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in the hands of the Committee a balance of L.3914. As humanity. Principal Baird was the first to suggest the a considerable part of the outlay had been in the purchase scheme, and he it is whose restless benevolence has ensuand 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 sum. scholars. 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 and in future ages, when the Highland districts of our as there was no immediate prospect of an addition to land have risen in intelligence and moral worth to a their funds, they felt inclined to fix upon this as the maxi- standard which the most sanguine would not dare to anmum number of their establishments. They intimated, ticipate, his name will be honoured in their mouths, as at the same time, their intention, when a school should their earliest and truest benefactor. 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 af had 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 affec 2512 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 abili pository 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 should remain at the school to which they were then forwarded for two years; at the end of that time, they were to be exchanged for a different set of books, to be forwarded from a neighbouring station; and a similar exchange was to take place with a third station, at the 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.

unless a steady eye be kept on the masters, they will soon be tempted to become the rapacious tyrants of their little domain, as we have before now seen their brethren in the Lowlands. With respect to the libraries, too, we would suggest that the principle adopted with regard to religious, be followed up with regard to all other kinds of

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

During the year which closed in May last, the contributions 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 Society of the Clan Gregor-and, with all its tomthe Committee, regarding more a quiet and permanent fooleries about bagpipes, pibrochs, Celtic dress, and games, utility than extraordinary exertions, which are uniformly the Celtic Society. Still less are we blind to the immense followed by a corresponding languor, abide by their re- extent which still remains for the philanthropic labourer solution of limiting the number of their schools to eighty- to occupy. We shall ere long follow up this our first five. The total attendance at the daily schools during last essay on the statistics of education; and we propose winter amounted to nearly 7000 scholars. Of these, 2616 next week to communicate to our readers some extracts were learning Gaelic, 5669 English, 2972 writing, 1912 from an interesting manuscript autobiography which has 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 I 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.

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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 1 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 JOURNAL.

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

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enterprise of its publishers, and to the number of eminent intellect, that field through which he expatiated. They scientific and literary characters whose co-operation they confined themselves to the physiology of the human mind. have secured, it is still the best. The present is the seventh In morals, on the contrary, they limited themselves, with edition that has been called for, and every new edition the exception of Adam Smith, exclusively to the practical has surpassed its predecessors in extent and accuracy of department; and investigated the expediency of rules for information. The articles on Acoustics and Aeronautics human conduct, not daring to enter into the wide and in the Part which now lies on our table, as well as that dark enquiries respecting the nature of the moral being. on Abyssinia, and several of the biographical sketches, to❘ In regard to criticism, the productive or the imaginative say nothing of Professor Stewart's Preliminary Disserta- power was then at the lowest possible ebb in Scotland, tion, with which the public is already acquainted, show and in attempting to appreciate its works, they spoke that the list of celebrated writers contained in the Pro- without feeling, without experience of their subject. In spectus is not a mere decoy, and that men of a high | the science of political economy, however, they showed rank in literature really take an active share in the work. themselves masters. The arrangements of the Church of On the part of the publishers, it is apparent that no pains Scotland are such as to preclude all scientific study of have been spared to give the Encyclopædia a neatness of ex- theology, and of course, we have no systematic divines. ternal appearance worthy of its contents. To this broad History has been prosecuted chiefly by two classes; either statement of general praise we feel that this publication by the followers of Hume and Robertson, men of strong is entitled, and we also feel that it can stand a more de- mind and correct taste, but devoid of any notion of practailed inspection, and even the pointing out of a few mi- tical statesmanship, and liable occasionally to sacrifice nor defects. 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 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.

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 as far as they go. It is more apt to be deficient in the philosophy of jurisprudence and politics, in matters of history, language, and antiquities. The theories which it 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 geography, statistics, and political economy, are eminently distinguished by the presence of these very qualifications.

We have insinuated above, that we do not think these drawbacks, though some of them are no trifles, materially interfere with the high character we have attributed to the Encyclopædia; we say this, not merely when viewing it comparatively with other works of the same kind, but positively, regarding it as near perfection as in the present state of science could be expected. Now that intellectual labour has been as much subdivided as corAt the very commencement of its career, the Edin- poral, no man can make himself thoroughly master of burgh school received, from the influence of Maclaurin, a more than one science. To this he must restrict his strong bias to mathematical pursuits. This it has retained serious labour, contenting himself with such a geneall 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 order body of men who held a respectable rank in the science. to protect him against the dangerous consequences of narNext came the medical school, founded among us by Cul-row-minded pedantry, and an unequal developement of len and Black. Out of it arose the spirit of experiment- his faculties. What is requisite, then, in the articles of al investigation, and the love of natural history. Hume an Encyclopædia, is general correctness, and a compreimpelled 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 science 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 spe- The more treatises, it is true, a work of this kind conculations in moral, critical, and economical science. In tains, possessing the high character of some in the Encythese four departments he was followed by strong and clopædia, the better; but such a character is not to be acute minds; but in all, except the last, there were cir- looked for in all. cumstances 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

