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over some horizontal, some bending, some upright pillars, I at length gained the plain at the summit of the island. This plain is about one mile by three quarters, having a thin strata” (stratum)

features. Some of these sketches are touched with spirit and truth, but others are too faint, or confused, to be easily comprehended. With another short extract we must take leave of our entertaining tourist, whose work has certainly af-of soil over the great caves, but on the forded us much amusement. If she intends to publish again, we recommend her (with sentiments of true candour and friendship) to cultivate brevity and perspicuity of description, to study a little of natural history and antiquity, that she may thereby extend her enquiries, and give more interest to her productions.

The Clam-shell cave, with its large bending pillars, convex horizontal prisms, &c. are described, and Mrs. Murray states, that she appropriated this singular spot to "a dining room." "When I had finished my luxuriant feast," she observes, "particularly of mind, I began my march over the horizontal pillars, which lay like numerous keels of huge men of war, petrified in one mass, and jointed like masonry. By scrambling

north side of the island the pasture is ad mirable for feeding of cattle and sheep. It will graze from forty to fifty head of cattle from October to June, and heifers for the remainder of the year, giving the grass a month's respite. Staffa when farmed, lets for fourteen pounds a year. It is part of the estate once be longing to Macquarrie, chief of the Mac quarries, and whenever it has changed masters, it has been sold with the island of Ulva. The present laird of these isies is Ranald M'Donald, Esq. of the house of Boisdale, whose mind and taste are fully capable of appreciating the jewel in his possession, the like of which, in all probability, cannot be found on the face of the terrestrial globe."

ART. XIII. Agwaλavoueves; or, a pedestrian Tour through Part of the Highlands of Scotland in 1801. By JOHN BRISTED. Evo. Two Vols. pp. 1160.

OFT have we admired tl:e address of

those renowned sons of Galen, Doctors Brodum, Solomon, &c. and the rival dexterity of Mr. Packwood in the variety and originality of their advertisements. One begins a grave paragraph, perhaps on the importance of Malta, the capture of St. Domingo, or the ravages of the yellow fever in Philadelphia; and soon finds oneself assailed with an culogy on the virtues of the Balm of Gilead, the Vegetable Syrup, or the new Razor-strop. We have laboured through this long advertisement, 1160 pages! in which that "most marvellous effort of human ability and benevolence,' Dr. Cowan's Tractale on Education; the Adviser, or Moral and Literary Tribunal; Essays, philosophieal and critical, by the author of the Adviser; and the Wanderer, are puffed off with no common assiduity.

We shall not detain our readers two minutes; it is not our intention to empty upon their heads the contents of these yolumes.

We shall just hint that Mr. Bristed is not ashamed virtually to avow himself the author of Eseys, philosophical and critical. (See pages 196 and 197, vol. 2.) although in another place (vol. 1. 319,) he speaks of the Adviser as having been written by some other person.

.Mr. Bristed and his companion travelled through the Highlands in the cha racter of American sailors; they roam ed the country in forma pauperum, des cant loudly on the luxuries.of the great and the miseries of the poor, go from pot-house to pot-house for half a be complain of the jealousy of the polis because they are taken up for spies, and of the frequent inhospitality of the Scots, because they were not welcomed as ga tlemen! There is a great deal of per ness and a great deal of vulgarity in these volumes: it cost Mr. Bristed bu very little effort, we suspect, to accor modate his conversation to the compar he courted in the Highlands. Mr. E ted takes every opportunity of comm nicating his opinion on moral and pol tical subjects, which he generally t in a very dictatorial manner. Abt a hundred pages at the latter end of first volume are taken up in consider. the state of the female sex; what rel to their intellectual acquirements, 2their state in society, is stolen from a essay in the first volume of the Cabr (p. 178.) The theft too is committe à mest mean and sneaking manner; the first place there is no reference g to the original essay; every instance female superiority there produced

ransplanted here, often with some little Aditional circumstance to disguise it: ven the metaphors and similies there mployed are used here, disfigured ineed, grossly disfigured, although the lentity is palpable. It would have been

more impudent but less dishonourable to have transcribed the whole essay, or to have copied sentences entire and unmutilated, than thus wantonly to have defaced them for the pitiful and frustrate purpose of avoiding detection.

