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expensive, and the tradesman, who was willing to sacrifice a little for the good of his country, does not chuse, or perhaps is not able, to go on further. Preventing then these sort of causes from being removed by certiorari, would put an entire stop to this method of escape, as it has, in a great measure, of persons for keeping disorderly houses. Lastly, as the Jaw now stands, the highest punishment in the power of any court to indict on a cheat, is, either fine, imprisonment, or pillory, or all three. The general place for imprisonment on these occasions is Newgate, an excellent academy for the improvement of morals. As to the pillory, as it exposes men to public infamy, without ridding society of them, it too often obliges them to change fraud for violence, and conrerts the gambler into a highwayman. The effects of public shame, while the party remains in the kingdom, is, in no instance, seen in so true a light, as in the general fate of those who have been admitted as evidences against their accomplices, by which means they have saved their own lives, which they always make use of in raising another gang, as soon as they have obtained their liberty : and I scarcely know an instance of an evidence's living inore than one or two sessions after his counrades; for having become infamous, he is driven out of society, and as it were necessitated to follow his old trade. If, therefore, the quartersessions had power given them to transport gamblers when their characters are notorious, and the injury great, as they have in cases of perjury, it would strike a terror on this body of harpies, and if it did not prevent frauds entirely, would rid the nation of some notorious villains, And as to evidences in robberies and in otber capital offences, if after the conviction of their accomplices, they were to be tried on their own confessions and transported for life, the public would be relieved from a dangerous nuisance, and the motive for the discovery of accomplices remain sufficiently strong to answer the end. 1756, Der

John FIELDING

XXIV. Method to prevent Water-pipes from freezing:

MR. URBAN, EVERY one must have observed, during the late frost, the numberless heaps of borse-dung, which had been purposely luid ir: most of the streets of this metropoliş; and how muchia after it is dark, these embarrass, and in some degree, endanger, those who pass through them, especially on foot, every one in his turn must have been sensible.

As during frosty weather, the leaden pipes, which convey the water from the streets into our houses, are subject to be frozen, these heaps of dung are laid over such parts of the streets as the leaden pipes are conducted through, in expectation of their being thereby protected from the effects of the frost.

The heat of horse dung, when lying in large heaps in its putrescent state, is acknowledged to be very considerable; but when dung, even in this state, is divided into small parcels, and of course exposed to the action of cold air under a large surface, it quickly loses its beat, and becomes of the same temperature with the ground upon which it lies, and of the atmosphere which surrounds it.

How little, therefore, so gentle a heat, and of so short a continuance as these heaps are endowed with in frosty weather, can contribute to thaw the water already supposed to be frozen in the pipes, or prevent its freezing therein at the depth of three or four feet from the surface of the ground, must be obvious to every one, who is in the least degree conversant in thermometrical experiments and observations. But admitling, that it really had this power of preventing the freezing of the water in those pipes, over wbich it is applied, in this case it does no service; as, unless in very long continued and very severe frosts, the ground in this metropolis is rarely frozen to the depths at which the wooden pipes, which convey our water, are usually laid: and indeed, in these the water has seldom, if ever, been known to freeze. The leaden pipes in the streets are laid generally at, or nearly at, the same depth with the. wooden ones; and unless the ground is frozen to the depth to which they are laid, even these are rarely frozen in sucla parts of their length, as are continued in the ground.

But as it must necessarily happen, for our greater accommodation and convenience, that great lengths of leaden pipe, quite exposed to the open air, are conducted to various parts of our dwellings; these, indeed, are subject to be frozen up, and rendered useless by even slight frosts; as the water, more particularly if stagnant in them, soon partakes of the coldness of the atmosphere surrounding the pipe in which it is contained. And if the temperature of the air causes the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer to stand at any degree under thirty for a few hours, the water, if stagnant, will be frozen in these pipes. In proportion as the

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cold increases, from the contraction of the lead, the diameter of the pipes lessens, and the water dilating by freezing with an almost incoercible force, bursts the pipe frequently in many parts of its length. How little therefore, to prevent these effects, the heaps of dung laid in the streets can contribute, no great sagacity is required to guess; as attempting to thaw the water at such a depth as has been mentioned, and where it is really not frozen, can by no means produce the desired effect, where it really is.

The detecting vulgar errors and exploding them, however expedient and right in itself, should not be the whole of our attention: we should go further and endeavour to obviate the inconveniences which give rise to them; and from a careful consideration of what has already been premised, this perhaps may not be found very difficult. The desideratum then is to prevent the freezing of the water in such parts only of the leaden pipes, as are exposed to the open air. This, in slight frosts, is in some degree prevented, by letting the water run to waste; but in long continued frosts this method avails little; to say nothing of the vast quantities of ice in our streets, arising from the waste water.

