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DINBURGA

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,"

"CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

NUMBER 541.

SOME IDEAS RESPECTING SELF-ESTEEM. THE utility of a just self-respect, in maintaining right conduct and protecting against undue aggression, is sufficient evidence of the wisdom of Providence in planting this as a primitive feeling in human nature; but perhaps there is none of the human faculties of which the disproportions allowed to individuals occasion such a striking variety of manifestations. Let the following two cases speak for themselves :Some years since, whilst walking with a respectable merchant in the town of Hull, my attention was attracted by a short, dirty, little fellow, with coat worn at the elbows, shoes that had never been made to fit him, and a remnant of a hat, placed on the dexter side of his head. He was strutting in a most ridiculous manner, with his hands in his pockets, and with the air of one who evidently thought very highly of himself. As we passed him, he bowed somewhat haughtily to my companion, and, in a patronising tone, said "How do you do, George ?"-when, to my surprise, the rich merchant responded, in a similar strain and manner, thus-" Ha! Bill-how are you?" On my inquiring who this little eccentric creature might be, I was told "That he was too proud to work, but that he would take money from those whom he condescended to call his friends and equals; that he never slept in a bed, but chose, as his dormitory, hackney coaches, hay-lofts, or any place of easy access, where nothing was expected for the accommodation; that he occasionally obtained voluntary contributions' by spouting pieces from plays to the company of tap-rooms; and that he had been engaged to exhibit his histrionic powers with a company of strollers, before some rural admirers of the drama, in barns, &c." My informant added-"Spurzheim should see his head; for if he has not a large bump of self-esteem, there is not a particle of truth in his science." My own attention being thus directed to this person, I took every opportunity afforded by my temporary sojourn to obtain some little more information about him. Sometimes I met him walking arm in arm with a smart officer from the garrison-the one with a fine laced coat, and all the gay trappings of the military man, contrasting with the torn and shabby habiliments of the other; sometimes he might be seen fastening on some professional man, and if he did not talk very learnedly, he did very loudly. Every one seemed to humour and encourage his absurdity, and to derive amusement for themselves from his consummate pride and most ridiculous egotism. He was called "General Davies," but his real name I never heard. This cognomen he had been known by for many years; for, so early did he manifest his inordinate self-esteem, that, when a boy, his contemporaries, imitating the loyalty of their parents, formed themselves into a local militia, and this Davies, the poorest lad among them, would be nothing else than "general;" and whether to be amused with his eccentricity, or because he showed an overbearing manner to the juvenile soldiers, true it is that he held the rank he aspired to, and has retained the title ever since.

The other case is one of a comparative deficiency of that true estimate of self which is essential to give tone and vigour to the mental faculties, rendering them useful to others as well as to ourselves.

Mr Jenkins was a very accomplished general practitioner, having read hard, and attended all the lectures with diligence and attention, yet he never succeeded in his profession; and this arose from there being something in his manner which destroyed all confidence he was hesitating and wavering, as if he had had no decided opinion on any subject, or

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1842.

any experience to warrant his forming one. When he was called to attend an invalid, his deficient selfesteem was too obvious not to be matter of comment and reflection to the most commonplace minds. When asked a question, instead of speaking in the first person singular, he would either answer-" We are informed that these symptoms indicate such a form of the disease;" or, "The best medical writers assert so and so," &c. This want of dependence on his own judgment marred his success, and often excited a feeling of contempt for his mental qualifications in those who decide from mere manner, or whose own acquirements were but superficial. If his professional brethren thought more favourably of his knowledge, they would express their pity for him, which had a tendency still more to degrade him, so far as the public was concerned. Nor could it be otherwise; I have often seen him in a sick-room look as if he did not know what to do. If asked the nature of a disease, or the treatment he thought necessary to subdue it, instead of giving the querist a direct answer, he would turn to some non-professional person, or to the nurse, and say " Don't you think it is so and so?" &c. Often, in common every-day affections, instead of relying on his own information and details of practice, being well qualified to do so, he would say "I think it would be better to call in Dr for his opinion:" hence, if the patient recovered, the latter had the merit of the cure; but if the disorder terminated fatally, then the practice of poor Jenkins was implicated, and his indecision and want of self-confidence made a subject of severe animadversion and detraction. So that, instead of rising in public estimation, the longer he was in business, as is generally the case, he retrograded; and death to him was a fortunate event, sparing him from further and worse sufferings from the pity or contempt of the public.

