the church of England, of Rome, or of Scotland-all established churches, and yet be strangers to the church of Christ. But we must allow something to an orator; and his panegyric on the church is drawn up under a happy figure.

There is in religion, as in the circumstances of society, a golden mean; and as the happiest climate of the world lies between the extremes of heat and cold, so also in religion is there a temperate zone, equally distant from the fervor of enthusiasm and the coldness of infidelity, most kindly to the growth and produce of religious knowledge, and favorable to the encouragement of every good and pious affection. In this temperature is situated the church of England, thus established in the remotest point from every extreme; therein have the truths of religion been the most securely and profitably studied, and therein have flourished the fairest examples of ardent faith and unsullied righteousness.' P. 16.

In another sermon we lose the preacher entirely, and seem to see the orator on the treasury-bench in St. Stephen's chapel.

It is from the influence of the eternal principles of justice that the people of Great-Britain have assumed the commanding and majestic character of the restorers of the long-lost tranquillity and honour of Europe. It is on these principles that they demand, not so much indemnity for the past, as security for the future; and seek, through such prodigious and continued efforts, not aggrandisement for themselves, nor their allies, but the real happiness and Bober prosperity of those whom she has been compelled to call and treat as enemies. It is in support of the same cause, in support of our dearest rights, that we have successfully exerted ourselves in resisting our internal enemies, who have laboured with unwearied perseverance and undiminished hardihood to introduce the same dreadful scenes of anarchy into this country which have laid France in blood and ruin, and that we have arrested the progress of rebellion, averted the overthrow of our long-tried establishments, civil and religious, and escaped the plunder and desolation which attend all sweeping innovations. It is by the preventing power of these principles that our reason has not been sophisticated, nor our hearts corrupted by a foolish, proud, and savage philosophy-a philosophy which we have discovered to be as ignorant as it is presumptuous, when it would teach us that government can have any other foundations than religion and morality: as absurd as it is ungenerous, when it would induce us to forget our obligations to our ancestors, and disregard our duties to posterity; as delusive as it is barbarous, when it would persuade us to display our courage, by braving our consciences; our humanity, by wading through blood for speculative and contingent advantage; and our justice, by trampling on all established rights. And, above all, it is by the intervention of these principles that we have not yet, by a national act, denied the existence and defied the power of our God, refused the gracious offers of salvation brought unto us by our Redeemer, and haughtily rejected

the benign influence of the Holy Spirit ;-in a word, that we have "walked humbly with our God." P. 179.

So entirely, indeed, have the weakness, the baseness, and the atrocity of the modern revolutionary doctrines been unveiled, that if any man remain still inclined to adopt them, we must either pity his blindness, or shudder at his wickedness. We must not, however, relax in our opposition to the emissaries of rebellion and anarchy; since, as long as there are weak and unprincipled men in the world, so long it will be necessary to associate in defence of good order and religion.' P. 181..

We cannot too much reprobate this mode of preaching. Let the pulpit be dedicated to higher strains of instruction; let no worldly thoughts interfere to give the hearer an opinion of his own superior righteousness: the church is not the place for comparisons between one audience and another; the great and everlasting Gospel is not to be debased by temporal occurrences or speculations on human affairs.

ART. XI. --- General View of the Agriculture in the County of Perth: with Observations on the Means of its Improvement. By James Robertson, D.D. Minister at Callander in the County of Perth. Drawn up for the Consideration of the Board of Agricul ture and internal Improvement. 8vo. Morison, Perth.

AGRICULTURE, though more lately practised in any great extent, has been carried on with more scientific precision, and more philosophical discrimination, in North than in South Britain. The reason perhaps may be, that the middling class of yeomen or renters is little known. Those who did not possess estates in their own right were in general servants; and agriculture, thus in the hands of the higher and better educated ranks, has been more carefully and judiciously promoted. It is. perhaps for a similar reason that the best gardeners in England are from the north, and that thence also we have received the results of experiments conducted with more exactitude, and planned with greater ability, than in our own part of the country, Perthshire is a county of considerable magnitude, and it occu pies nearly the centre of the kingdom; bordering on the Highlands westward, and on the maritime districts in its eastern frontier.

The land to which the following survey refers seems to divide that part of Scotland on the south, which is generally adapted to the raising of grain, from that on the north; which, with few exceptions, is more fitted for pasture.

It is also singular that the county under review divides those

parts of the kingdom on the north, where firs abounded in former times, which are still found in the mosses, from those in the south, which carried oaks and a variety of other wood, but no firs, as far as I have ever heard. Nature herself, which never errs, appears to have clad our bleak mountains with a mantle, which is for ever green; while she had planted trees, which shed their leaves, where ornament and shelter were less necessary, lest perhaps the verdure of the ground would be too much intercepted from the eye of man.

In this county is the boundary between those parts of Britain where coal has been discovered, and those where coal has not hitherto been found that useful fossil, which is so necessary for the comfort of the southern districts, being less requisite in the north, where extensive forests of the pine, the best of all fuel, formerly grew, and still grow spontaneously.

Here is also the division betwixt the granite and the free-stone; there being no free-stone north of us, and the granite less frequent than the free-stone on the south. Our hewing-stone quarries gradually harden as you approach the Grampians.

Slates, that beautiful covering for houses, are found in few parts of Britain south of this county.

Another distinguishing feature of this county is, that it contains more oak-woods than are to be found in all the other counties of NorthBritain.' P. xix.

We greatly regret the want of a map of this county, in which the different soils might be laid down as in many of the agricultural reports of England. Without this assistance it is almost impossible to form or to convey any adequate idea of the soil. It is in general clay, or a rich loam, in consequence of the overflowing of brooks; and the soil consists of carses (the clay) and haughs, the regions occasionally overflowed. We shall add the author's bold outline from the topographical description in the Appendix.

