O if your life's fucceeding years difplay
A constant, clear, and universal raý ;
If, as in age, in Virtue's love you grow,
As down their channels ftreams encreafing
flow;

If Reason's light and Grace's purer fire
Your mind irradiate and your breast inspire;
If gayly serious, innocently sweet,
Meckwithoutweakness, without pride difcreet,
Betwixt extremes a steady course you tend,
just to mankind, and to yourself a friend;
While, Sebeld, thy waves thro' Ganda's mea-

dows flow,

And fruitful verdure as they pass bestow;
Those fields as long as British Virgins grace,
For virtue, nobia, as their gen'rous race,
And far the common of their fex outshine
As vulgar torrents are furpafs'd by thine;
White wit, good-nature, youth and goodness
pleafe,

And blameless manners joined with graceful eafe ;

While fuch as give or merit praise furvive, Your honours, Sifter, and your name shall live. Ye fifter Virgins! in whofe spotless train Her infant breast receiv'd the heav'nly flame, Whole wildom fway'd her, and whofe virtue fird,

Whole milinefs charm'd her, and whose zeal

infpir'd;

O let a Brother's ever-grateful lays
Thole bright examples, which the fallow'd,
pra.le;

Bright as thofe ftars which in the milky way
United force and focial beams difplay?
Frequent and full the filver hoft of night
Supply the Sun and Heav'n's expansion light;
Euch in its sphere distinguish'd lustre shows,
And all emblaz'd the fpangled Æther glows.
But Tyldesly's virtues far above the rest,
To all confpicuous, and by all confeft,
Challenge fuperior praife, and make her be
The first in merit as in dignity:

Whofe ftate, her merits; worth, her noble

race;

Her fex, her prudence; virtues, age furpafs.
She like the Moon, fair Emprefs of the Night,
Above the leffer orbs divinely bright,
Exerts her beams, and o'er the sky displays
Diftinguith'd luftre and unrival'd rays:
While round the fov’reign of the itarry pole,
The fhining glories of the heavens roll.
NextLac fplendors that fair Ether grace,
The next in merit as the next in place;
In whom each virtue, each perfection join,
And charms of body with the foul's combine;
Where mildeft manners warm the noblest
breaft,

With native greatnefs and good-nature bleft,
Of all that Heav'n can give, or wish desire
•poffent,

Hard were the task, and difficult the theme

To give each virgin of the fister-train
That proper praise which each one's merits
Claim:

Whilft meeknefs, this; religion, that attends
Devotion, this; obedience, that commends ;
This, early prudence in a youthful bloom;
That, the rich labours of th' industrious
loom;

Here, foc.al virtues; there, celestial fue;
And fome prerogative to all is due.

So in Hefperian gardens, fam'd of old
For fertile filver and productive gold;
The eye, bewilder'd in the glonaus fight,
Surveys the whole with wonder and delightz
But doubts, in pleafing admiration lost,
What to prefer or what to value moit;
When equal charms with rival beauty vie
And only differ in variety.

Such, Sifer, are the bleffings of your fate,
And such the partners of your happy state:
O may you ever, in their train, poffels
A conftant calm and perfect happiness;
And here below anticipated prove
The joys which wait you in the realms above,
Till with each merit itor'd, each virtue bleit
Of ev'ry grace, and ev'ry good poffit,
Your blamelets foul shall take its easy flight,
And leave the earth to feek the realms of
light.

There rob'd in white, amidît the chosen ring,
Where spotless vigins Hymeneals fing;
Whofe tuneful breath, and more than mortal

lays,

Shall ev'n in heav'nly ears attention raise, Your honour'd voice thofe wond'rous notes thal reach,

Which only Virgins learn and Angels teach.

