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following comparative statement respecting the use of Chaff, and the common practice of serving horses, &c. with hay.

"I have, throughout the summer, kept my horses in the stabie, feeding them with good hay and beans. My oxen have, on the contrary, always been turned out to grass when liberated from their work: they have had the range of good pastures, and the benefit of some less valuable hay, previous to their going to their labour. My horses, five in number, have been regularly worked in pairs; latterly, after much opposition on the part of my servants, with reins. The oxen, four in number, have worked in collars, drawing generally a stout Beverstone plough, or a large drag and scuffler: their labour has been constant and rather severe. As our meadows began to fail us towards the end of September, owing to the quantity of stock upon them, it became necessary to allow the oxen more and better hay.

"The increased expenditure alarmned me; as the four oxen and the five horses, consumed no less than four tons within one month. This caused me to prohibit the use of hay in the racks, and to feed all the cattle with chaff; of which, a boy can cut sufficient for daily use in two hours.

"My servants not only ridiculed the change, but so far as they dared, opposed it, in an under hand manner, by various evasions and pretexts.- -Aided by the care and vigilance of the young gentlemen with me, the system of chaff-feeding was fully established; and the quantity needful for the horses and the oxen, separately ascertained.

"One hundred weight of hay was found to yield 20 bushels of

chaff, pressed into the measure and piled as high as it could safely be carried; consequently, each bushel weighed about 5 pounds. It was found, that the five horses would eat twelve bushels of chaff during the 24 hours; and that the four oxen would consume an equal quantity in the same time. Ever since the oxen have been fed with chaff only, they have, very evidently, improved in condition; as have also the horses, although their work has latterly been on heavier soil, and of course, more severe than formerly.

"Twenty-four bushels of chaff, at 20 to the hundred weight, amount to about 211⁄2 tons yearly; which, deducted from 48 tons, (the quantity we were consuming within the year,) gives a saving of about 26 tons, or more than half.

"I have, however, carried the retrenchments farther, by cutting in bean stalks to the extent of about a quarter of the chaff; these, being laid uppermost in the cutting trough, keep the hay well pressed, and cause it to be cut inore regularly. Thus, we now use about 2500 weight of hay monthly, instead of four tons!

"It is customary, in our quarter, to throw bean stocks under cattle; a practice which cannot be too speedily abolished. Mine had suffered much from standing out a full month in the late rainy weather; yet all my cattle ate the chaff cut from them alone, without hesitation: indeed, rather in preference.

"I am, &c. "Thomas Williamson.

"Writhlington, Nov. 9, 1812."

In all the lists of the Jews said to be living at present in Europe, none are correct-the following

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FOREIGN CHRONICLE.

FRENCH HOUSEBREAKERS.-A | Paris journalist, after announcing the trial of a band of nineteen housebreakers, remarks, that the most dangerous class of thieves were those who combined for the purpose of carrying on their depredations with the greater security and effect. They had their leaders, their laws, and their organization so skilfully combined, as not even to be destroyed by the imprisonment or condemnation of those who directed the gang. From prison they still issued orders, were obeyed, and received a share in the plunder. Among a number of facts, to support this assertion, the writer mentions the the following, which occurred to a Paris advocate, who had long practised in the courts of criminal justice: "The wife of this advocate, on coming out of the Feydeau theatre, perceived that a large cut had been made in the bottom of her bag, through which her purse, scent-box, tooth-pick case, and a small gold watch, had been softly made to dropt, probably into a hat. Her husband, who had learned how to know his people, next morning repaired to one of the prisons, where he was immediately surrounded by a tribe of clients: he told them, with much displeasure, of the robbery of his wife-" Ah? Sir," said one of the leaders, "pardon the mistake; doubtless the man who played this bad joke had not the honour to know Madame. As to you, Sir," addressing the advocate," be as

sured that nothing shall be neglected to give you a proof of our esteem and gratitude." The advocate departed tolerably cheered by his client's promises. Next morning a person brought a packet addressed to his wife, and containing all she had lost the evening before, except the tooth-pick case. A letter accompanying the packet requested Madame to accept the excuses of a novice who had given her a moment's uneasiness, and to satisfy herself by a search whether she was not mistaken in stating the tooth-pick case to be one of the trinkets she had lost. In fact the lady afterwards found it in her work-bag." The writer then mentions one Delzeve, who had been brought to justice, as one of the most famous of these nocturnal depredators. The Indian jugglers, says this writer, the French jugglers, the rope dancers, the most intrepid vaulters on the slack-rope, were mere novices and poltroons beside him. With one spring he used to vault to the shelf of a first story, and he could throw almost to any height a cord with a hook at the end of it, by means of which he contrived to mount. The following feat would appear a fable, if not supported by numerous witnesses, and testified by the registers of the Conciergerie: the walls surrounding the court of that prison are from 50 to 60 feet high, and at the top are garnished with chevaux-de-frise, whose points bend downwards. Having succeeded in eluding the