In a surface so extensive, it may naturally be supposed that the country exhibits an appearance very much diversified. The grandest object which attracts the notice of a stranger, traveling northward from Edinburgh or Glasgow, is the boldness of the Grampian mountains, piled upon one another in huge masses, which extend not only the whole length of this county, but reach across the island, from Aberdeen on the German Ocean to Cowal on the Atlantic. The southern front of these mountains, which runs from south-west to north-east, has in many places a gradual and pleasing slope into a champaign country of great extent and fertility; and notwithstanding the forbidding aspect, at first sight, of the mountains themselves, with their mantle of heath and rugged rocks, they are intersected in a thousand directions by winding valleys, which are watered by rivers and brooks of the most limpid water, clad with the richest pastures, sheltered by thriving woods that fringe the lakes and run along the streams, and are accessible in most places by roads unquestionably the best in Britain. These valleys, where there is such a rich variety of natural beauty, form a contrast to the ruggedness of the surround

ing mountains, and present to the eye such romantic scenery as must be admired by every traveler of taste. The rivers in the deep defiles · struggle to find a passage where the opposite hills approach so near, the indented rocks and impending woods embrace so closely, that the waters rush with incredible force, and a deafening roar, in proportion to the altitude of the fall. Then plains of various extent burst suddenly on the eye, which are filled with villages and well-cultivated farms. Chains of lakes, finely wooded down to the water-edge, are connected with meandering streams, stored with a variety of fish. The hills are covered with snowy flocks, and numerous herds are browsing on the pastures below. -The noblemen and gentlemen's houses are generally set down on the side of a lake, or on gentle declivities facing the meridian sun, with a lawn in front intersected by the winding links of a river, and plantations of stately oaks, beeches, and other forest trees on the right and on the left, which together with the hills behind, variegated with planting, increase their beauty and their warmth.-The author has been advised by the Board to place this Topographical Description, not in the front of the Report, but in the Appendix, in which he has endeavoured to give some account of the general appearance of the surface of Perthshire, its most remarkable rivers, lakes, and mountains, the situation, prospects, and embellishments, of some of the noblemen and gentlemen's-seats, with such remarks upon each as have naturally occurred. Along the south side of the Grampians, and on the north side of another range of green hills, there lies a large valley, or strath, which runs in the same direction with these mountains, and terminates on the north-east at Stonehaven, and on the south-west at Dunbarton, reaching from sea to sea. This strath is of unequal breadth, from ten to fifteen miles over, in different places, and upwards of one hundred miles long. It is intersected by many large and beautiful rivers, every one of which is peculiar to this county, excepting two on the east, and one at the western extremity, beyond the limits of Perthshire.' P. 453.

The particular description is equally animated and precise. It reflects the highest credit on the taste, abilities, and judgement of Dr. Robertson. The account of the moss of Kincardine, and the methods adopted for reclaiming it, are well described; and many useful hints may be collected from Mr. Smyth's method of cultivating waste land. Some other valuable papers are added in the appendix, among which we may particularly notice Mr. Haldane's attempts to introduce the fine-wooled sheep, and the description of various remains of antiquity in this county.

The arrangement of the General View before us is the same with the reports of other counties; but more minute, miscellaneous, and instructive. What however constitutes the chief merit of the work to the reader, renders it impossible for us to convey an adequate idea of it. We shall, nevertheless, mention the different heads, with a few remarks, as they occur.

Of the state of property we can give no discriminate account; CRIT. REV. Vol. 34. April, 1802.

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but shall select the pleasing picture of Scottish manners from the introduction.

The noblemen have large estates; which enable them to support their dignity with splendor, and to perpetuate the hospitality of their ancestors. Many of the gentlemen have independent fortunes, gratifying a taste for elegance suited to their improved ideas and their rank in life. There are few or no counties in Scotland where the commoners are more distinguished by their education, their manners, their enlarged views, the love of their country, and the extent of their property. Those among them, who are not engaged in the arduous departments of government, of law, or military affairs, live for the most part upon their estates, have a pleasure in embellishing their residence, and ornamenting the country around them. Not a few of them superintend the improvements of their own tenants; and, by condescending to reason with the country people, remove their prejudices against new modes of culture, teach them to discern their true interest, acquire their confidence and esteem, and are regarded as the fathers and friends of every person within their domains. While the supercilious landlord, who, with an air of disdain, keeps his tenants at a distance, or does not know them at all, scarcely receives the cold salute and ceremonious bow which is due to rank; he who bends a little, and exchanges a few kind expressions, receives the respectful salutation of esteem, accompanied with the affectionate language of gratitude. The most beloved and the most successful generals were those who knew their soldiers personally. No man is less dignified for being loved; and it lessens no man's consequence in the world to have the confidence of those around him. Hence the generality of proprietors, who are resident on their estates, lead their tenants by the hand in the road of improvement and of wealth; and have found the true secret of promoting their own interest while they promote the interest of their people.

Under the feudal system the management of estates would be but little attended to a property acquired by force of arms must be kept possession of by the sword. It was therefore more necessary to train the tenantry to war than to rural improvements.

On the large estates there was an officer next in authority to the proprietor himself, who, under the name of chamberlain, was at once minister, general, and manager of the estate. The farms were divided and subdivided to make room for a greater number of soldiers, and were frittered down into these small holdings in which they are now. found; in which circumstances no solid improvement could ever be expected to take place.' P. 37.

The division of property, where there are no dykes, is simple and curious. It is by wind and water;' that is, the windward or leeward side of a hill, more accurately distinguished by the course which the rain takes when falling. The buildings and cottages are increasing in number and convenience: they do hot yet rise to elegance. The farms are large, the rents augmenting, and the whole county greatly improving. Dr. Robert