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These anecdotes show forcibly how independent pride is of circumstances. Many recognise pride only in fine clothes, fine accommodations, and fine equipages and retinues; but those who enjoy such things are often of genuinely humble nature, from their chancing to be endowed with little self-esteem, and only are surrounded with elegances through the favour of fortune; while, on the other hand, individuals in humble circumstances are sometimes found to be inspired with the most extravagant self-esteem. The pride of General Davies is no solitary instance. The philosopher whom my Hull friend referred to, first had his attention drawn to this section of our mental organisation by a beggar at Vienna-a man who had been born in respectable circumstances, but, being too proud to work, had sunk into the lowest of all conditions. This man walked with precisely the same air as a particular councillor of the emperor who was known to be excessively proud; and this was what first attracted the notice of the philosopher. The union between pride and poverty is a thing familiar to the world that between affluence and the true spirit of humbleness and gentleness has been much less remarked, but is not less a truth. The first is one of the most difficult of all things to deal with. Humble wealth might lick the dust beneath the feet of proud poverty, without soothing or conciliating it. When to the first is added the spirit of rudeness, it becomes utterly insufferable-for instance, the greater pride of Diogenes in trampling on the pride of Plato; or such an effusion as the following, addressed by the late William Cobbett to the Bishop of Winchester :"Bishop-I have some remarks to make on the letters above mentioned, and I think proper to address these remarks to you; because, in the first place, you

PRICE 14d.

have great power and possessions in that part of the kingdom in which I was born; in the next place, because you are an author, and therefore one of us.

For these reasons, I address myself to you upon this occasion; and, for the same reasons, I shall treat you with very little ceremony, though you have three palaces, and are the lord of perhaps more than twenty manors. In your pamphlet above alluded to, you complain that there is among the people a want of proper respect for superiors; but I am your superior. I have ten times your talent, and a thousand times your industry and zeal. From my pen have gone forth twelve sermons; and more than a hundred and fifty thousand (taking each singly) copies of these sermons have actually been printed and sold; and there are now more of them (in a volume) sold every year than the total amount of the sale of any single sermon that you, or any of your clergy, ever sent from the press. There is not one of these sermons which has not, in my opinion, done more to mend the morals of the people than all the sermons that you ever wrote or ever preached, or that you would be able to write or preach to the age of Methuselah. Who, then, best deserves the palace and park that overlook my native town of Farnham-you or I Put your hand to your heart, bishop, and answer this question." Such persons think they are acting with proper spirit, when they are only indulging, without rational restraint, one of the most selfish of their feelings.

Self-esteem is as independent of gifts and attainments as of worldly circumstances. Many an author of the poorest quality have I met with, who had a far higher opinion of himself than ever could be traced in the late Sir Walter Scott. I lately encountered one who had yet published nothing, but had prepared a work which he designed to publish, and for which he expected a success infinitely transcending that of any production of the present age. He held all the masters of his art, Scott, Bulwer, Dickens, &c., in the greatest contempt, and, to do him justice, he was deeply and exactly conversant with all their defects, on which he insisted in eloquent terms. He made no secret of his expectation to place himself far above them.all. His book has since been published; but no individual of the insensible public has ever bought a copy, and not a single review has thought it worthy of notice. Sitting in the critical chair generally brings out the self-esteem of literary men in the strongest light. In the humblest works that pretend to review literary productions, one shall find men, known through private channels to be of no consideration themselves, pronouncing judgments on good authors with an air of not only superior wisdom, but of something like superior nature-as, for instance, in the following passage, which is a genuine extract from a review which appeared a few years ago in a provincial periodical, being probably the production of some person of not the least note. The book reviewed was a new volume of an encyclopædic work; and the writer makes reference, it will be observed, to a former counsel, which had not been attended to. "This is the way," says our critic, "in which we thought the author should have treated his subject; and we urged it the more, because we believed that he was well able to treat it so. If he will not take our advice, which we give in all kindness, he must be contented to take his place in the crowd of mere collectors, instead of joining the ranks of men of science." I am Sir Oracle, and when I ope my mouth, &c. It is perfectly delightful to contrast this arrogance with the humility of the great fictionist of our times. Scott had remarkably little self-esteem, and, on the contrary, a great deal of the submissive and venerative

feeling, which seems to be its opposite. He never once, perhaps, in his whole life, made an unprompted observation on his own works. On the other hand, he over-estimated the productions of others, insomuch as to wring from Mr Constable the well-known exclamation-"Give me as many as possible of the hooks that Scott writes himself, but save me from the books which he recommends!" See, also, in his "Lives of the Novelists," what more than justice he has done to all his predecessors in prose fiction. Certainly, whatever might be Scott's faults-and there has not lately been any tendency to extenuate them-an envious or detractive spirit was not of the number. With nations the same rule holds good. The Greeks were proud, and called all other nations barbarians. In their case, if ever, the feeling was justifiable; but it flourishes equally where it is only ridiculous. I insist not on the case of the Chinese, who certainly have made some advance in arts and letters, as compared with their neighbours. But observe the Chippeweyans of North America, who call themselves exclusively "The People," whilst they designate all other nations by their particular country -or the Esquimaux, who term themselves Innuee, or Mankind, and look to Southampton Island as a place full of wretched savages not worthy to be considered as of the same species. The Caribs had an equally high conceit of themselves; and now, poor creatures, not one of the race exists.