vigilance of his keepers, who at night-fall make the prisoners turn in to their rooms, Delzeve, retreating to an angle of the wall, without the aid of any instrument, supporting himself merely against the two walls, and by some inconceivable movement of his feet and elbows, mounted to the iron spikes. He seized one of them at its extremity, and balanced himself till the moment when he thought he could give himself sufficient impulsive force. Then making a spring he threw himself over the chevaux-de-frise upon the roof of an adjoining house, and succeeded in making his escape. One of his companions, less adroit, having tried the same experiment, fell, and was dashed to pieces on the pavement of the prison. None of the present gang equal Delzeve; they only resemble him in the means of escalade. Those who leave their windows open during the night, expose themselves to a yisit which often costs them dear. A ladder of cords or even a single cord with a hook at the end of it, thrown with dexterity, enables the plunderer to mount, and the chamber of the sleeper is sometimes stripped before his sleep is interrupted. To avoid the inconvenience of loading their pockets with a packet of cords, they have devised a mode of opening the small niches in which the cords for suspending the lamps are enclosed. They cut them, and form a ládder on the spot. The gang, now in the hands of justice, stand accused of having committed a vast number of robberies. The police had been long on the watch for these gentlemen, when one of the chiefs gave information of their retreats and they were apprehended.

The French Almanacks give VOL. II.

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the following table of the population of Paris for 1815:-Of 20,000 children (as nearly as possible) born every year in Paris, 10,000 only attain the age of 20, and 6800 attain the age of 45. One fourth of the children born die within the first year, and one third never attain 2 years of age. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the French government in support of vaccination, deaths by small-pox form a considerable item in this bill of mortality. The calculator proceeds to draw the inference, that if the whole population of France be 29 millions, the middle term of human beings who attain the age of 20 years is 251,690.

MADAME CATALINI.

The Official Gazette of Berlin of the 30th of June, contains the following article:

Maria Catalini was born at Sinigaglia, in the land of the Church, and descended from an honourable family. She was placed early in a convent, where she remained till she was fourteen years of age. Her voice even then was so surprising, that she was applauded whenever she sung in the choir with the nuns; and on that account her singing was prevented, lest her vanity should be excited. Her talents developed themselves so early, so rapidly and in so peculiar a manner, that at the age of 15 years she appeared with success at the side of Marchesi and of Crescentini. At this period the court of Portugal collected at great expense several Virtuosi at Lisbon. Catalini was invited at a salary of 24,000 crusades (12,000 crowns.) She remained four years in Portugal, and then travelled through Spain and France, proceeding to England, where very advantageous proposals were made 2 I

to her. She sung at Madrid and Paris. In the first of these towns a single concert produced 3500 louis d'or. At Paris she gave a concert, for which the tickets were a louis each. She remained eight years and a half in England, and never did a singer in that rich country collect so abundant a harvest. Her benefit concerts were worth more that 9000 guineas, independent of the considerable presents that she received for private concerts. She left that country which was to her a mine of gold, for the purpose of going to Paris, where the king has granted her the privilege of the Italian theatre. She is the sole proprietor and directress of this theatre, which, during her absence, has been confided to the celebrated Paer. She wishes to revisit her native country from which she has been so long absent; but in going thither she performs a great circuit, as she travels through Germany, and will give concerts at Hanover, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, and Vienna. Madame Catalini is about 32 years of age; but she seems younger; because independent of a distinguished figure, she has a beautiful Roman head. She is so modest, with such talents, that she is called La Cosa Rara.-She has been married eleven years to M. de Vallabreque, an old officer of hussars, but she is resolved to keep her own name of Catalini, while she continues in her profession. Three children are the fruits of her marriage, of whom two were born in England, and the third in France."

An artist at Manchester has made a knife, which contains three blades, a button hook, a saw, a punch and screw driver, a box, cork-screw, hook and gimlet, two

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FATAL EVENT IN WELL-STREET.

On Wednesday morning, about half past ten o'clock, a dreadful explosion took place in the extensive sugar baking warehouse of Mr. Constadt, of Well Street, (Well Close Square) which was attended with the most fatal circumstances.-It appears that a new process has lately been discovered for the quick refinement of sugar by means of steam; and Mr. Constadt, under the direction of Mr. Hague, the engineer, had constructed a new steam boiler, worked by what is called a pressure engine, of about six horse power, the boiler holding about 2000 gallons. To this was attached all the necessary apparatus of

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