“Sacrifices, offerings, and ceremonies were a kind of representative, or figurative worship. Compared with the present state of the world, the people of those days had few abstract ideas; even their arts, and sciences, and particularly their religious systems, were in a great degree described by allegories, types, and hieroglyphics; and though we can with difficulty see the connexion now, it is probable that every outward rite that was then enjoined to the Israelites, was really typical of some inward principle of virtue, or of some distinct point of faith. Taken altogether, it is certain that their object was to discipline that stubborn people into obedience—to preserve them from the surrounding idolatries—to keep them separate from all other nations, as depositaries of the revealed truth—to train them for the reception of a new dispensation—and, above all, they were designed to prefigure the great and final atoning sacrifice of the Messiah.”
30th.—The weather has been so soft and mild for the last week, that it seems as if we had only dreamt of frost and snow. After the thaw, the ground, and even the walks, were so wet, that we could not go out of doors with any comfort, and as I had a little cold, I stayed in the house for a few days; so I was the more surprised at seeing what a change has taken place. The wheat-fields look greener than ever; the buds of the lilac and sycamore are swelling, and the woodbine leaves are actually bursting open. The flower-buds on the mezereon, which Mary showed me last September, are now opening; and a few scattered flowers, which are quite blown out, shew us their pretty pink faces, and promise a delightful smell. But, more than all, the snow-drops have already appeared, and in the sheltered spots there are many bunches of them quite opened. It is the most innocent, modest looking little flower; and with its pure and delicate white, forms a charming contrast to the dirty appearance of the walks.
The snow-drop blooms
Ere winter’s storms are past,
As she shrinks below
Her mantle of snow
And trembling shuns the blast.
Feb. 1st.—Dreary as this season is, I find it better than I had expected; but, indeed, there is so much pursuit and rational occupation in this house, that it is impossible to feel any day gloomy.
We have now a return of frost, and besides those birds which venture into the house, there are several others which crowd round it in flocks to seek for food. Sparrows, chaffinches, and yellow-hammers are to be seen every day at the barn-doors, pecking what they can find; and Mary has shewn me the larks, sheltering themselves in the stubble; and the thrushes, blackbirds, and even fieldfares, nestling together under the hedges, as if endeavouring to console each other.
While the ground was covered with snow, I saw the black-headed titmouse come every day to a thatched shed in the yard, and with its back downwards, draw out the straws lengthways from the eaves of the shed, in order to seize the flies concealed between them; and I assure you, such numbers came to one spot, that they quite spoiled the appearance of the thatch, Mary says they are very useful in searching for the larvæ of the tortrix, those ingenious caterpillars, that disfigure the leaves of fruit-trees by rolling them up for their houses. Gardeners, she says, are very ungrateful to these birds; for, supposing that they attack the blossoms, they are destroyed without mercy. They are, however, eaters of bees, so that they must be considered somewhat mischievous.
They are easily tamed and taught little tricks, such as drawing up a bucket. Mary placed some almonds yesterday on a sheltered bank; in a short time one of these little black-heads came, and grasping the largest of them in his claw, broke the shell by repeatedly striking it with his sharp bill, and then dexterously drew out the kernel.
My uncle walked with us to-day to Farmer Moreland’s, that we might see what out-of-door work was going on in this frosty weather. Besides drawing manure into the fields, while the ground is hard, we found his men busy in mending the hedges and fences; and now that the roads are pretty smooth, he will employ his team in carrying hay and corn to market. Afterwards, if the frost should continue, he says he will draw coals, which will be no great trouble—there are so many coal-pits in the forest. We heard the cheerful sound of the flails as we passed his barn;—he was threshing out all his barley to sell for making malt. As we walked home my uncle told me the process of malting.
“Beer is, you know,” said he, “a fermented liquor, made generally from barley after it has been converted into malt; as in its natural state it would produce but an imperfect fermentation.
“The grain is first steeped for two or three days in water, that it may soak and swell to a certain degree. The water being then drained off, it is laid on the floor in a heap of about two feet high, when, with the warmth of the house and the imbibed moisture, it begins to germinate, and to shoot out its radicle; which is checked by spreading it out thinner, and frequently turning it over with wooden shovels to cool it. These operations require several days, and it is then thrown into the malt-kiln and slightly baked. The time it is kept there, and the heat to which the kiln is raised, depend on the kind of beer to be brewed, and the required colour for the malt; it is however enough for you to know, that from eight to twelve hours is sufficient; and that from 130° to 160° of the thermometer gives all the varieties of colour from pale ale to the brownest porter. By this process the grain undergoes a material change; it acquires a saccharine or sweet quality which it did not possess before, and which is destroyed if either the germination or the kiln-drying are carried too far. It also loses a large proportion of the mucilage that it contained; which is the reason why the flour of wheat that has been sowed in wet weather is generally bad; the grain partially heats in the stacks, a tendency to germinate takes place, and there is, therefore, a deficiency of that nutritious part, the mucilage. In this case the flour is said to be malty.