fing that part of the belly, where he has the inftrument mentioned before, after forming a right angle with her body, the fixes it, with fuch strength, that it faftens to the hardest earth, and even in ftone; the has all the neceffary apparatus to make a perforation, but this alone would not anfwer the purpofe, a place being ftill wanted wherein the may depofit her eggs. This hollow cavity is made in about two hours; the then begins to fhift the earth underneath, and emits the glutinous fubftance. Having thus kneaded the earth into a fubftantial pafte, and fmoothed the floor with her trunk, fhe lays the firft egg, then renews the operation and lays more, with admirable order, and, after various repetitions, completes the whole in about four or five hours; next covering the fuperior aperture with a glutinous compoition, the ftructure is perfect, with every advantage against the inclemency of the weather, or any hoftile invafion. The female is now overcome with fatigue, few having ftrength, like the male, to feek after refreshing waters; but, exhaufted and spent, they expire clofe to their progeny, exhibiting a melancholy fight to the labourer; who, from their appearance, foretels the mischiefs to follow, without being able to prevent them; forming an idea of the hidden enemies, who are to devour his harvest, from the multitude of carcafes he finds difperfed in the fields. I cannot omit one circumstance, obferved by many others, as well as myfelf; and that is, when the females are bufy in laying their eggs, or in turning the earth, a male would immediately fix on her back, another male upon him, and another be fides. Sometimes I have feen fix males piled upon one another, over one female; the peasants pretended it was to give her more weight and ftrength to open the ground; but this could not be the reafon, it feeming rather a moment of fury, as obferved amongst animals; the more as I obferved, that, notwithstanding the great number of females in 1754, that of the males was ftill greater, even before they took wing, fo as to be two or three hundred males to one female, and when they fallied out of Eftremadura, to ravage La Mancha, I think I can take upon me to fay, there were twenty males to a female; their fex is eafily diftinguifhed by their body and trunk, which induces me the more readily to give weight to my conjecture, from the great fuperiority of num bers in the males, who, luckily for mankind, are feemingly disappointed in their purfuits. The egg which inclofes the embryo has the fame cylindrical shape as the repofitory it is laid in, being a membraneous cylin der, one line long, very white and smooth. They are placed afide each other, rather obliquely, the head, as in others, being nearest the part where it is to come out. The time of hatching varies according to climate, thofe that are in high and mountainous places being generally later than thofe on the plains. I faw legions of them fkipping about at Almeria in February, because the climate is fo mild there that moft kind of greens are nearly over at that time. In Sierra Nevada they only begin to appear in April, and in La Mancha they were hardly animated in May, when there were no greens yet in the market of San Clemente. So that they form a certain thermometer to judge of the warmth of the air. From these various fituations proceed thofe immenfe fwarms of locufts which appear fucceffively in June, July, and August. When they first come out of the egg, they are black, of the fize of a gnat, and gather in great heaps at the bottom of ihrubs, particularly the fpartum or matweed, continually leaping upon each other, and occupying a space of three or four feet in circumference, two inches high. The first time I beheld this fight, it furprized me exceedingly, to obferve this moving body, like a mourning scarf waving about, as at this period they only live upon dew, and are frifking about to catch it. For a few days they move at a very little distance, their limbs being weak, their wings very fmall, and their teeth not fufficiently ftrong to bite the grass. In about twenty days, they begin to feed on the youngest shoots of plants, and, as they grow up, they leave the fociety of each other, and range further off, confuming day and night every thing they fix upon, till their wings have acquired a full degree of ftrength; in the mean time, they feem to devour, not fo much from a ravenous appetite, as from a rage of deftroying every thing that comes in their way. It is not furprifing, that they should be fond of the most juicy plants and fruits, fuch as melons, and all manner of garden fruits and herbs, feeding also upon aromatic plants, fuch as lavender, thyme, rosemary, &c. which are fo common in Spain, that they ferve to heat ovens; but it is very fingular, that they equally eat mustard muftard-feed, onions, and garlic; nay, even upon hemlock, and the molt rank and poisonous plants, fuch as the thernapple and deadly night-fhade f. They will even prey upon crowfoot, whofe caufti city burns the very hides of beafts; and fuch is their univerfal tafte, that they do not prefer the innocent mallow to the bitter furze, or sue to wormwood, confuming all alike, without predilection or favour, with this remarkable circumstance, that, during the four years they committed fuch havock in Eftremadura, the love-apple, or lycuperficon folanum' of Linnæus, was the only plant that escaped their rapacious tooth, and claimed a respect to its root, leaves, flowers and fruit. Naturalifts