round him, and feizes hold of him; he who has moft warmth, or facility of expreffion, or is better acquainted with the particulars, fteps forward and states what has juft happened; the votes are fucceffively taken, and the majority of thefe determine the treatment that the malefactor is to be made to fuffer: in general he is roughly handled, he is placed under a pump and copioufly drenched with water, or ducked in a pond, and afterward pelted with mud, every one is eager to give his blow; fometimes he is left either dead or very nearly fo. There are in London, old harridans who make a trade of kidnapping little girls, in order to fell them to houfes of ill fame: the people break out into a rage, at the fight of women whom they fuppofe fuch, and do juftice on them with incredible animofity. What a diverfified spectacle is the manners of a city, contain ing fo much wealth, fo much luxury, where reign laws fo wife, paffions fo warm, fo many fources of crimes and of virtues!

Ranelagh.

We concluded this day by going to Ranelagh we went there before nine o'clock, in order to be able to examine the gardens: the company does not croud thither till between eleven o'clock and midnight: every one retires about three. The gardens of Ranelagh, although agreea ble, are infignificant, and do not conftitute the effential part of this charming place, the principal building of which is a rotunda of an elegant form, and ornamented in the beft manner. The mufic animates in a fingular degree the concourse of a confiderable number of perfons: it is entirely in the Italian ftyle, although the words of the air are English. The women go their dreffed; they in general take each other by the arm, and walk in this manner, feveral together, without any gentleman.

Every thing there breathes the air of liberty, the ton of decorum, and of the greatest tranquillity: no noife, no crowd, no contufion: it is the fame in all the places of public affemblies, even among the populace, and in the markets. The people every where difplay a prudent character; they take their enjoyments quietly, and with voluptuoufnefs: warmth, energy, and paffion, are manifefted only in elections, or againit acts of injuftice.

Kew Palace and Gardens. It was at Kew, a country-feat belonging to the king, that we stopt with the greatest fatisfaction. The buildings are nothing: fimple and neat, they are like the common houses of individuals in eafy circumftances, and do not deferve to be vifited. The gardens, fpacious, and kept in admirable order, in the English style, are the most interesting that I have ever feen; the most skilful art cannot be better disguised; every thing breathes nature and freedom; every thing is grand, noble, and graceful. The lawns extend on all fides their foft and elaftic carpets: vigorous trees fhoot up and cover them, here and there, without affecting their beauty. The walks, feldom in a ftraight line, perfectly infulate the vifitor from all that furrounds them. In every one of thefe he thinks he is in a place favoured by the gods, and unknown to the reft of the world: they are formed, on all fides, of a great variety of trees, to the depth of five or fix feet on the lines defcribed by the alley; the leaft lofty of them are the nearest the border, which is terminated by fhrubs intermixed with flowers; the fir and the acacia, the oak and the lime, the holly and the tulip-tree, the afh and the cyprefs interweave their branches: while the plane-tree and the pine rear their head to the molt remote row, the little fhrub trefoil, and the dogwood flower

by.

people repair in crowds; it is alfo in thefe fuburbs that are fituate houfes of a very different kind, and far fuperior to ours efstablished for the fame end, boarding fchools for young la

dies.

1

Many women take on themfelves the education of their daughters; but there are fome alfo, who, not chooling, or not being able, or perhaps not daring to undertake it, place their children in these houses of public inftruction. They are generally kept by perfons of diftinguished merit, of rigid morals, and of a wellestablished reputation. They fcarcely take more than ten or twelve young ladies: it is properly a family, whofe common mother, the mitrefs, can know the character of each individual, and direct the whole with advantage to each pupil in particular.

The price of the first boardingfchools, in general, is a hundred guineas a year, for board and lodging, without reckoning any mafter, the number and the choice of whom are left to the relations. The referve and modeft filence, which fo well become the fex, are here particularly inculcated in the young girls of family, who commonly bear the marks of it all their life, and who, notwithstand

ing a great fund of information, never betray that tone of confidence, that decided or giddy air which disfigure every grace.

In this country, the men do not behave to the women with that little gallantry fo common with us, which is reduced to fome grimaces and infipid compliments: they fhow them attentions which proceed from refpect, and are connected with the high idea they form of the virtues that they ought to poffcfs, with the affection that they deferve, and with the regard that is their due. The impreffion of thefe fentiments is alfo to be found among the people, and in the moft common cuftoms. A woman is refpected in the ftreets by a man of the lowest clafs, who would take care not to run against her, but on the contrary, would make way for her. Twice, on foot, taking hold of a perfon's arm, and being, by chance, on the outfide of the pavement, it was remarked with scandal, and it was hinted to him who accompanied me : the fame thing happened on the river, in a boat in which I had left the best place to an old man of confequence. Thefe facts are trifling; but it is a fhade which forms a connexion in the picture of manners.

their image, when viewed by a folar microfcope, is terminated by even lines, without any roughness. The furface of these objects, however, is by no means fmooth; on the contrary, it appears to be formed either of lamella, which cover each other from the root to the point, pretty much in the fame manner as the fcales of a fifh cover the animal from the head to the tail; or, more probably, of zones placed one over the other,

like

like what is obferved in the structure of horns to this conformation it is, that the fubftances here treated of owe their difpofition to what is called felting.