RT. XIV. Scottish Scenery; or, Sketches in Verse, descriptive of Scenes chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland; accompanied by Notes and Illustrations, and ornamented with Engravings, by W. Byrne, F. S. A. from Views painted by G. Walker, F. A. S. E. 4to. pp. 400. 20 Plates.

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"The author is aware, that of late years, any have been employed in describing the ɑme seenery; yet, as he attempts to treat the nject in a style somewhat different from a traveller who has preceded him, he hopes e design will obtain the approbation of se who have a taste for this species of mposition, provided the execution shall be nd, in any degree, to correspond with the Cauty and grandeur of the subject."

The merits of this author are so vari. us that we know not wherewith to bein. He is poet, moralist, naturalist, ilosopher; and though he has modestly ithheld his theological knowledge, we by the title page that he is also a D.D. Of these various subjects the poetry peraps deserves precedence, as giving title this mass of multifarious learning, this Encyclopedia of human intellect. First, hen, we will adduce a few specimens of ctor Cririe's poetical merits, under the Arious classes of excellence into which hey may be arranged.

First: The Sublime, as produced, in mitation of Milton, by sonorous sounds. Here let us stop our wand'ring northward

course,

Nor farther roam mid dreary mountains wild; Bat quick, to where the Tummle meets the Tay,

To Logie-Rait return. A boat soon wafts Co'er the Tummle." (P. 55.)

Another river, yet to song unknown, The Mouse its name, though small, of mighty force." (P. 144.)

Are we mistaken in supposing that Horace alluded to this river, when he describes the Mouse as proceeding from the mountains?

The Sublime, as produced by the InJeanite.

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What all the lakes of Cumberland to thee, With those that grace her sister county join'd?

Those pretty ponds let others flock to view. (P. 108.)

But after this fine passage we perceive with sorrow that the Doctor, deviating from the rules of true sublime, which he had before so well observed, has actually given the measurement of Loch Lo mond, bating furlongs and yards. It that the shores, including their windings, was peculiarly unfortunate to tell us, measure an hundred miles in circumference, immediately after the bold apos trophe which we have quoted, and that noble contempt expressed of Derwentwater, for its comparative littleness. The rie's Geographical Grammar to our re measurement necessarily recalls Guthcollection, and we feel, what certainly the poet never designed to make us feel, that Lake Superior is indeed a Superior Lake.

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The abrupt.

placid and calm

The twilight dim descends, and changeful forms

Croud the uncertain view, 'mid hills un-
Veil'd with the sable curtains of the sky,
known,
Which slowly shifting close around. Mean-
while,

The various forms of lakes and islands trace,
Fancy, and wild Imagination's pow'r,
Their banks with groves of tufted trees
adora'd;

Meand'ring rivers, winding smooth and slow,
Illusive, gliding 'twixt the op'ning clouds.

Imposing thus on Reason's dormant reign,
Harmless amusement soothes the vacant

mind.

A light dispels the charm. We stop at Weem."

In the following passage we have another proof of that honourable love of accuracy which acknowledged Loch Lomond to be so much less than the Ame. rican lakes, and which elsewhere can

didly confesses that the falls of the Clyde are not so vast as those of the Rhine, and the Nile, and Niagara.

"Here too, a habitation ready reared Invites the enthusiast to the lone abode, Unmatch'd, perhaps, in Britain's happy isle. (P. 61.)

Mark the precision of this sentence, and the poet's scrupulous truth! This ready-built house was the pleasantest the Doctor had ever seen, and he thought it was the pleasantest in the whole island; but, not having seen every house in the island he could not positively affirm it to be so; for though the affirmation night not have been false, it would have been rash to have incurred the possibility of falsehood. The opinion is qualified by the happy word "perhaps," and thus all danger is avoided.

As a naturalist Dr. Cririe is indeed conspicuous; he has discovered that

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While hope and fear alternate rose and fell.

What a subject was here to have beca « painted in crayons and engraved at the publisher's expence !" The Lady in the Pool, a friend assisting her, the Rot holding the Scales of Fate, and Hope and Fear playing at way-jolt in them!

We have yet to examine the fancy of the poet, and the specimen shall be taken from his Loch-Kettrin," in which, being more a work of fancy, the reins of ima gination are held with a fieer hand." "Night gently drew the curtains of the sky

"

Having thus put the sky to bed, the poet is at leisure to describe the texture of his curtains. They were "Of heavenly tissue, azure starr'd with gold."

