humanity. Principal Baird was the first to suggest the scheme, and he it is whose restless benevolence has ensu

and in future ages, when the Highland districts of our land have risen in intelligence and moral worth to a standard which the most sanguine would not dare to anticipate, his name will be honoured in their mouths, as their earliest and truest benefactor.

in the hands of the Committee a balance of L.3914. As a considerable part of the outlay had been in the purchase and printing of school-books, there was, however, a pros-red its success. He directed the correspondence of the pect of a part at least of the expenditure being returned Committee; he advocated their cause wherever two or to the fund, as the books were sold from time to time to three were met together; and for three successive sumscholars. At the same time, the Committee expressed mers did he expose himself, at his advanced age, to the their anxiety that the contributions for the ensuing year fatigues of a long and rugged journey, for the sole purmight prove adequate to defray its expenditure, as they pose of superintending and encouraging the agents of the considered it expedient to retain a fund equal to what Committee's benevolent plans. This was a task worthy they had then in hand, to meet any deficiencies that might of the clergyman, of the head of Scottish education, and at times occur in the annual receipt. The schools at this of his own warm heart. He has conquered a fame more period in active operation amounted to eighty-five in num-enviable than the brightest talents could have acquired; ber; and the Committee intimated to the Assembly, that as there was no immediate prospect of an addition to their funds, they felt inclined to fix upon this as the maximum number of their establishments. They intimated, at the same time, their intention, when a school should not prove sufficiently effective at any station, or when, In regard to what has hitherto been done by the Comfrom a change in the circumstances of the inhabitants, it mittee it has our warmest approbation. Their establishshould be no longer necessary, to transfer it to another. ment has for its model the best with which we are acFrom the schoolmasters' returns, it appeared that there quainted-our own system of Parochial Schools. It afhad been an attendance of 6486 scholars at 79 schools, fords the most indispensable instruction to all-and higher for the half year preceding April, 1829; that of these tuition to those who wish it. It is wedded to the affec2512 were learning to read Gaelic, 5491 English, 3057 tions of the people, and stands under the patronage and writing and arithmetic, 63 book-keeping, 114 Latin, 57 | control of their natural leaders. As yet, there is nogeography, and 76 practical mathematics or mensuration. thing that can be found fault with, although we see one But the most important step in the proceedings of this practice creeping in which must be strictly watched. year was the establishment of school libraries. The Com- The Committee have very properly adopted the system of mittee had for some time been busied in forming a de- leaving the scholars to pay fees to the best of their abilipository of books; and from this, books were issued early ties. In the present state of these remote districts it is in the month of January, 1829, for the formation of lib- unavoidable that these are sometimes paid in kind-fuel raries at fifty-five stations, consisting each of fifty-six vo- -articles of food-perhaps a day or two's labour. But lumes in English and Gaelic. It was arranged that these unless a steady eye be kept on the masters, they will soon should remain at the school to which they were then for- be tempted to become the rapacious tyrants of their little warded for two years; at the end of that time, they domain, as we have before now seen their brethren in the were to be exchanged for a different set of books, to be Lowlands. With respect to the libraries, too, we would forwarded from a neighbouring station; and a similar suggest that the principle adopted with regard to reliexchange was to take place with a third station, at the gious, be followed up with regard to all other kinds of end of two years. The books consisted of interesting his- books. Children do not require childish books, which tories, voyages and travels, biographies, and sketches in only serve to keep them longer children. We do not ask civil and natural history. Many of those works, and in for profound scientific treatises-give them popular works particular those of a religious description, were chosen by all means, but give them such as will task their reflectwith a view to the necessities of an adult population. Re-ive powers, and accustom them betimes to manly habits gard was had to the probability, that the books borrowed by the scholars might prove useful and interesting to the grown-up members of their families.

of thinking.