Self-esteem is the leader sentiment of human nature. No one who has had opportunities of observing a family of young children, can have failed to distinguish the particular one, whose superior selfesteem made him the self-constituted lord over the rest. In a group of village children, there is always in like manner one who seems naturally to become the leader. So it is also in gangs of poachers, or of banditti, and in savage tribes. Generally, in these instances, superior intellect or physical power aids in giving the ascendancy, but not to a great extent. A wide distinction between such associations, and those which exist in civilised and peaceful communities is, that in the latter, self-esteem is less, and superior qualification more, the cause or source of a governing power being vested in any particular person. There it often happens that the ruler or functionary has much less self-esteem than the obscure malcontent

who employs himself in finding fault and creating disturbance. Indeed, it is very frequently this simple feeling which causes disaffection; it is indisposed to submit, and would itself fain be master. Often has the king, who walked from his inauguration with his crown on his head and his robes on his shoulders, borne a humbler heart than the demagogue who stood in the kennel and railed at him. Espartero, the Regent of Spain, is a remarkable example of a man raised to supreme power by natural qualities and the favour of circumstances, while possessing little of that faculty which almost solely constitutes the leaders of rude communities. I have been informed by a gentleman acquainted with him, that his manner in coming into a room of state, where all are prepared to pay him obeisance, presents a striking example of the shambling, diffident demeanour of men who have little self-esteem; insomuch that the vice-regal character sits rather awkwardly upon him. At the same time, of the firmness of Espartero there can be no room to doubt, from all that we see of his government.

mollified yearnings of his animal propensities. Every
action is instigated by selfish considerations. If any
one should offend such an individual, he holds a
judicial proceeding, and constitutes himself both judge
and jury, and there is no appeal against his verdict;
and woe be unto the poor wight who is in the power
of such a person, as summary and vindictive punish-
ment is sure to be inflicted. But if the mental court
of a proud man is regulated by a cultivated intellect
and a sound code of morality, then a righteous judg-
ment may be expected. The appellant will have a
patient hearing, and every mitigating circumstance
will be investigated; motives will be examined, and
justice will be done, from the decision being depen-
dent on the evidence which may have been submitted,
and not merely on impulsive sensations of personal
wrong.

GOLDEN HAIR.

GOLDEN hair, or any thing having a pretension to
rank under that name, is extremely rare now-a-days
among the sons and daughters of men. Yet it has
been much talked of. All the old poets, Greek and
Roman, are fond of adorning their heroes and heroines,
more particularly the latter, with tresses of this bril-
liant hue. Was the attribute more common in those
days than now? Probably not. The number of real
and historical characters who have been decorated
by nature with golden hair, appears to be very limited
indeed. One of those so endowed was Lucretia
Borgia, the too famous daughter of Pope Alexander
V1., and a renowned beauty in her time. The truth
of the matter is put beyond all doubt, by the preser-
vation of one of her tresses in the Ambrosian Library
of Milan. Leigh Hunt tells us that he possesses a
single hair from this tress, stolen by a "wild acquaint-
ance" from the valued relic. "On the envelope,"
says Mr Hunt, whom we must allow to speak for
himself here, "my wild acquaintance put a happy

motto

'And beauty draws us with a single hair.'

If ever hair was golden, it is this. It is not red, it is
not yellow, it is not auburn; it is golden, and nothing
else; and though natural-looking too, must have had
a surprising appearance in the mass. Lucretia, beau-
tiful in every respect, must have looked like a vision
in a picture an angel from the sun. Every body who
sees it, cries out, and pronounces it the real thing.
Wat Sylvan [Mr W. Savage Landor], a man of
genius, whom I became acquainted with over it, as
other acquaintances commence over a bottle, was in-
spired on the occasion with the following verses :-