Blue and gold we should have thought sufficiently handsome. The furniture of Dr. Graham's certainly was not finer, and his is the only celestial bed which we ever recollect to have been exhibited; but the fancy of the poet varies his ornaments: they were either blue and gold,

"Or silver edged, a thin and chequer lawn."

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They do not however live for ever, for or they were, we know not what, for

the next line tells us.

"Yet these now yield to time and fast

decay." (P. 25.)

Yet is the Doctor no timid slave to the laws of nature. He ventures to improve them, as, when in a thunder-storm, he says,

"Rocks dash'd on rocks are heard Rattling around.” (P. 114.)

"Meantime the radiance of the silent moon Pierces, at times, the half-transparent veil, Or pours effulgence 'twixt its shifting folds. (P. 192.)

There is yet a finer flight of fancy that part of the poem which is entitled Tyne-Drum to Dalmally. It is a splen did picture of the Spirit of the Storm, who steps from mountain to mountain. one foot on Jura, another on Nevis; not the Mount Jura contiguous to Switzer See there th' overhanging rock, where, dread- land, nor the West Indian island Nevis,

To proceed to the pathetic.

ful fall!

for that would be outstepping the modesty of personification, but two Scotch mountains so called; thence he goes on making stepping-stones of Ben Gloe, and high Ben More, and great Ben Lawrs, and Lomond, and Shihallion, and Cairngorm, there he stands and drains running stream, and standing flood, and the fresh supplies of the Atlantic, till having drank his fill the Diuretic Demon puts Four Tyne-Drum to a viler purpose than is made of Moab in the Psalms.

Lastly. We shall exhibit the poet in his prophetical character, for who knows not the double import of Vates? In peaking of his hero and heroine, he says, "Low sleep strong Malmor and Imoina fair, Their peaceful lives, the story of their loves, Their hopes and fears, and happiness forgot." Haring thus exemplified the poetical beauties of this author, we proceed to consider him as a philosopher. We have reason to believe that, with Mr. Parks, the Anti-Newtonian Lecturer, he has his doubts concerning the Copernican System, as in the following notes he calls our attention to an hypothesis which likens the universe to an onion.

"Another philosopher of the new world, has revived an old hypothesis of a vast concave orb, encompassing numberless systems, and reflecting the light of all, that it may not diverge for ever,and be lost in unlimited space. He thinks that the luminous appearance of the calaxy or milky way is occasioned by the flexion from that orb, rather than from the plended light of telescopic stars; and that the several dark spots, or nebulæ, as they have been called, in which stars appear, are penings, through which are discovered one of the scenes of various systems that molre beyond it, within still more capaeous orbs of a similar structure and design. He thinks that Saturn's belt is a part of our *. -tem, somewhat analogous to this great orb, Lat bounds our view of the heavens; and that it is to this orb we owe that concave sapphire perance which we denominate the sky."

This Dr. Cririe gives us as the system of another philosopher, but his solution of the popular superstition concerning taries is entirely his own.

"Most of the traditional stories respecting Fairies, especially such as represented them embodied spirits, might perhaps be acCoated for, upon supposing that the Druids, of rather some conquered aborigines, had fed from their enemies, and taken up their idence in those subterraneous dwellings frequently discovered in digging in variparts of Scotland, and in some places

called Picts houses. Covered with artificial mounts, they were generally green hills. When the country came to be inhabited would induce them to lie hid by day, and to around them, a regard for their own safety come abroad only in the night it would he of consequence, if at any time their occasions should force them abroad in day-light, that their clothing should be as like the ground as possible; hence they were always dressed in green. Their narrow dwellings kept them much confined by day; hence the exercise of dancing by moonlight must have been to them most delightful, and frequently repeated in remote glens and sequestered places. Hence also their music by night, in the open air; by day, in their dwellings, it must have betrayed them. Hence also, in dark nights, those gleams of light which were necessary to find their way to water, or any thing else they might need. Their stock of provisions might at times run short; hence their females, appearing in green gowns, borrowing oatmeal and repaying it. Their families, in that confined state of life, from putrid or infectious diseases, might become thin, or wear away; and hence their carrying off women and children to recruit their stock: hence also the return of those carried off, being permitted to depart. after several years of absence from their own families, under a promise of keeping their secret. Difficulties may be started; bur such a supposition, or that of a diminutive lunar race, serves to account for stories that passed current with people, who, though superstitious, and apt to be imposed upon by their own imagination, were not indifferent with regard to what they thought to be truth, more than people of the present age. It may also be proper to remark, that the fairy tales of this country were widely dif ferent from those we generally find in books."