Although we have devoted this article exclusively to the achievements of the Assembly's Committee, we are not blind to the merits of other labourers in the same field, the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and the Gaelic School Society-the Inverness, and other Provincial Societies for the Diffusion of Education

the Society of the Clan Gregor-and, with all its tomfooleries about bagpipes, pibrochs, Celtic dress, and games, the Celtic Society. Still less are we blind to the immense extent which still remains for the philanthropic labourer to occupy. We shall ere long follow up this our first essay on the statistics of education; and we propose next week to communicate to our readers some extracts from an interesting manuscript autobiography which has

During the year which closed in May last, the contribations amounted to upwards of L.2300, and this sum proved fully adequate to defray the annual expenditure. There is reason to hope that in future years the income of the establishment may increase; but, in the meantime, the Committee, regarding more a quiet and permanent ntility than extraordinary exertions, which are uniformly followed by a corresponding languor, abide by their resolution of limiting the number of their schools to eightyfive. The total attendance at the daily schools during last winter amounted to nearly 7000 scholars. Of these, 2616 were learning Gaelic, 5669 English, 2972 writing, 1912 arithmetic, 80 book-keeping, 159 geography, 41 mathe-been put into our hands, and which shows to what an matics, and 121 Latin. Besides the daily schools, there have been established Sabbath evening schools at fiftyseven of the stations. They are attended by 3362 persons of all ages, of whom 782 are adults.

Such are the gratifying results of this Committee's labours during the short space of six years, backed by the sanction of the church, and met by the good wishes of the people. Indeed, it would be difficult to say which is the more delightful object of contemplation, the warmth with which the venerable Assembly has furthered the cause of education; or the enthusiasm with which all ranks have come forward to promote its introduction into the Highlands, and all ages to participate in its blessings. As for the Committee, the quiet good sense and energy of its proceedings are worthy of all praise. But one of its members, in particular, deserves the best thanks of

unsuspected extent the education of the lower classes may be carried, without rendering them discontented with, or unfit for, their occupations. In following out this path, we shall be discharging one of the most pleasing duties incumbent upon THE SCOTTISH LITERARY JOUR

NAL.

Encyclopædia Britannica; or a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature. Seventh Edition, greatly improved, with the Supplement to the former editions incorporated. Illustrated by an entirely new set of engravings on steel. Edited by Professor Napier. Vol. I. Part I. Edinburgh. Adam Black. 1830.

THIS is the earliest work of the kind, among the many that England has produced ; and, thanks to the spirit and

enterprise of its publishers, and to the number of eminent scientific and literary characters whose co-operation they have secured, it is still the best. The present is the seventh edition that has been called for, and every new edition has surpassed its predecessors in extent and accuracy of information. The articles on Acoustics and Aeronautics in the Part which now lies on our table, as well as that on Abyssinia, and several of the biographical sketches, to say nothing of Professor Stewart's Preliminary Dissertation, with which the public is already acquainted, show that the list of celebrated writers contained in the Prospectus is not a mere decoy, and that men of a high rank in literature really take an active share in the work. On the part of the publishers, it is apparent that no pains have been spared to give the Encyclopædia a neatness of external appearance worthy of its contents. To this broad statement of general praise we feel that this publication is entitled, and we also feel that it can stand a more detailed inspection, and even the pointing out of a few minor defects.

Among these defects we do not reckon, though some may, the fact that the Encyclopædia Britannica bears strong marks of having its origin in the Edinburgh school of literature and science. That there is such a school is notorious. Indeed, in every place of any extent and importance where mind is cultivated with ardour, there must exist a kindred character among those who have devoted themselves to that pursuit. The circumstances which awaken their mental energies are the same, the models to which they look up are the same, their respect for each other teaches deference to their mutual censure. Now, although we do not implicitly acquiesce in those scientific and critical dogmas which have hitherto been current in Edinburgh—although we think that, like all local systems, they are occasionally partial and defective -we yet think that the unity of design resulting from the commitment of the work into the hands of men who are agreed in all leading principles, is an advantage far counterbalancing occasional omissions and defects which may be traced to the same cause.

