as the mutton of Africa; and the mutton of this country of Spain is as nourishing and tender as the pullets of Alexandria. They likewife rear here a great many cattle, as well on the mountains as on the level plains, and tame pigs, whofe flesh is much efteemed as food, and conftitutes a confiderable part of their ordinary living. They make ufe of cattle for labouring the ground with the plough, and fowing the feed. Camels or dromedaries they have none; and on enquiring at the inhabitants why they did not use them, es in Africa and Afia, they faid, that although they had often attempted to rear them, having obtained them from Africa from time to time for that purpose, yet they always died; from whence I conclude that their climate is unfavourable for thefe creatures. In the province of Iberia, called Vandalufia, they breed many fine horses, extremely beautiful, and fpirited for war; and at prefent they are much efteemed by the Moors: In the kingdom of Caftile they alfo breed a great number of large mules, of great ftrength and beauty; and alfo a fmaller fort, which are used all over the kingdom as beafts of burden, for drawing carriages and other works*. Generally, through the whole of the kingdom they have an infinite number of bee-hives, from which they gather much honey and wax, which is of a finer quality than thofe of Africa and Arabia. They likewife rear much flax, of which they make fine linen,--and hemp. The filk of this kingdom is very good, but they value it not; and therefore they produce but little of it. Of fruits and legumes, they have great abundance, except dates, of which they have none in this kingdom; for although there be * It is impoffible not to remark, in reading this actount, how much the ancient and prefent ftate of Spain correfpond. The fame animals are now reared exactly as in former times. This defcription might ferve for the year 1789. VOL VI. + Z fome palm trees on the coaft, they are barren, and produce no fruit worth mentioning. "They have great variety of medecinal herbs, as their learned authors write, except aromatics, which are brought from India by fea, for their use. "In this kingdom there are many mines of filver and other metals, except gold; nor have I feen any of it in this conqueft, that is of any value, though fome christians have informed me, that in the kingdom of Don Pelayo, towards the western coast, in a district rough and rocky, called, by its proper name, Finifterra, they gather of its ore in great quantities, and that at the time this kingdom was fubjected to the Romans, they obtained great treafures from thefe mines. "There are no pearls in this kingdom, nor precious flones of value; for, although they have fome pearls, they are very tender, and have neither that hardness nor fineness which alone conftitutes their value and eftimation. "Leaving the land and the water, and returning to the air, and the winged fowls. There comes to winter in this kingdom, of thrushes and other leffer birds fuch immenfe quantities as to excite aftonishment, and contribute not a little to the fupport of the inhabitants. "No wild beafts, nor carniverous animals, deftructive of man, are found in this country; and also it is exceedingly well peopled, without having any part of it uninhabited worthy of confideration; only their flocks of theep fometimes fuftain damage from the wolves which shelter themfelves in the mountains. "Let this fuffice for the defcription of the kingdom of Spain, feeing it is time to continue the hiftory, which is the principal object of our defign." Here ends our author's defcription of Spain; in fome future number, if I find thefe extracts are well relished, farther particulars respecting the government and domeftic ceconomy of the Moors fhall be communicated to the readers of this work. As I make it a rule, every Sunday, to read fuch books as may call my meditations to piety and virtue, and lead me to examine my paft conduct, and to ammend it as much as poffible for the future, by the due government of my paffions, and the performance of fuch duties as may moft conduce to the welfare of fociety, I happened lately to dip into the Bee, and to caft my eye on the letter of Senex vol. II. p. 133, which I had not before confidered with attention.He is a refpectable and valuable correfpondent, and his communications are beautiful, and interesting. I have not observed, of a long time, his hand, or fignature, in the Bee. Perhaps he is gone to that place "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." If, however, he is alive, this little letter of mine may give him pleasure, and if he be dead it may stand for his elegy. A friend, when dead, is but remov'd from fight, Oft with the mind, he wonted converse keeps, Thomfon's unprinted elegy on Aikman. The most interesting moral spectacle in the world is a virtuous, warm hearted, chearful, contented old man, "who renews his age by the recollection of what is paft, and forgets his infirmities and misfortunes by participating in the innocent joys of fociety." Who fortifies his religion and philofophy by the entrenchments of science, literature, and tafte; and looking from "nature up to nature's God, anticipates the joys of that ftate for which his life and his continual employments are preparatory! "This man I hail, the fubject of my lays, He with'd to banish from his tranquil breast : Martial. THE precife time when thithes were first introduced into Britain we are unable to determine, but may be affured they are of great antiquity. Some authors contend, they were introduced along with christianity; but we have every reason to believe they are of a much older date. The ancient Britons, who are fuppofed coeval with the Brachmans of India, or the Magi of Perfia, had probably this inftitution among them. We are led to this conjecture from the fimilarity of their religious doctrines, as well as the great power of their druids or priests over the king and people. No ceremonies were performed, no council could be held, 1 no magiftrates chofen without their approbation; in thort, the king appears rather to have been the creature or flave of the druids; and in all probability both were maintained from the fame fource. As the arts and sciences were very little cultivated among the Britons, the mechanic trades must have been in a low condition; government could expect no fupply from thefe. The burden, therefore, muft have fallen entirely upon the land; and this might be effected as well by tithes as any other. It may be objected to thefe, that the Britons had very little intercourfe with foreign nations, fo could borrow nothing from them. It may be observed, that the ordeal, or fiery trial practifed by the ancient Greeks, was alfo in practice among the Saxons, and continued in use, till abolished by Henry III. Their religion alfo bears internal marks of their knowledge of the eastern nations; for their priests inculcated the doctrine of the immortality and trafmigration of the foul; that the world was incorruptible; that water had already prevailed over it; and, in the end, it would be disfigured by fire. They no doubt, like other nations, had their peculiarities, fuch as a dance in memory of the creation; they perhaps might have one in memory of its deftruction too; for Menippus the philofopher makes mention of a dance called the conflagration of the world, which is not to be found among the folemnities of the Greeks or Romans. The knowledge of tithes might be communicated to them by the Jews, who I believe were in this ifland much earlier than hiftory gives any account of. Many refpectable hiftorians maintain that the Jews were not known in England till the time of William the Conqueror, and that tithes took place foon after the knowledge of chriftianity. That the Jews were much earlier, is evident from a canon made in the eight cen |