Thence when you caft, by heav'nly pity

mov'd,

A mindful look on those whom once you jov'd;

If yet among the fons of upper air,
The heavy load of mortal life I bear,
Let me in you my guardian fpirit prove.
An Angel's conduct and a Sifer's love;
Do you my ways direct, my Iteps attend,
At once my guide, companion, and my friend.
O teach me, teach me heav'nly joys to prizę,
Myself to conquer and the world despise :-
Prompt to my view each blistul scene dif-
play,

And charm my fight with gleams of endless` day:

Thus when this frame shall shake with ready

death,

And my lips trembie with their latest breath, My parting foul in feas of pleasure drown'd, By faints furrounded; and by angels crown'd,

From

Ay,

And mount triumphant on its native sky; There thron'd in glory hall we ever thine, And friendly spirits place my feat by thinë. Beide the pieces already mentioned,

gant translation in metre, of the beauti fal profe" Lauda Sion Salvatorem;" and an equally elegant & Cenfura Com. mentariorum Cornelii a Lapide," in Latin, printed on a single feet.

FOR OR the purpose of afcertaining the mean temperature of India, it would be neceffary to compare the refult of obfervations made in various and diftant fituations of the country. I am not in poffeffion of materials fusieient to chable me to determine fo general a queftion. What I have to say only relpects the temperature of the fouthern parts of the Peninfula, and the mean heat of the Coast of Coromandel.

The diftinguishing characteristic of this climate, is its uniformity of teinpe. rature, which, in the open parts of the Coaft, is never fubject to any funden or violent changes, It appears from a regifter kept at Madras, by Mr. Chamier, during four fucceffive years, that the heat at the fame hour, faine day, and the fame month of each year, varied but little. That the difference of tempera zare between morning, noon, and midnight, was often not more than 3 or 3 degrees; was generally about 6 or 7, and hardly ever exceeded 10. That the mean range of the Thermometer from the one year's end to the other, was con fined within the limits of 25 degrees; and that even taking into account the unufual heats and colds of particular feafons, the whole feale of Temperature from its most oppofite extremics exceed. ed not 36 degrees; viz. from 64 to zoo, which Mr. Chamier only obferved ence in the courfe of 4 years. But the extremes of heat and cold only occupy an inconfiderable portion of the year, and the inhabitant of Madras paffes four-fifths of his time in a temperature that is above 6 and below 90.

This unforin Temperature which prevails at Madras and many other places on the coaft, is in a great mea fure to be ascribed to the vicinity and influence of the ocean. But when we go into the interior parts of the country, where this influence is not felt, we meet with a greater variety of climate, and

with more intenfe extremes of heat and cold, whofe duration and fudden tran tions are variously moied by the furrounding circumstances of the fituation, by the lowness or elevation of the coun try

by its being mountainous or woody, barren or cultivated, by the prevalence of the Inland-winds, and the tate of the country over which they blow; and, finally, by the abundance or fcantinefs of the rains.

Cu the table land of Myfore, at the diftance of 150 miles frora Madras, and in the fame parallel of latitude, the thermometer at fun-rife during Novem ber, Deceraber, January, and February, is found to fink 15 degrees below the Temperature of the chilieft morning in the plains of the Carnatic: and in the wo dy country about Bevandrong, a perfon fuffers a greater change of temperature in the courfe of 12 hours than he would experience at Madras during the revolution of as many years.

In open and bleak plains, where the reflection from the parched Turface tooperates with the direct rays of the fun, the heat becomes extremely intenfe. At Arcot, in the leaft expofed fhade, the Thermometer has been found, for many days together, to rife to the height of 10s. In Tuch fituations too, when accidental rains do not interrupt the fettled uniformity of the weather, the temperature fuffers but little abatement during night and morning. At Poona mallee, during part of April and May 1793, the Thermometer never fell lower than 89, and always rofe above 96, often to 98, and fometimes to 103. But this was an unufually hot feafon, and no rain had fallen for nearly fix months.