Our opinion both of the strength and weakness of the Encyclopædia Britannica will best appear after we have traced an outline of what we conceive to be the limits of intellectual exertion in the Edinburgh school. This sketch we do not bring down much farther than the close of the last century, for the school which it is meant to illustrate seems to us to have reached its full stature about that period, and to have been declining ever since. The public mind has been diverted from those scientific investigations, which were its almost exclusive business, to the department of imaginative literature; and though we may occasionally meet with an individual devoted to severer pursuits, he is uniformly either a lonely remnant of the olden time, or a disciple of some foreign school, having nothing in common with the spirit of the place.

intellect, that field through which he expatiated. They confined themselves to the physiology of the human mind. In morals, on the contrary, they limited themselves, with the exception of Adam Smith, exclusively to the practical department; and investigated the expediency of rules for human conduct, not daring to enter into the wide and dark enquiries respecting the nature of the moral being. In regard to criticism, the productive or the imaginative power was then at the lowest possible ebb in Scotland, and in attempting to appreciate its works, they spoke without feeling, without experience of their subject. In the science of political economy, however, they showed themselves masters. The arrangements of the Church of Scotland are such as to preclude all scientific study of theology, and of course, we have no systematic divines. History has been prosecuted chiefly by two classes; either by the followers of Hume and Robertson, men of strong mind and correct taste, but devoid of any notion of prac tical statesmanship, and liable occasionally to sacrifice more important matters to their notions of beauty and fine composition; or by professed antiquaries, men who to loose and uncritical habits of thought, added the yet worse recommendation of being violent partisans. The science of language has never flourished in Edinburgh.

Among such a body of literati the Encyclopædia has had its origin, and in it we can trace their peculiarities both good and bad. We speak decidedly of the Encyclopædia now publishing, because, although the first Part only has yet appeared, we can nevertheless give, from our acquaintance with the sixth edition, and Mr Constable's supplement, a good guess at the general features of the work. In mathematical science it stands high. In the sciences of experiment (chemistry and physics) it contains some of the best elementary treatises that have yet been published. In most sciences of observation (or what is termed natural history) it is likewise respectable. Its critical and moral treatises are ingenious, and sometimes brilliant if not sound,-its metaphysical dissertations, sensible a far as they go. It is more apt to be deficient in the philo sophy of jurisprudence and politics, in matters of his tory, language, and antiquities. The theories which i supports in the two former, are, in general, shallow, and lag behind the age. In the other three, we uniformly desiderate both extent and correctness of information This is the more unaccountable, that the articles in geo graphy, statistics, and political economy, are eminentl distinguished by the presence of these very qualifications We have insinuated above, that we do not think thes drawbacks, though some of them are no trifles, materiall interfere with the high character we have attributed t the Encyclopædia; we say this, not merely when view ing it comparatively with other works of the same kind but positively, regarding it as near perfection as in th present state of science could be expected. Now tha intellectual labour has been as much subdivided as cor At the very commencement of its career, the Edin- poral, no man can make himself thoroughly master o burgh school received, from the influence of Maclaurin, a more than one science. To this he must restrict hi strong bias to mathematical pursuits. This it has retained serious labour, contenting himself with such a gene all along. We may have had few pre-eminent or inven- ral knowledge of others as an Encyclopædia can afford tive mathematicians, but we have never been without a Such a degree of knowledge is, however, necessary, in orde body of men who held a respectable rank in the science. to protect him against the dangerous consequences of nai Next came the medical school, founded among us by Cul- row-minded pedantry, and an unequal developement len and Black. Out of it arose the spirit of experiment- his faculties. What is requisite, then, in the articles al investigation, and the love of natural history. Hume an Encyclopædia, is general correctness, and a compre impelled the public in another direction, and although he hensive view of the state of each science. This is enough did not succeed in giving currency to his own metaphy- for no man will seek to learn his own particular scienc sical doctrines, he awakened attention to that kind of in--that to which he devotes himself—in an Encyclopædia vestigation; while, by his detached essays, he excited speculations in moral, critical, and economical science. In these four departments he was followed by strong and acute minds; but in all, except the last, there were circumstances in operation to check and depress the spirit of free enquiry. His timid followers in metaphysics could hit upon no other way to avoid the conclusions at which he had arrived, than by abandoning, as beyond human

The more treatises, it is true, a work of this kind con tains, possessing the high character of some in the Ency clopædia, the better; but such a character is not to b looked for in all.