If, with one hand, we take hold of a hair by the root, and draw it between two fingers of the other, from the root toward the point, we are hardly fenfible of any friction or refiftence, nor can we diftinguish any found; but if, on the contrary, we hold the hair at the point, and draw it between the fingers, from the point toward the root, we are fenfible of a refiftence which did not exift in the former cafe; a fort of tremulous motion is likewife produoed, which is not only perceptible to the touch, but may also be distinguished by the ear.

It is evident, therefore, that the texture of the furface of a hair is not the fame from the root toward the point, as from the point toward the root; and that a hair, when grasped, must offer more refiftance in fliding or moving progreffively toward the point than toward the root: i. e. in moving with its point foremost.

If a hair, after being taken hold of by the forefinger and thumb, be rubbed by them, in the longitudinal direction of the hair, a progreffive motion takes place, and this motion is always toward the root. This effect does not at all depend on the nature of the skin of the fingers or its texture; for if the hair be turned, fo that the point is placed where the root was, the movement then becomes contrary to what it was before; that is to fay, it is always directed toward

fometimes against the fkin, takes a progreffive motion backward, and foon gets up to the arm-pit. It is very clear that this effect is produced by the beards of the ear, and indeed chiefly by the afperities upon those beards which being all directed toward the point, do not permit the ear to move in any other direction than toward that part to which it was united to the ftalk. There is no doubt that it is the fame with refpect to hair; and that its furface is befet with afperities, which, being laid one upon the other, and turned toward the points, permit no motion but tcwards the root.

A tight knot, made in the middle of a hair, is very difficult to untie by the ufual means, on account of the extreme thinnefs of the hair: but if we place the hair in the bend of the hand, fo that the knot is in a line with the little finger, and, after grafping the hair by closing the hand, we ftrike the first feveral times against the knee, the afperities of one end of the hair being now in a contrary direction to thofe of the other, each of the ends recedes a little, one of them one way, the other the contrary way; the knot is thereby opened, and, by introducing a pin into the eye which is formed, it is very eafy to finish untying it.

Thefe obfervations, which it would be ufelefs to multiply, relate to long hair, that having been taken as an example; but they apply with equal propriety to wool, furs, and in general to every kind of animal hair. The furface of all these is therefore to be confidered as compofed of hard lamella, placed one upon another, like tiles, from the root to the point: which lamelle allow the progreffive motion of the hair toward the root, but prevent a fimilar motion toward the point.

From what has been faid, it is easy to explain why the contact of woollen ftuffs is rough to the skin, while that

of

of linen or cotton cloths is fmooth: the reafon is, the afperities upon the furface of the fibres of the wool (not withstanding the flexibility of each particular fibre) by fixing themfelves in the fkin, produce a difagreeable fenfation, at least till we are accuftomed to it: whereas the furface of the fibres of hemp or flax, of which linen is made, being perfectly fmooth, do not cause any fuch fenfation. It is also evident, that the injury arifing to wounds or fores, from the application of wool, does not proceed from any chemical property, but is occafioned folely by the conformation of the furface of the fibres; the afperities of which attach themselves to the raw and expofed flesh, which they ftimulate and irritate to fuch a degree as to produce inflammation.

This conformation is the principal cause of that difpofition to what is called felting, which the hair of all animals in general poffeffes.

The hatter, by ftriking the wool with the ftring of his bow, feparates the hairs from each other, and caufes them to fpring up in the air; the hairs fall again on the table, in all poffible directions, fo as to form a layer of a certain thickness, and the workman covers them with a cloth, which he preffes with his hands, moving them backward and forward in various directions. This preffure brings the hairs against each other, and multiplies their points of contact: the agitation of them gives to each hair a progreffive motion toward the root; by means of this motion the hairs are twisted together, and the lamella of each hair, by fixing themfelves to thofe of other hairs which happen to be directed the contrary way, keep the whole in that compact state which the preffure makes it acquire. In proportion as the mafs becomes compact, the preffure of the hands fhould be increased: not only to make it more clofe, but also to keep up the progreffive motion and

twifting of the hairs, which then takes place with greater difficulty: but throughout the whole of this operation, the hairs fix themselves only to each other, and not to the cloth with which they are covered, the fibres of which, as we have already said, are fmooth, and have not that difpofition to felting which we have defcribed above.

It may not be amifs here to explain why that hair which is intended for making hats is always cut off with a fharp inftrument (although that cannot be done without lofing a part of its length) and not plucked out by the roots, as might be done after softening the fkin; the reafon is, the bulb of the hair, which in the latter cafe would come out with it, would render that end which was fixed in the fkin thick and obtufe; and it would confequently be lefs difpofed to introduce itself among the contiguous hairs, and to contribute by its progreffive motion to the contexture of the mafs.

The above defcribed conformation of the furface of hairs and wool is not the only caufe which produces their difpofition to felting. It is not fufficient that every hair poffeffes the forementioned tendency to move progreffively toward the root, and that the inclined lamella, by hooking themfelves to each other, preferve the mafs in that ftate to which compreffion has brought it; but it is alfo neceffary that the hairs fhould not be ftraight, like needles: if they were fo, preffing and rubbing them together would merely cause them to continue their progreffive motion, without changing their direction; and the effect of thofe operations would only be to make them move from the centre of the mafs, without producing any compactnefs in it. Every hair muft therefore be twisted or curled in fuch a manner that the extremity, which is toward the root, may be difpofed to change its direction perpetually, to twilt itself about

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