During long continued rains, as well as in a courte of fair and fettled wea ther, the oppofite extremes of heat and cold are continually approximating. During the Malabar Monfoon of 1789 and 1790, the Temperature for feveral

monthr

months was between 74 and 82, and during great part of that time feldom rofe 2 degrees above 78, or fell 2 degrees below it. But here the rains were very heavy; the fun fometimes entirely hid for weeks together, and the earth overfhadowed with a gloom and obfcurity, refembling the darkest December day in London; a curious circumftance to occur under a vertical fun, at mid-day, and within ten degrees of the Line!

The ftate of cultivation has great inAuence on the Temperature. In the neighbourhood of Trichinopoly, where the land. are annually overflowed by the freshes of the Cavery, the Temperature is more uniform and moderate than in the fouthern difries, where the rains are more feanty, and where the incles mency of the feafons fo frequently affest the growth of the harvests. At Palamcottah, during the month of Jabuary the Thermometer has been found to vary from 75 to 89, which is far above the heat of Madras and Trichi. nopoly at the fame period.

In the plains furrounded with hills, it may be naturally expected that the fun will be felt very powerful. In the valley of Ambore, during the months of March, April, and May, there preVails an intenfe and fultry heat, which raifes the Thermometer under the fhade of a marquee to 110 and 112 degrees. But here, as well as at Trichinopoly, he land-winds fetting in during May or June, mitigate the climate by blowing over a cultivated country, and bringing with them a constant fucceffion of hazy or cloudy weather.

It is in the Northern Circars, where the wefterly winds in their progrefs are expofed to the influence of more extenfive and parched lands, that the fevereft heats prevail, and which at Ellore have fometimes raifed the Thermometer in the fhade to the aftonishing height of 120 degrees; when this happens, there is always a confiderable mortality, which I am rather inclined to impute to the peculiar malignity of the winds, than to the degree of actual existing heat. For in the Carnatic, during the hot months, every person who expofes himself without doors at noon, fufers a much greater degree of heat and the Thermometer In this fituation rifes to 135 degrees, fometimes higher. Yet this tempera tute is not only compatible with life, but even with the active functions of men. For in the midst of it, armies march with all their sumbrous equip

ments, forts are erected and demolished, and a heat that rifes 60 degrees above the fummer-Temperature of the British lands, is unable to reftrain the efforts of men engaged in war, commerce, of amufement.

In India, the circumftances of the fubjacent country feem to have a ftronger influence on the state of the circumambient atmosphere than is obferved to take place in cold and tempe rate climates; for we often find clear and foggy skies, dry and rainy weather, and a falubrious and malignant air on. ly feparated by the distance of a very few miles.

I have obferved that the Temperature is much influenced by the abundance of fcantinefs of the rains of particular feafons, and this is perhaps the chief caufe why one year happens to be cooler or hotter than another in the fame place. The feafon of 1795 has been much cooler at Warriore than that of 1794, and the former was preceded by a heavier monfoon and of longer du ration than the latter, which made a difference of Temperature during March, April, and May (the hotteft months here), of 3 degrees; a difference which we feel very fenfibly in a high Temperature, where the fmaileft increaft beyond what we can easily bear, very fenfibly affects us. I afcribe this to the effects of a more luxuriant vegetation, which is always proportionate to the abundance of the rains.

In order to form a correct estimate of the medium heat of the Coromandel Coaft, we must examine it abstractedly from the agency of hot winds, acciden tal forms, and the effects of reflection from a parched furface; and our obfervations must be made remote from those circumftances of fituation, which are known to encrease the extremes of heat and cold. To mark the lowest point to which the mercury finks, and the highest to which it rifes, is not the object here in question; but to afcertain that central priz: ofTemperature,near which it fettles the greater part of the year, to which it is conftantly tending amid all its Auctuations, and to which it neceffarily returns in a contrary progrefs, more of leis accelerated, from its wideft depar tures into the oppofite extremes of heat and sold. It feems clear that the middle point between thefe extremes cannot be affumed as the mean Temperature z for the mercury falls but very feldom to its lowest degree of cold, and remains

there

there only a little time; whereas during nine months in the year, it is continually verging towards the limits of exceffive heat, and though it finks but feldom under 70, it often rifes above 90.