We have borne cheerful and honourable testimony t the manner in which the publishers and contributors hav done their parts. We now turn to the Editor. We mos conscientiously believe Mr Napier to be adequate to th

of merit which have lately issued from the press.
It is
natural for people to look upon the age in which they
themselves live, as more remarkable than its predecessors,
and to anticipate the wonders of that which is to succeed
it; but experience ought to guard the philosopher against
too easily yielding to a vulgar delusion which has amused
the credulous from the first dawn of millennarianism, down
to the hallucinations of those who see a brighter dawn
opening upon the march of intellect. Mr Douglas is,
however, sufficiently severe in his strictures on those dan-
gerous heresies and errors which have from time to time
troubled the peace of the church. This is all quite right.
We by no means desire to see restored that style of con-
troversy, once so prevalent even among Protestants, which
deemed vituperation as good a weapon as argument; but
we confess that in these days of affected candour and un-
disguised liberalism, we honour the man who, while he
exposes the fallacy, expresses his detestation of a pernicious
doctrine. Intolerance is, no doubt, reprehensible enough;
it is, and has been, the cause of much mischief in the world;
but it at least offers a presumption of honesty. On the
other hand, extreme liberality, however well sounding and
plausible a name, is very apt, especially in religion, to de-
generate into liberalism or freethinking; and if it do not
proceed from the same source, does, we fear, often lead to
the same result indifference to all truth. Our author
is not intolerant, but he has evidently an opinion of his
own, and takes proper care to show it. Mr Douglas is
a layman-he writes like a gentleman and a scholar-and,
what we hope he will esteem a higher compliment, con-
sidering the subjects to which he has devoted so much at-
tention, like a well-informed and orthodox theologian.

Greek Exercises; or, an Introduction to Greek Composition, so constructed as to lead the Student from the Elements of Grammar to the Higher Parts of Syntax, &c. 2d Edition. Improved by the Rev. F. E. J. Valpy, Master of Reading School. With Vocabulary, &c. Pp. 249.

self, to set his hand industriously and emulously to such a task, instead of declaiming idly and querulously with his mouth against the total discipline and modes of tuition of our Scottish schools. One or two books such as these we have just mentioned-solid, practical, and unmetaphysical, having the influence of their use backed by substantial learning and enthusiasm, not declamatory froth and peevish vituperation, on the part of our teachers—would do more to re-invigorate our northern classical languor, than a hundred letters to Members vituperative of our Scottish tuition. On this subject, indeed, we are involuntarily prompted to say a great deal; but as our remarks might appear unconnected with Mr Valpy's volume, we shall merely conclude with recommending it to our friends, the lovers of Greek, throughout Scotland, as the best Introduction to Greek Composition that hath, as yet, appeared in our literature.

Elements of the Latin Language. Simplified and connectedly arranged. In Three Parts. Part First-Rudiments, &c. By Edward Woodford, A.M. Pp. 114. WE think well of the cleverness, simplicity of method, and connected arrangement, of this little unpresuming volume; and though we cannot recommend that it should be introduced into our schools to the prejudice of Ruddiman's excellent work, yet we think it may be perused by our schoolmasters with considerable instruction and plea

sure.

The Ingrate's Gift. A Dramatic Poem. In Five Acts.
Edinburgh. James Kay. 1830. 18mo. Pp. 197.
the whole, it is bad enough.
We have seen worse dramatic poems than this, but, on

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

THE EDITOR IN HIS SLIPPERS;

OR,

A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.
No. VIII.

"Stulta, jocosa, canenda, dolentla, seria, sacra, En posita ante oculos, Lector amice, tuos; Quisquis es, hic aliquid quod delectabit habebis; Tristior an levior, selige quicquid amas.' "ALL men are more or less mad." In other words, all men, under certain given circumstances, think, feel, and act differently from the manner in which any other men under the same circumstances would either think, feel, or act. What is commonly called knowledge of the world, is in truth nothing else but a knowledge of this fact. The mere ignoramus gapes and cries out at every step, because he is continually meeting with something which had not previously come within the narrow sphere of his own observation. The possessor of a more enlarged mind is, on the contrary, astonished at nothing, because the very circumstance which has enlarged his mind is, that he has had his eyes opened to the great

