1. For remarks,&c.

— ¹ 1 2

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72

Sn † A- laAr 5„, 5 1·*— attention to the poor, in the particulat periods Of their distress,

**o personally to the new merits, who are placed on chairs before the pi

2

This exhortation being finished, Lord and Lady Harcourt deliver in

** hand the prizes(which consist of a hat, and a silver buckle or medallion,

.— 141 αwith the word Merit engraved upon it): and by me they are presented 8 ¹ 4 7 2—

to the new members, with a few more words of exhortation, addressed to them individually; after which, a copper plate, with their names written **on it, is hung upon the wall: and thus ends the ceremony.

.The next division of the day is allotted to the dinner; which is served *¹* under a clump of elms, forming an arched canopy, singularly adapted to the purpose: there are two tables, the uppermost of which is appropriated

1 5

s and females; the rest of the spinners

ae Society of Merit, both n. ¹⁴ are seated at the other.

Dinner being ended, and the wheels(decorated with nosegays), being * placed in a semircle, under some other trees, the spinning begins, and con- ¹ tinues about two hours; a band of music playing all the time in the open- „¹ ing of the circle; and the sound of the instruments, mixed with the buzzing α⁴ of the wheels, completes one of the gayest and most interesting scenes that „ can be imagined. When the spinning is finished, and the thread reeled, nthe spinners(more than fifty in number, at this time) tie a piece of folded ⁴paper, containing their names, to their respective hanks, which are divided *¹ into two lots, the one, consisting of those spun by girls under sixteen years, the other, by all above that age. The first of these parcels is then laid ¹upon a table, and a weaver, who has hitherto remained at a proper dis- er tance, is called forward to examine the hanks, and determine which is the pest thread: when he has decided; the paper attached to it is unfolded, ee and the name declared. The weaver then fixes on a second, and a third, * and so on, according to the proportion of prizes, which Lady Harcourt * judges proper to confer, and which is generally two-thirds of the whole * number, but decreasing gradually in value— precisely the same mode is cc followed with the other lot.

During the time that judgment is pronounced upon the spinners, the ball room is preparing, on another spot; and as the decorations are ex- tremely beautiful, I wish the limits of my letter would permit me to at- tempt a minute description of them; but that would carry me too far, and

44 I must content myself with telling you, that an Ionic colonnade inclosos a