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Singular situations call forth unusual exertions: nature operates with equal force in all ages; and the means of subsistence may be procured, where those who are accustomed to the refinements of polished life, would least expect them. Industry and contentment work wonders; but a change of manners is commonly hostile to happiness. In every situation of society, the thief and the robber, but especially the murderer, ought to be exterminated.""

This is the corollary of the poem, the condensed philosophy of the author.

Dr. Cririe must be considered, in one point of view, as the commentator of his own works.

"Accept, O Lycidas! this humble lay, Stightly descriptive of those rural scenes, And wilder charms, which, thro' our native land,

Kind Nature spreads to captivate the soul,
Instinctive form'd her beauties to admire :
Those varied scenes I late with pleasure
view'd,

Pleasure unmix'd with pain, save what arose
From deep regret, through sympathy of soul,
Excited by thine absence: oft thy name
Was heard, and oft thy form to Fancy's eye
Present appear'd; and oft (for not alone
I sought those distant solitary wilds,
Mountains and lakes, hills, rivers, rocks, and
woods)

Our friend, whose presence heighten'd every joy,

Greatly enhancing all the scen'ry round,
Sincerely join'd your absence to deplore."

In this passage we are referred to the notes, which the author tells us ought to be regularly consulted in the perusal, as they are necessary towards a clear understanding of the poem. The line to be elucidated is this,

participation adds to enjoyment.”— (P. 234.) Again, the text is,

"September young had scarce begun to tinge With various colours, fruit and forest trees.

The comment runs thus: "The vari ous seasons of the year have each their distinguishing features and respective needs must be with the truth and probeauties." (P. 234.) Delighted as we fundity of this remark, may we be per mitted to hint, that the talents and acumen of this commentator should be me worthily exerted? We do indeed c that such poetry can only be eluciorel by such comments, that "none but him. self can be his annotator;" yet surely verses can deserve the investigations of neither Scottish scenery, nor his own this great critic, D. D. as he is, while a cloud hangs over the apocalypse, while the number of the beast is still unexplain ed, while it remains to be decided, whe ther the man of sin be Tom Paine, or Doctor Dodd, and while we have only the authority of the news-papers and cheap pamphlets for believing Bo naparte to be Gog and Magog.

The size and exterior of this volume

Our friend, whose presence heightened have provoked from us an examination,

every joy."

Whereof the Doctor has helped us to "a clear understanding," by the depth and novelty of the following annotation. Man is naturally fond of society, but those alone who have tasted the sweets of virtuous friendship can tell how much

which a more appropriate appearance in foolscap might have escaped. Commen trials for petty larceny are scarcely heard of beyond the precincts of the Old Bailey, but if a peer be tried as a pickpocket, or a lady brought to the bar for shoplifting, the rank of the delinquent secures universal notoriety.

ART. XV. A Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire, comprehending a genera Survey of the picturesque Scenery, Remains of Antiquity, historical Events, peculiar Ma ners, and commercial Situations of that interesting Portion of the British Empire. E J. J. BARBER, F. S. A. 8vo. pp. 372. There is another Edition, with 20 acquatint Prints, from Drawings by the Author.

WALES has had more than her proportionate share of topographers and tourists; but though a great number of volumes have been expressly appropriated to this part of Great Britain, they have generally been so deficient in the grand essentials of information, that others continue to follow, and more are wanting to furnish a perfect and satisfactory account of the principality. In our former volume, (p. 495.) we noticed a work which professed to treat of South Wales, and were impelled to speak reprovingly of its author. The volume before us, also refers to the same part of

our island, and though it offers only 2 number of slight descriptive sketches, yet some of those are touched with the hand of a master. It has been too much the practice with Welsh tourists to run through the country with hasty prec pitancy, make a few brief notes, slight sketches, &c., and afterwards work up their crude materials into one or twa octavo volumes. The grand mous. tainous scenery, with the magnificent castellated, and monastic ruins, which characterize Wales, are powerful temp tations to curiosity; and fashion having pointed her finger to that part of the

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