there fhall be delivered to hym and hys fellowys, chapeletts, and to all thofe whych fhall be there to do their fervices dew to the baconne. And they fhall lede the feid demandant wythe trompes and tabours and other manner of mynftralleye to the halle door, where he fhall fynde the lord of Whichenovre, or his steward, redy to deliver the baconne in this manner

He fhall enquere of hym whiche demandeth the baconne, yf he have brought tweyne of hys neghbors with hym. Whyche muft anfwer

they be here ready," and then the fteward fhall caufe theese two neighbours to fwere, yf the faid demandaunt

E

demandaunt be a weddyt man, or have been a man weddyt, and yffythe hys mariage one yere and a day be pafled; and yf he be a freeman or villeyn. And if his feid neghbours make othe that he hath for hym all thies three poynts reherfed, then fhall the baconne be taken down, and broughte to the halle-dore; and fhall there be layed uponne half a quarter of wheate, and uponne one other of rye. And he that demandeth the baconne fhall kneele upon his knee, and fhall hold his right hande uponne a boke, which boke fhall be layed above the baconne and the corne, and shall make othe in this manere

Here ye, fir Philip de Somerville, lord of Whichenovre, mayntener and gyver of this baconne, that I. A. fithe I wedded B. my wyfe, and fythe I had her in my keeping, and at my wille, by a yere and a day after our mariage, I wod not have chaunged for none other, farer ne fowler, rycher ne powrer, ne for none other defcended of greater lynage, flepyng ne wakyng, at noo tyme. And yf the fayd B. were fole, and I fole, I wolde take her to be my wyfe, before all the women in the worlde of what condicions foever they be, good er evylle, as help me God and bys feynts and thy's flefhe and all ficfhes

feid corn fhall be layed uponne horse and the baconne above ytt; and he to whom the baconne apperteigneth fhall affend upon his horfe, and hall take the cheefe before hym, if he have a horfe; and yf he have none, the lord of Wichenovre fhall caufe hym to have one horse and fadyll to fuch tyme as he be palled hys lordfhippe; and fo fhalle they depart the manoir of Whichnovie with the corne and the baconne, to fore him that hath won it, with trompetts, tabouretts, and other maner of mynftralce; and all the free-tenants of Whichenovre fhall conduct hym to be pafled the lordfhipe of Whichenovre, and then fhall they all retorne except hym to whom apperteigneth to make the carryage and journey without the countye of Stafford at the costys of his lord of Whichenovre.

And yf the feid Robert Knyghtleye do not caufe the baconne and corne to be conveyed as is reherled, the lord of Wychnovre fhall do it to be caryed, and fhall distreigne the faid Robert Knyghtley for his default for one hundred fhillings, in his manoir of Rudlowe, and shall kepe the diftrefs fo takyn yrreple vifable.

Inquiry whether Herodotus was acquainted with the River Joliba. By Profeffor Heeren, of Gottingen.

ROM the general attention di

wards Africa, and from the many attempts undertaken to explore that quarter of the globe, we may confidently hope, that, after the lapfe of a few years, it will no longer be to us a terra ignota. The departing century delivers over to the fuc

ceeding

ceeding at leaft the key to the difcovery, if it does not tranfmit the difcovery itfelf. The prefent, then, is the proper point of time, to collect, put in order, and compare all the information we already poffefs, for the purpose of furnishing a clue to, and facilitating future difcoveries. And, indeed, the mafs we already know, or might know, is very great, certainly greater than moit people imagine. Africa was never unknown: in ancient times, and in the middle ages, its northern coafts, were inhabited by polifhed and enlightened nations: the Carthagenians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Arabians, who, either as merchants or conquerors, penetrated far into the continent, and one way or other brought back with them a variety of knowledge, as ftrikingly appears from the writings of the Greek geographers. But what may in an eflential manner excite wonder, how rich a treasure of accounts has not Herodotus, the father of hiftory and geography, left us concerning this quarter of the globe! Many of theme. g. his defcription of the caravan-tracks, by which the Carthagenians and Egyptians travelled through North Africa, have only become clearly intelligible fince the most recent difcoveries; almost every one of which is likewife illuftrated and confirmed by fome paffage in Herodotus. Another ftriking example of this is furnished by the accounts which Mungo Park, partly as eye witnefs, partly from inquiries, has lately brought back with him concerning the river Joliba, which flows in the very heart of Africa, in a direction from weft to eat. Every reader, who has a tafte for fuch refearches, will be agreeably furprised to find, that

Herodotus not only knew this moft recent geographical difcovery; but that he likewife was able to give us very clear information concerning things, which the greatest geographers of the eighteenth century only conjecture, or which are even altogether unknown. I fhall here tranflate the paffage of his hiftory, book ii. chap. 32, 33, which relates to this fubject; and endeavour to illuftrate it from the "Proceedings of the African Affociation." lately publifhed, and from Rennel's excellent new map of North Africa, annexed to that work.

"What I have hitherto related," fays Herodotus (he had given an accurate defcription of the courfe of the Nile, higher up than Egypt, as far as Sennaar, and even as far as Gojam) "I learned from men of Cyrene, who told me that they had been at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and converfed with Etearchos, the king of the Ammonians. Among other topics of converfation, they had likewife chanced to difcourfe of the Nile and the remarkable circumftance that no one was acquainted with its fources. Etearchos had then faid, that fome men belonging to the Nafamones had vifited him Nalamones are a nation of Libyan origin, and dweil on the borders of the Syrtis, and in the next adjoining region, to the caft, but not far); and when he had inquired of them, whether they could not give him fome informa tion concerning the deserts of the interior of Africa, they had communicated to him the following particulars: Among their countrymen fome bold young men, fons of their chiefs, who had executed many daring enterprifes; had chofen twelve from among them, by lot,

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who