THIS is a book, in our opinion, so excellent, and in all respects so praiseworthy, that we should wish to see it introduced into all the gymnasiums and grammar-schools of Scotland, even though we should expose ourselves to the charge of anti-nationalism in endeavouring to exclude the "Greek Exercises," more cumbrous, less tasteful, less happily-selected, and more highly-priced, of our own learned Professor Dunbar. For the highly classical name of Valpy we entertain, and have long entertained, the greatest veneration; we are sure we venerate him as much in our hyperborean distance as his countrymen in the south; and so long as England exhibits such masterly and practical scholars at the head of her literary establishments, so long shall she maintain her pre-eminence over her sister kingdom in the elegance and profundity of her classical erudition. Unfortunately, as we deem, for the classical youth of Scotland, our eminent scholars indulge too much in the exercise of their national propensities towards metaphysical disquisition, and consume their faculties, too unprofitably for the majority of their pupils, in disputations regarding the nomenclature or arrangements of grammar-subjunctive and indicative moods, &c.-law of nature expressed in the four Latin words-tot points which, in their very nature, are indeterminable; and, even though they were with the most indubitable nicety determined, can be to the student in his practice of little or no use whatever. We should like to see a Valpy or two arise in Scotland-some profound, yet plain, efficient, and influential scholars, who should infuse animation into the torpidity of our system; and, as a principal step towards this object, should frame for our schools such beneficial books as Valpy's Elegantia Latina, and Valpy's Greek Exercises. We should be inclined, even from the humble recess of our vigy, to advise even the redoubtable and world-challenging Professor Pillans him

homines-tot sententiæ. It is delightful to see a small mind and a great mind brought into immediate contrast anywhere—at a dinner-party, for example. The small mind has made its own experience (trifling as that in all probability has been) the groundwork of certain principles, which it has built up with the most pragmatical nicety and obstinate self-sufficiency, and whatever seems to go beyond this narrow and puny boundary, at once throws it off its balance,-surprises, confuses, stupifies, and demolishes it. But the great mind makes allowance for every possible diversity of opinion-for every possible mode of feeling. The great mind knows

the constitution of its own nature-its powers and its
feeblenesses, and also knows that there exist other na-
tures no less admirable-no less instinct with the glo-
rious workmanship of an Almighty hand---whose pecu-
liar idiosyncrasy is totally distinct from its own. Hence,
a great mind is full of forbearance and benevolence towards
all mankind. In company, a small snappish mind, gift-
ed with some quickness, but very little extent of vision,
seizes upon petty errors and trifling discrepancies of judg-
ment, and triumphantly tears, and rugs, and shakes its
head over them like a puppy-dog over a glove or a worsted
stocking, wagging its tail all the time in token of self-ap-❘
probation, and ever and anon emitting a short bark to
attract more general attention. A great mind views with
interest and delight every state in which intellect deve-
lopes itself, however imperfect that developement may be.
Even the clever little conceited creature who occupies
almost all the conversation, and lays down the law so
emphatically, affords to such a mind an amusing and not
unprofitable study. It has consequently been invariably
remarked, that the manners and conversation of all those
men who have made advances in science and the art of
ratiocination beyond any of their contemporaries, have
been remarkable for simplicity and affability. They have
learned to respect the individual from having deeply
studied the species. As the botanist discovers in the
meanest weed attributes linking it indissolubly with the
whole of the vegetable kingdom, so does the philosopher
in every condition of mind, and in every manifestation
of feeling, acknowledge the presence of that nobler and
ethereal essence which distinguishes man, not from the
lower animals, for to them also belong both mind and
feeling, but from the flowers of the field and the stones
of the desert.