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

task, not indeed because we have ever seen any work of his that justifies the supposition, but because we have some regard to Mr Jeffrey's opinion. At the same time, we must say that the present Part is full of little inaccuracies, which do no great credit either to his attention or sharpsightedness. Two instances shall serve for a million. Under the phrase "Faculty of Advocates," (p. 168, col. 2,) we find, apropos of the form of admission into that body:-" Immediately before putting on the gown, the candidate makes a short Latin speech to the Lords." How comes the learned Editor not to have discovered, in his occasional perambulations in the Parliament House, that this form has been disused for at least twenty years? Again, in the admirable article on Aeronautics, we are told,—“ A globe of common air at the the level of the sea, and of the mean density and temperature, is found to weigh about the 25th part of a pound avoirdupois." Surely the weight must be somewhat affected by the size of the globe? To these inaccuracies, we could add many more. They are not individually of much moment, but, taken together, they indicate an over-degree of carelessness in the Editor.

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We certainly have no intention of giving Mr Douglas a place among the most eminent assertors of religious truth; yet we are far from thinking meanly either of his talents or of his present publications. The great fault of his work on the Truths of Religion, is a want of aim. It contains many excellent truths and sagacious observations; there is also some acuteness of reasoning and force of application, and the author displays throughout an extensive acquaintance with books, especially such as treat more directly of theology; but altogether the work is of too miscellaneous a cast. The very general title of "The Truths of Religion," would lead us to expect either a systematic scheme of Christian theology, or, what we should have liked much better, a connected exposition of its more prominent and leading doctrines. Something of this kind is promised in Mr Douglas's table of contents, but we are disappointed in the execution: there is too little of selection-things of little or subordinate moment are carelessly mixed up with the most important truths; and thus the mind is apt, in a great measure, to lose sight of those primary truths which ought to occupy its undivided attention. The book strongly reminds us of a late literary earl's picture-gallery, where scratchy engravings, the refuse of the print shops, shared the light, and graced the side of valuable paintings by the first masters. Works of this nature, that affect to illustrate half-a-dozen very important subjects, each of which would, to do it justice, require for itself a space equal to the whole volume, are always trying to an author's reputation, and generally prove unsatisfactory. They are indeed highly useful and valuable, when they proceed from a writer possessing a comprehensive grasp of mind, and when, like Paley's "Evidences," and Dr Inglis's "Vindication," they combine simplicity of arrangement and clearness of argument, with conclusiveness of moral demonstration. Douglas's work, excellent as it is in some respects, and highly creditable to the author's principles and his talents, We are hurried leaves us to a certain extent dissatisfied. from one important subject to another, by a rapid and somewhat violent transition, frequently without our being able to trace any peculiar connexion, except that general analogy which subsists between all parts of the divine scheme of redemption. Here we have the fall of man, and by and by a dissertation on Hebrew poetry-the history of the Jews-the inductive philosophy-the doctrine of justification, and a description of the society in heaven, interspersed with occasional notices of profane authors, and some half-dozen poetical quotations from Virgil. The author would probably think we were trifling with him, were we to characterise his "Truths of Religion" as an excellent theological scrap-book. But we have no intention of speaking lightly of Mr Douglas or of his volume. On the contrary, we have read his work with much pleasure, and though we have found fault with the execution of its plan as deficient in distinctness and unity, and to this extent unsatisfactory, we are not blind The author is indeed too ambitious to its general merits. of displaying all that he knows; he is too vague and diffuse, and apt to wander into generalities; but his perceptions are vivid, his acuteness very considerable, and his religious opinions consistent with the standards of our church. His work may therefore be read with advantage by all who feel an interest (and who is not interested?) in the truths of our holy religion.

Pious men have often complained that works on theology occupy a very subordinate place in most private libraries, and are read with less avidity than the importance of their subject demands. Granting the fact to be so, we do not think it sufficiently proves what it is supposed to prove, the general prevalence of irreligion. In a Christian country, the reading and the preaching of God's word, as they are the ordinary means whereby the spirit supports, enlarges, and confirms religion in the soul, so, from their simplicity, their accessibleness, their easy adaptation to all circumstances and classes of society, they are the means most generally and most willingly chhad recourse to; they furnish a sufficient ground of faith to the learned and to the unlearned who use them aright, and to the great mass of Christian believers, they are quite satisfactory. Still, it must be admitted, that doubts will sometimes arise even in the candid minddifficulties will occur which it requires much learning and judgment to explain-and above all, objections will be started with no small degree of ingenuity, and urged with no inconsiderable share of plausibility, by men whose obliquity of moral vision has distorted their own belief, and who have no peace till they have succeeded in perverting the belief of others. It is proper, therefore, that these difficulties should be provided for. It is right that the citadel of our faith should be shown to be not only defensible, but altogether impregnable; that it should offer perfect security to those who are within, and be ever ready to give battle to all who assail it from without; that thus, by its external fortifications and its internal supplies, it may baffle every attempt to despoil the Christian of his hope, and that the enemies of our Sion may see, in their total discomfiture, the weakness of their arms, and the folly of their undertaking. This, we think, is the great use of theological controversy, and the accumulation of the evidences of religion; not so much to establish the faithful, to convince the infidel, or convert the scoffer, as to confirm the wavering, to give confidence to the timid, to prevent the spread of irreligion among the unprejudiced. And when we remember the distinguished names which adorn this branch of our literature, Chillingworth, and Barrow, and Tillotson, and Butler, and Paley, and Watson, and Chalmers, and Inglis, good reason have we to be proud of the champions whom the sneer of infidelity has roused to exert their mighty energies in the elucidation and defence of the Christian