may search for their motives, which I am at a loss to discover, the more, as I faw millions of them light on a field near Almaden, and devour the woollen and Jinen garments of the peasants, which were Jying to dry on the ground. The Curate of the village, a man of veracity, at whofe house I was, affured me, that a tremendous body of them entered the Church, and devoured the filk garments that adorn ed the images of Saints, not fparing even the varnish on the altars. The better to difcover the nature of fuch a phænomenon, I examined the stomach of the locuft, but only found one thin and foft membrane, with which and the liquor it contains, it destroys and diffolves ai kinds of fubftances, equally with the moft cauftic and venomous plants, extracting from them a fufficient and falutary nourishment. Out of curiofity, to know the nature of to formidable a creature, I was urged to examine all its pats with the utmoft exanefs: its head is of he fize of a pea, though longer; its forehead pointing dow wards, like a handfome Andalufan horfe, its mouth large and open, its eyes black and rolling, added to a timid afpect not unlike a hare. With fuch a daftard countenance, who would imagine this creature to be the fcourge of mankind! In its two jaws, it has four incifive teeth, whole fharp points traverse each other like fciffats, their mechanism being fuch as to gripe or to cut. Thus armed, what can relift a legion of fuch enemies! After devouring the vegetable kingdom, were they, in proportion to their ftrength and numbers, to become carnivorous like wafps, they would be able to destroy whole flocks of theep, even the dogs, and fhepherds; just as we are told of ants in America, that will overcome the fierceft ferpents. The locuft pen is the months of April, May, and June, in the place of its birth at the end of June its wings have a fine rofecolour, and its body is ftrong Being then in their prime, they affemble for the last time, and burn with a defire to propagate their fpecies; this is obferved by their motions, which are unequal in the two fexes. The male is reftlefs and folicitous, the female is coy, and eager after food, flying the approaches of the male, fo that the morning is spent in the courtship of the one, and the retreat of the other. About ten o' clock, when the warmth of the fun has cleared their wings from the dampness of the night, the females seem uneasy at the forwardness of the males, who continuing their purfuit, they rife together five hundred feet high, forming a black cloud that darkens the rays of the fun. The clear atmosphere of Spain becomes gloomy, and the fineft fummer-day of Eftremadura more dismal than the winter of Holland. The ruffling of so many millions of wings, in the air, feems like the trees of a forett, agitated by the wind. The first direction of this formidable column is always against the wind, which if not too ftrong, it will extend about a couple of leagues; they then make a halt, when the most dreadful havock begins; their sense of smell being so delicate, they can find at that distance a corn-field, or a garden, and, after demolishing it, rife again, in purfuit of another: this may be faid to be done in an inftant. Each feems to have, as it were, four arms and two feet; the males climb up the plants, as failors do the fhrouds of a ship; they nip off the tendereft buds, which fall to the females below. At last, after repeated devastations, they light upon fome barren ground, and the females prepare for laying their eggs. What a difmal fight for a poor farmer, after having been vifited by fuch cruel guefts! A fenfible man, amongst them, on viewing his corn-fields, where nothing was now left but chaff, thus expreffed himself: If these creatures were not so coy, and would fuffer the embraces of their mates, in the country where they were hatched, we fhould not be loaded with fuch dreadful misfortunes; but, like Deadly night-fhade, or Dwale. Atropa Belladonna. Linn.-The whole plant is potonous, and children allured by the beautiful appearance of the berries, have too often experienced their fatal effects. us, they fear death, and strive to prolong life; for which reafon, they thun the advances of the males, knowing, that after wards nothing is left, but to depofit their eggs and expire!' We learn, by tradition, as well as from History, that these locufts have been a plague to the meridional provinces of Spain time immemorial. I remember to have read in an old Spanish novel the following queftion, which was the animal that refembled moft all other animals? The answer was, the locuft because he has the horns of a ftag, the eyes of a cow, the forehead of a horfe, the legs of a crane, the neck of a fnake, and the wings of a dove.' However puerile this may appear, it proves the great length of time they have been known as well as dreaded. Many old people affured me, when so much mifchief was done in 1754, it was the third time in their remembrance, and that they always are found in the pafture grounds of Eftremadura, from whence they spread into the other provinces of Spain. They are certainly indigenous, being of a different shape from those of the north or the ANECDOTES of HE late Count, father of the pre Tfent, had fallen in love with a wo man of low origin and mean fituation in life, but, finding it impoffible to gain her on other terms than marriage, he con fented to that union, and the ceremony was fecretly performed. He had fcarce got poffeffion of the defired object, but, fated