With the exception of fome extraordinary feafons, it is feidom that the Thermometer either finks below 68 or rifes above 96, and only a few times in the year (and not every year) that it reaches thofe extremes: perhaps during fome cool mornings occurring in Des cember and January, and a few intenfes ly hot afternoon, generally between the middle of April, and the middle of June. The influence of the wefterly winds, and of heavy dews and chill damps, in fome parts of the country, may for a little while extend the range of the Thermometer 20 degrees beyond what I have mentioned, viz. by railing it 10 degrees above 96 at one period of the year, and finking it 10 degrees below 68 at another, and more confide rable deviations from the ordinary standard have met mes occurred. But thefe extraordinary extremes of heat and cold happen not in every fituation, nor every year; and when they do happen, they only occupy a portion of time incomparably fmail. For it will be found that in 300 days and nights, out of 365, the Thermometer is feldom below 76 and feldom above 92, and that fome what more than four-fixths of our time in this country, are paffed in a Tempe rature that lies between 77 and 89, and that its deviations above and below thefe limits, at the oppofite periods of the year, will nearly balance each other. Now as during three-fourths of the year, the Temperature approaches much nearer to 89 than it does to 77, it seems probable that a point diftant 3 degrees from the former and nine degrees from the latter, that is 86, ought to come the nearest to the medium of the heat of the Coast of Coromandel. This I confider as approaching nearest to the Temperature moft generally predomie nating in the atmosphere, abstracted from the influence of land winds, heavy dews, the reverberation of light from a beated furface, the monfoon rains, and accidental ftorms.

So far I was fatisfi: to reafon on this matter, affifted by the comparifon of various obfervations and registers of the weather made in different parts of the country in the courfe of between feven and eight years. Thefe I diligently compared with the diaries of Mr. Cha

mier, and became more convinced that the medium heat of this coaft must be about 86, and it was not a little fatisfac tory to me to find at last, that these deductions came pretty near the truth.

Defirous to bring the matter to the teft of experiment, I determined to afcertain the Temperature of deepfeated fprings, as has been done in Europe, though I do not know that any thing of the kind has ever been tried within the Tropics. For this purpose, I chofe a well at Warriore, 27 feet deep, and perfectly shaded by trees from the rays of the fun On imtherfing the Thermometer in the water of this well, the mercury fettled at a quarter of a degree below 86. I have repeated the experiment for the last two months, morning, noon, and evening, and invariably with the fame refult. This I cannot help confidering as fair and conclufive, fo far as Experiment made in one fituation only can be allowed to have weight in determining a general Quef tion. I have no doubt but that fprings in mountainous fituations will be found fomewhat colder, and that those near the fea may alfo vary a little. This would be worth afcertaining. I own it is rather a matter of curious fpeculation than of real utility. People will hardly think of building for themselves fubtertaneous abodes, for the purpose of tak. ing refuge from exceffive heat: Yet it is certainly a matter of curiofity to know, that at the diftance of 27 feet below the furface of the earth there prevails a Temperature that never varics.

From the refult of the above experi ments and obfervations, compared with thofe that have been made at home, if appears that the medium heat of this part of India rifes 40 degrees above the middle Temperature of the British Inlands.

October 1, 1795.

P. S. It the uld have been noticed that

the fpring where the above obfervations were made, is drained twice a day for the purposes of culture, fo that the was ter never ftagnates, and it is not acceffibie to the rays of the fun. In taking the obfervation a good deal of accuracy was neceffary, for the Thermometer, on being drawn from the water, became inftantly affected by the power of evaporation, and the mercury fell fuddenly feveral degrees; though in the was ter it food invariably at the fame point.

I ought