married, on the 8th of Sept. 1761, to a German Princess. This was the excellent Queen Charlotte, who lived to a great age, and died, as we all remember, but a little while before the king. It was about the year 1766, that the power of the English in the East Indies began to increase in a wonderful manner under Lord Člive. About the year 1768, we hear of the commotions excited by the election of John Wilkes for Middlesex; he seems to have been an unsettled violent sort of man ;-but we need not trouble ourselves about him now. In the same year, the Royal Academy in London was established by the king, to encourage skill and diligence among artists: and there is still a great shew of pictures exhibited by them every year at Somerset House. You have often heard of Captain Cook; it was in this year that he set out on his voyage round the world. You know that the world is roundlike an orange-so that if a person sets off in one direction, and goes straight forward, he will come, in time, to the place from which he set off. Captain Cook finished his voyage round the world in about three years. In 1772 he made another voyage and returned in 1775. About this time the first battle was fought between the English and the Americans. By this war we lost much of our power in America. I believe, however, we are quite as well without it. In the year 1776, the Americans declared themselves independent of the crown of England. General Wasliington was the great commander of the American army. In the year 1778, the French joined the Americans against the English. About this time died the Earl of Chatham, who had been for many years a man of great weight and importance in the state. He was the father of Mr. Pitt, whom we all so well remember. Letter from a Father to his Son: 131 About the year 1779 the Spaniards acknowledged the independence of America, and joined them against us, so that we had to fight against France, and Spain, and America all at the same time. In this year Captain Cook, in his third voyage, was killed by the native savages of Owhy hee, an island in the Pacific Ocean. You have often heard me talk of the riots in the year 1780, which happened when I was a boy. The mob was supposed to have been collected together and encouraged by Lord George Gordon, in opposition to the parliament, for having granted some indulgencies to the Roman Catholics. This mob pulled down all the Romish Chapels in and about London; they also burned the prisons of Newgate, the Fleet, and the King's Bench, and many private houses besides; and they would probably have demolished the Bank, if they had not been stopped by the volunteers of the city of London and some regular troops which were called in. About two hundred of the rioters were killed or wounded. Lord George Gordon was tried for this, but was acquitted, as it could not be proved that he had encouraged the mob to any of their savage violence. In the year 1782, Admiral Rodney rose to great fame; he gained a great victory over the French by sea, and was made a Lord, as a reward for his courage and success. In America things went badly with us. I think I have already told you something about Gibraltar. You know that it lies just at the south point of Spain, and that it has long been in possession of the English. The Spaniards, we may be sure, do not much like us to have this place, and, about the time we are writing of, they tried to take it from us; but they could not manage it, for General Elliot, the Governor, with his boldness and his red-hot balls, put an end to all their attempts. In the year 1783, peace was made with America. All parties seemed tired of this long war; and, as we were not likely to get any good from it, the wisest and best thing we could do was to make peace. You see, I have given you but a very short account of the affairs of this reign, for I do not pretend in my letters to enter into all the particulars. Indeed this letter is already long enough; and I must therefore stop here for a while. In my next letter, I hope to go on with this reign. I stop, remember, at the end of the American war in the year 1783; and, as I am a dear lover of peace, I could not stop at a place more agreeable to me. I am, your affectionate Father, Feb. 18th, 1825. J. S. SIR, Reply to "a Practical Gardener." In the last Number of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor, I observed a letter from a Practical Gardener," stating that the application of train-oil to trees prevents their being barked by hares; this information will, I have no doubt, prove useful. The letter concludes with the following enquiry: "Is not E. W. B.'s lime-wash, though frequently used, of too caustic a quality?" In reply, I have to state, that I have seen it extensively used, and that it did not, in any one instance, injure the tree, but that, on the contrary, by destroying the insects. and moss upon the bark, it rendered the trees clean and healthy, and, of course, more vigorous: however, I do not think that it would be prudent to apply the lime-wash to recent wounds. Topical applications are, in general, of small avail in effecting the destruction of the meally Reply to a Practical Gardener 133 insect (Aphis Lanigera,) so common upon apple trees, and so destructive to them: however, when this insect first makes its appearance, the limewash will be found useful in checking its progress. The wash should be made as sharp as possible, by using lime that has been lately burned. It must be applied with a brush till every corner in which the insects have made a lodgment is filled; and I can assure your correspondent, that, with regard to the tree, its effects are perfectly innocent. To record the result of experiments which have failed, by warning others, is frequently useful; I therefore mention the following experiment, which was, last year, tried upon several hundred apple-trees. young These trees were injured, but not seriously, by the Aphis; and, to destroy the insects, the parts affected were thinly covered, by means of a painter's brush, with mineral tar, procured from the gasworks. The application was certainly effective, for the insect entirely disappeared, but, unfortunately, every weakly tree was also killed; and, of those which have survived, the bark has, in many places, peeled off. I beg leave to add, that this experiment was not tried either by me, or by my di rection. Trees are, in general, much diseased before the depredations of the insect become very important. Its presence is to be considered, rather as a symptom, than as a cause of disease. If the tree infested be young, it is, therefore, generally the best way to cut it down, and to regraft the stock with a free growing healthy kind; or, if it be aged, to remove it entirely. Birmingham, Feb. 5, 1825. E. W. B. (A NURSERYMAN.) THE ENGLISH GIRL. Sporting on the village green, Now within her humble door, Mary never idle sits, She either sews, or spins, or knits; O, how good should we be found, CENTO. THOMAS SHEPHERD. From the National School Magazine.-(Rivingtons'.) BEFORE Thomas Shepherd went to the National School, there was not a ruder boy in the village. He seemed to have nothing to do, and was always idling and wandering about the streets. He was very ignorant; but that was perhaps not his own fault, for his parents were not able to teach him to read, and they did not like to be at the expense of sending him to school. He never went to church on Sundays; but if there was a wedding, or a funeral, or any thing going on in the week days, Tom Shepherd was always there; not for the sake of the good |