therewith, he be gan to loath her. She was foon informed by him, that it would be in vain for her to publish her marriage to the world, for his relations would never acknowledge her as one of the family, and their united power would cruth every attempt to do herself juftice. This was, doubtless, a dreadful stroke to the unfortunate woman; but maturely confidering the could never expect to live happy with a man, who had fo little regard to honour as to make the rites of marriage a mere cloak for the gratification of his defires, the consented, on the receipt of a small fum of money, to relinquish all claim to him; and he foon after followed the dictates of ambition, by marrying a Lady of the rich and noble houfe of Rochechouart, who was the mother of the prefent Count. The unhappy victim of her own impru dence was foon after delivered of a fon, Levant, as is evident in comparing them with fuch, in the cabinets of Natural Hiftory. The locuft of Spain is the only one that has rofe-coloured wings; befides, it is impoffible they can come from any other part; from the north it is clear they do not, by the obfervation of fo many ages; from the fouth they cannot, without croffing the fea, which is hardly poffible, by the fhortness of their flight, and, like birds of paffage, they would be known. I once faw a cloud of them pafs over Malaga, and move towards the fea, and go over it, for about a quarter of a league, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who concluded they foon would be drowned; but, to their disappointment, they fuddenly veered about towards the coaft, and pitched upon an uncultivated space furrounded with vineyards, which they foon after quitted. When once they ap pear, let the number demolished be ever fo great, the proportion remaining is fill too confiderable; therefore, the only way to put an end to fuch a calamity is to attack them beforehand, and deftroy their eggs, by which means they might be totally extirpated. Count D'ESTAIGN, and died in child-bed, to which fatal ca tastrophe her grief at her ill ufage chiefly contributed. The child was carried, by fome of her relations, to the Foundling Hofpital in Paris, and there brought up till he was of age to be apprenticed to a blacksmith, and, having ferved with dili gence and fidelity, fet up for himself in that occupation, In the mean time, as young Count d' Eftaign advanced in years, he discovered a bold and daring difpofition, totally re gardless of danger, enterprizing even to rafhnefs, and with a boundless ambition. These feemed proper qualifications for the military line, and he entered very early in life in the Moufquetairs Gris, but did not continue long in that corps. He obtained a company in the regiment of Royal Vaiffeaux, and made feveral campaigns, as well on fea as by land, in each of which he distinguished himself to the satisfaction of his fuperiors, and acquired fuch a knowledge of military and naval affairs, as to fit him to be a famous partizan; in that sphere he continued to move, till he rose to the rank of Brigadier-general on the Eaft-India establishment. It was in that @tation that the late unfortunate General Lally found him on s I arrival arrival at Pondicherry, on the 28th of April, 1758. He fent next day Count d'Eftaign, with two battalions of the regiment of Lorrain, and three bundred Indian foldiers, to inveft our fettlements at Goudalour. The General himself followed the fame night with a great force, and found d'Estaign had already executed his orders, and the town furrendered in four days. D'Eltaign continued to act with intrepidity and diligence till he was taken prifoner by Col. Draper, difcharged on his parole, and then immediately acted against two of our fettlements, which he took; and returned to France in 1760, regardless of his honour. Soon after the Count's return to Paris, paffing by a blacksmith's fhop, he found the name d'Eftaign over the door, and on farther enquiry learned, that the man bore the fame arms with himself. His pride was piqued that a tradesman thould pre fume to take his name and arms upon him. He spoke to the fmith in very haughty terms, and threatened him severely unles he defifted from using either; nay, finding his menaces had no effect, he commenced a fuit at law against him for the daring offence. The fmith laid his pretenfions before the Court. He proved, by the registers of the Foundling Hofpital (in which he had been brought up) that he was the fon of the late Count d'Estaign and Jeanne Barbe Guichot; nay, to the further confufion of his haughty opponent, he produced authentic documents that afcertained his mother's marriage with the Count. After this the Judges pronounced that he was justly entitled to bear the name and arms of his father, to the no small mortification of Count d'Elfaign, who has ever fince carefully avoided going through the street where his blacksmith half-brother lives. A CONCISE HISTORY of the ORIGIN and PROGRESS of the prefent unhappy DISPUTES between GREAT BRITAIN and the AMERICAN COLONIES; continued from Page 12 of our laft. CHAP. XLI. State of Affairs previous to the Meeting of Parliament-Riot of the Sailors at Liverpool.-Petition from the American Congress, prefented by Mr. Penn. Addreffes.-State of Parties.-Ancient Animofities revived.