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But Mr

Mr Douglas's volume on the " Errors regarding Religion" is a later, and we think a better executed work, than Here the author has displayed his extenhis "Truths." sive reading and his natural shrewdness to advantage. His view of the great leading features of heresy and infidelity is comprehensive and philosophical; his strictures are, in general, just, and his own opinions appear to be orthodox. He seems, indeed, to have fallen into the fashionable absurdity of supposing that the world is at present We are astonished to on the eve of some great change. find this unphilosophical view so prevalent in many works

of merit which have lately issued from the press.

self, to set his hand industriously and emulously to sucb 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

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.

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-letters to Members vituperative of our Scottish tuition. 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 controversy, 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 undisguised 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 degenerate 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, considering the subjects to which he has devoted so much attention, 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.

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. 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 vagy, to advise even the redoubtable and world-challenging Professor Pillans him

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.
We have seen worse dramatic poems than this, but, on
the whole, it is bad enough.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

THE EDITOR IN HIS SLIPPERS;

OR,

A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.
No. VIII.

"Stulta, jocosa, canenda, dolentia, 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 en-
larged 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
law of nature expressed in the four Latin words-tot
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 pragmati-
cal 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, stu-
pifies, 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

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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 ;—

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,

the constitution of its own nature-its powers and its feeblenesses, and also knows that there exist other natures no less admirable-no less instinct with the glorious workmanship of an Almighty hand---whose peculiar 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, gifted with some quickness, but very little extent of vision, seizes upon petty errors and trifling discrepancies of judg-we have been mad among the old ruins of Italy, scaring 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-approbation, 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-and were gazing at a busy world of death, which, in every 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.

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 apartments 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 diaIn the eye of philosophy, therefore, madness, in the mond set in ebony, a form and face of delicate and uncommon acceptation of the word, is a phenomenon of rare earthly beauty gleaming sadly among the darker shapes. occurrence, and is limited to that particular disorganiza- Then has fear mingled with our madness, and we have tion of the system which produces positive corporeal dis- rushed out into the long and winding lanes, populous with ease. Unfortunately, however, philosophy is seldom met squalid life, and listened distractedly to the sharp wailings with in ordinary life, and as the unphilosophical are less of penury, the fierce out-breakings of passion, and the hiscrupulous in the choice of their terms, all men are pro- deous ribaldry of hardened immorality. Then, as we nounced mad whose thoughts and actions are not like hastened on by a thickly-huddled congregation of pawn unto their thoughts and actions. Respectable gentlemen brokers' shops, filled with all their motley display of tar of fifty generally inform us that love is madness ;-hun-nished finery and paltry goods which formerly puffed up dreds 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 We have been mad in the New Town, rattling in a compos;-the merchant, who has worked all his life at coach to some great assembly of rank and fashion, and, on the ledger, is in terrible distress if his son turns out a arriving there, flinging ourselves, like a swimmer from 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 before us. We have given ourselves up to the delusion his father is a particularly weak and contemptible sort of of the scene and the hour. We have taught our eyes to character. Thus mankind go on,-each admiring his believe that they gazed on beauty, our ears that they own wisdom, and overwhelmed with astonishment at the drank in music. We have fancied that noise and bustle evident insanity of every body else. constituted pleasure,—that scandal and laughter were the Well, be it so. We are all mad; and since it is im- chief ingredients of wit. We have devoured ices and possible to avoid the imputation, let us make a virtue of jellies, and quaffed sour champaign, almost as if they had necessity, and turn our lunacy to the best account we can. been novelties, and have actually caught ourselves soothed We plead guilty, for our own part, to the most uncon- into a feeling of vanity by the coquettish attentions of a scionable fits of madness that ever turned the brain of few girls in their teens. We have returned to the danearthly 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 to the supper-room after we have danced; and we have 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 SLIPPERS; 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

with pride the souls of the men and women to whom they belonged, we have bitterly laughed at the arts and refine ments 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!

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

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