been madder, except something we also wrote which we called poetry. We have been mad among the snows of Norway, skating after the wolves and bears at the rate of about thirty miles an hour;-we have been mad in the forests of Germany, summoning the wild huntsman with many a frightful incantation ;—we have been mad upon the vine-robed hills of France, dancing through the cloudless summer night to the sound of pipe and castanet ;→→→ we have been mad among the old ruins of Italy, scaring the dark bats out of their murderous holes, and striking fear into the hearts of the unprincipled owls ;—we have been mad in the centre of all the light and revelry of London, staring on and on at the whole scene, until we thought we had pushed back the surface of a mighty churchyard, and were gazing at a busy world of death, which, in every stage of corruption and decay, hurried through a perplexing and fantastic maze of profitless occupation. But in a most especial manner we have been mad in our own native country of Scotland, and still more so in our dear city of Edinburgh, and through all its delightful vicinity. We have been mad in the Old Town, diving down the most indescribable closes and dark alleys,-walking up narrow winding staircases, which led to ruinous apart ments that have been deserted since the time of the great plague, finding in them nothing but fragments of old tapestry, and here and there the mouldering legs of antique chairs and tables, all the rest having crumbled away into dust, and evaporated into air. We have listened till we heard in some upper story, or along some broken gallery, the creaking and the slamming of a door opened or shut by some unknown agency; mysterious footsteps rang in our ears, and a dark circle of the men of other times seemed to gather around us, pale and silent, but of stern and haughty aspect, and here and there, like a diamond set in ebony, a form and face of delicate and unearthly beauty gleaming sadly among the darker shapes. Then has fear mingled with our madness, and we have rushed out into the long and winding lanes, populous with squalid life, and listened distractedly to the sharp wailings of penury, the fierce out-breakings of passion, and the hideous ribaldry of hardened immorality. Then, as we hastened on by a thickly-huddled congregation of pawnbrokers' shops, filled with all their motley display of tarnished finery and paltry goods which formerly puffed up with pride the souls of the men and women to whom they belonged, we have bitterly laughed at the arts and refinements of society, reading its folly in some broken mirror, and its emptiness in some threadbare coat, dangling upon a pole, as if in mockery of its former owner, yet hung out for show in the hope of alluring a second purchaser!

In the eye of philosophy, therefore, madness, in the common acceptation of the word, is a phenomenon of rare occurrence, and is limited to that particular disorganization of the system which produces positive corporeal disease. Unfortunately, however, philosophy is seldom met with in ordinary life, and as the unphilosophical are less scrupulous in the choice of their terms, all men are pronounced mad whose thoughts and actions are not like unto their thoughts and actions. Respectable gentlemen of fifty generally inform us that love is madness;-hundreds of worthy tradesmen, who make from five to fifteen shillings a-day, look upon ambition as madness ;—country clergymen, the husbands of one wife, and the fathers of thirteen children, consider military individuals in red, who wear spurs and moustaches, not altogether in their right mind; the spendthrift maintains that the miser is cracked, and the miser is clear that the spendthrift is non compos;—the merchant, who has worked all his life at the ledger, is in terrible distress if his son turns out a genius, which to him is synonymous with entire useless-promontory's brow, into the ocean of gaiety which lay ness; and the son, as he grows up, begins to discover that his father is a particularly weak and contemptible sort of character. Thus mankind go on,—each admiring his own wisdom, and overwhelmed with astonishment at the evident insanity of every body else.

We have been mad in the New Town, rattling in a coach to some great assembly of rank and fashion, and, on arriving there, flinging ourselves, like a swimmer from a

before us. We have given ourselves up to the delusion of the scene and the hour. We have taught our eyes to believe that they gazed on beauty,—our ears that they drank in music. We have fancied that noise and bustle constituted pleasure,-that scandal and laughter were the chief ingredients of wit. We have devoured ices and jellies, and quaffed sour champaign, almost as if they had been novelties, and have actually caught ourselves soothed into a feeling of vanity by the coquettish attentions of a few girls in their teens. We have returned to the dan

Well, be it so. We are all mad; and since it is impossible to avoid the imputation, let us make a virtue of necessity, and turn our lunacy to the best account we can. We plead guilty, for our own part, to the most unconscionable fits of madness that ever turned the brain of earthly Editor. We have grown mad under all circum-cing-room after we have supped; and we have come back stances in all scenes, and at all times. We have been sometimes stark staring mad, sometimes idiotically silly, and sometimes piteously imbecile. We have been wild and furious in our madness, like the enraged bull, or the horned rhinoceros; and we have been gentle, maudlin, and innocent as an old man tipsy in his dotage. Think not we mean to deny having been mad when in our SLIFFERS ; and most willingly do we confess, that in boots we have been mad times and ways beyond computation. We have written prose so mad, that nothing could have

to the supper-room after we have danced; and we have renewed the alternate enjoyments of supping and quadrilling till the lights burned dimmer, and till, like the ghost in "Hamlet," we began to "scent the morning air." If this was not madness in an EDITOR, Dr Abercrombie himself could not tell what madness is.

We have been mad in all the places of celebrity which, like the border of an Indian shawl, hem in our Athens upon every side. We have been mad at Roslin and in Hawthornden. Who has not been mad amidst scenery