-Petitions,-Newfoundland. dafh obliterated. But a new and heavy fcore had already been run up, in the fingle feffion which had elapfed of the prefent Parliament. The reftraining bills, paffed by this, were to have affixed a seal to all the acts of its predeceffors. The general distress, arifing from a general punifhment in the colonies, would, it was hoped, render the Majority the avengers of Government, and the punishers of the incorrigible. The conciliatory refolution, independent of every thing elfe, in its double capacity of converting and dividing was fuppofed well adapted to accompli all that was wanted. To thefe, however, was added an army, fufficient, as the fanguine thought, to look America into fube jection, without a blow, with a naval force, in itself nearly equal to the purpose. Each of these must become a subject of animadverfion. In particular, the quef tions refpecting the war must be exceedingly embarrafling. Since extremities were determined upon, why was not a fufficient force force fent in time, to run down or prevent all oppofition? Why had fuch a courfe of menace been carried on for several years, as to give the people time to throw themelves into their prefent ftrong ftate of defence? If it now appeared, that five times the number are fcarcely adequate to the fervice, how could the Minifter have been fo ignorant and misinformed, as to fuppofe that 10,000 men only could fubdue America without bloodshed? To remedy the mischief of paft tardiness, it was determined to carry on the war with a vigour that should attonish all Europe, and to employ fuch an army in the enfuing campaign as never before had entered the new world. This, it was faid, befides the grand object, would be the most effectual means of filencing clamour, and of preventing troublesome, and now ufeless enquiries. When once the people were heartily engaged in a war, they would never wait to recollect, much lefs to animadvert on, the original caufes of difpute; but would in their usual manner, and from their natural difpofition, carry it on with eagernefs, and, if gratified now and then with fome brilliant fuccefs, care nothing about future burthens or confequences. The late engagements in America had, in a certain degree, affected the national pride. Many of thofe, who had not approved of our late condu&t with refpect to the colonies, thought it now too late to enquire into paft caufes, that Government must be fupported at any rate, that we muft not hefitate at any expence or danger to preferve our dominions, and that whoever was right in the beginning, the American infolence deferves chaftifement now. Many caufes concurred to prevent the lofs of the American commerce from being yet generally felt. The prodigious remittances in corn during our fcarcity, which the Americans with great honefty made in discharge of their debts, with the fums, much larger than ufual, which they were enabled to pay, from the advanced prices of oil, tobacco, and other commodi ties, all together occafioned a prodigious influx of money. The failing of the flota from Spain, the armament against Algiers, and the peace between the Ruffians and Turks, occafioned an unusual demand for manufactures of various forts, from Spain, the North of Europe, and Turky. fort, at fo prodigious a distance, gave employment to an infinite number of people, engaged a vast quantity of shipping in the fervice, which would have been otherwise idle, and caufed fuch a circulation of cath, as ftifled all attention to future confe quences. The war itself, the fupplying of an army and navy with necellaries of every On the other hand, the great bodies of American, African, and Weft India merchants, with the Weft India planters, had too long foreseen, and already too deeply experienced, the fatal effects of the prefent unhappy conteft. They accordingly, with a majority of the inhabitants of the great trading cities of London and Bristol, ftill wifhed and ftruggled to have matters reftored to their ancient state. No inconfiderable part of the people in other places remained diffatisfied with present meafures, and in Ireland, by far the majority of the Proteftant inhabitants, ftrongly leaned to the cause of the colonies. It muft, however, be acknowledged, that an unusual apathy, with respect to public affairs, feemed to prevail with the people, in general, of this country. From all this obfervation, we muft except the people of North-Britain, who, almost to a man, not only applauded, but proffered life and fortune in fupport of the prefent measures. The fame approbation was alfo given, and affurances made, though with lefs unanimity, by a great number of towns in England. The recruiting fervice, however, which may be confidered as a kind of political barometer with re fpect to the fentiments of the lowest orders in cafes of that nature, went on very heavily for the land and fea fervice, both in England and Ireland, though no encou ragement was wanting, nor means left untried, for the making of extraordinary levies. The Earl of Effingham, whofe military genius had led him when a youth into the army, and had fince prompted him to ripen theory into experience wherever real fervice was to be found, by acting as a volunteer in the war between the Ruffians and Turks, had fince his return, as a Peer in Parliament, uniformly oppofed the whole fyftem of meafures purfued against the Americans, and finding, at length, that the regiment in which he ferved was intended for the American service, thought it inconfiftent with his character to enforce measures with his fword, which he had fo utterly condemned in his legislative capacity. He accordingly wrote a letter of refignation to the Secretary at War, in |