To prevent therefore this waste of water (which of itself in long continued dry frosty seasons is of no small moment) and the inconveniences, arising from the ice in the streets, accruing from it; to prevent likewise the bursting of the leaden pipes, and to command a constant supply of water at any time, when it is not frozen in the wooden pipes, which very rarely happens, is the more particular reason of my troubling you with this paper. This I first put in practice during the hard winter of the year 1739, from which time to the present, the leaden pipe, though conducted many yards in the open air, has never been frozen.

The apparatus to be employed for this purpose is neither expensive nor troublesome: it consists only of two additional brass cocks. One of these is to be inserted into the leaded pipe in the ground, two feet at least before it comes into the open air. This is to serve as a stop-cock to turn off the water at pleasure; for which reason it must be guarded by a wooden case, which must come from it and reach near to the surface of the ground; and through this, by the help of an iron key, this cock may be turned. To keep off the cold, the case should be filled up with horse litter, and covered over, even with the ground, with a brick or stone.

The other cock is to be fastened to the leaden pipe in the open air, in any part of its length, provided that it is somewhat below the level of the stop-cock, just mentioned. This cock is here inserted for no other purpose than simply to empty the leaden pipe of all its water, after it has been turned off by the stop-cock; but it may at other times be applied to any other use.

In all weather, except frosty, the stop-cock need not be attended to; but when this weather happens, and consequently the freezing of the water in the leaden pipe is to be apprehended, care must be taken to fill your cisterns and reservoirs with water, and then to turn the stop-cock. Empty afterwards the leaden pipe of its water by means of the other cock, which being thus emptied, can suffer no injury from the frost; as there can be no ice therein either to stop the course of the water, or by its dilatation to burst the pipe. And by these means the water may be let through, and turned off as often as occasion may require; only remembering that when the necessary quantity of water is obtained, the stop-cock be always turned, and the pipe emptied; a matter of very little trouble.

In some parts of this metropolis the water comes into the houses constantly, except while the wooden pipes are mending: in others only at stated times, but this makes little or no difference with regard to what I have laid down.

After what has been here mentioned, it is submitted, whether it is not obvious from the methods proposed, that the freezing of the water in our leaden pipes, and the bursting of them therefrom (except in those very severe seasons, when they should happen to be frozen in the ground) will be prevented; that a constant and necessary supply of water, as well in winter as in summer, may be procured; that the breaking up of the pavements in the streets for a scanty supply to the inhabitants, will be unnecessary; and that the making our streets impassable by the quantity of ice, formed, in a great measure, out of the water running to waste, be much less frequent; provided sufficient attention be given to the easy methods here laid down. Nor would any one, I presume, if this should be made public, give himself the unnecessary, as well as ineffectual trouble, of laying dung in the streets.

Yours, &c.

W. W.

1757, Jan.

XXV. Chinese manner of laying out Gardens. By Mr. Chambers, Architect, Member of the Imperial Academy

of Arts, at Florence.

THE gardens which I saw in China, were small; nevertheless, from them, and what could be gathered from Lopqua, a celebrated Chinese painter, with whom I had several conversations on the subjects of gardening, I think I have acquired sufficient knowledge of their notions on this head.

Nature is their pattern, and their aim is to imitate her in all her beautiful irregularities. Their first consideration is the form of the ground, whether it be flat, sloping, billy, or mountainous, extensive, or of small compass, of a dry or marshy nature, abounding with rivers and springs, or liable to a scarcity of water; to all which circumstances they attend with great care, chusing such dispositions as humour the ground, can be executed with the least expence, hide its defects, and set its advantages in the most conspicuous light.

As the Chinese are not fond of walking, we seldom meet with avenues or spacious walks, as in our European plantations. The whole ground is laid out in a variety of scenes, and you are led, by winding passages cut in the groves, to the different points of view, each of which is marked by a seat, a building, or some other object.

The perfection of their gardens consists in the number, beauty, and diversity of these scenes. The Chinese gar

. deners, like the European painters, collect from nature the most pleasing objects, which they endeavour to combine in such a manner, as not only to appear to the best advantage separately, but likewise to unite in forming an elegant and striking whole.

Their artists distinguish three different species of scenes, to which they give the appellations of pleasing, horrid, and enchanted. Their enchanted scenes answer, in a great measure, to what we call romantic, and in these they make use of several artifices to excite surprise. Sometimes they make a rapid stream or torrent, pass under ground, the turbulent noise of which strikes the ear of the new-comer, who is at a loss to know from whence it proceeds. At other times they dispose the rocks, buildings, and other objects that form the composition, in such a manner as that the wind passing through the different interstices

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