'Borgia, thou once wert almost too august And high for adoration-now thou'rt dust! All that remains of thee these plaits enfold-Calm hair meandering with pellucid gold!"" We are tempted to think that we have found another authentic case in the work called the Memorie of the Somervills-a curious family memoir written by a Lord Somerville in the reign of Charles II. The entire passage in which the notice occurs may be extracted, as presenting what we think a very delightful description of individual and real beauty. It relates to the wife of the author, born Martha, daughter of Bannatyne of Corehouse :-"It is proper in this place to give a description of her persone and quaThe meanness of which pride is sometimes found lifications, both being excellent; to begin with the capable, is a very remarkable feature of human cha- first, att her age of fyfteine compleat, she attained to racter. We see it make men become absolute beggars, her full height, which was soe farre above the ordiin order to avoid the supposed degradation of a useful nary stature of most women, that she was accounted calling. We see it make the proud high-born put up amongst the tallest of our natione, but soe as that with almost every kind of unseen humiliation inciden- diminished nothing of her handsomenesse, every part tal to poor circumstances, and even become the on- answering thereto; her visage was long, her nose high, hangers of those who despise them, rather than taint her brow bent and smooth as alabaster, her chin and their name and their ideal dignity by condescend- cheeks somewhat full, with a little read, especially in ing to merchandise. Haughty dogs do verily contrive hott weather; ther was nothing boor soe litle proporsometimes to sit down to amazingly dirty puddings. tione with the rest of her body as her hand and foot, For example-what, though it occurs in a fiction, we both being extremely litle, but weill shapen, whyte, and cannot but deem a genuine trait of life-the willing-full of flesh; her skin was smoothe and clear, but what ness of the Hidalgo, in Guzman d'Alfarache, to stomach was covered, not soe whyte as I have seen severall of the remains of a supper actually begged by his half- her complexione that was purely sanguinean; her hair starved valet! This is a phenomenon more easily ac-being of a bright flaxen, which darkened as she grew counted for than might be at first supposed. Pride, in such instances, creates such a perfect assurance of the impossibility of self-degradation, that it allows itself to do any thing.

in age, added much to her beauty, wherin ther was no
blemish, her mean being answerable to that, and her
persone gave occasione to these that saw her at church,
or any other public meeting, to ascert she graced the
place and company where she was. It has often been
observed, that when this gentlewoman walked upon
the street (which was but upon occasione, being better
imployed at home), that the eyes not only of the men,
but also of these of her oune sex, was upon her, soe
farre as ther sight could serve them, admireing her
parts and handsomenesse. If any should questione
the truth of what I have written concerning the per-
sone of this young lady, ther are thousands yet alive
both in Clidesdale, wher she was born and brought up,
and lived some years when in a married estate, and in
Mid-Lothian, her residence thereftir, where she lived
some thretteine years, and therin dyed, that will
give the same testimony of her persone, features, and
beauty.

We return to repeat the remark, that the true use of self-esteem in the human constitution is to give that sense of self-respect which tends to maintain right conduct and repel unjust aggression. We should therefore only deprecate any great extreme of this feeling; whilst, at the same time, reflection will convince us that no great actions can be performed without a proper sense of pride that every real and sound friend of his species-those, for example, who have suffered for their advocacy of the great principles of civil and religious liberty-must have had self-esteem, or truth would have been sacrificed in deference to established opinions, and the best and soundest principles would have been immolated on the altars of selfish prejudices. The proud conscientious man is sure to act honestly. We should therefore only depre- For the induements of her mynde, they wer answercate pride when its all-engrossing tendencies swallow able to the excellency of the cause, as being of a quick up the better faculties, and when it exercises a fear-apprehensione, strong judgement, a ready delyverie, ful potency over every action, rendering the possessor albeit she had a little haugh [hesitation] in utterance, overbearing, immoral, and ignorant. Such a one we which was soe farre from makeing it unpleasant, that may dread to associate with under any circumstances, it graced her speech, and was very takeing with these because no moral consideration will restrain the un- she conversed with ; in a word, she was pious towards

God, obedient to her parents, loveing and submissive to her husband, and obledgeing to the meanest of his relations; indulgent towards her children, frugall in careing for her familie, charitable to the poor, and courteous to all persons whatsomever."

We have mentioned that the Greek and Roman poets were liberal in ascribing golden locks to the favourite creations of their fancy. Our own poets have been so also; as, for example, Chaucer, who says of a lady that appeared to him, and won his heart, in

a dream

"For every hair upon her head,
The sooth to say it was not red;
Nor yellow, nor yet brown it n'as,
Methought most like to gold it was."

Collins, in his fine personification of Hope, gives
her, it will be remembered, a head ornament of the
kind under consideration-

"And Hope, enchanted, smiled, and waved her golden hair." A contemporary of his, the writer of the ballad of Gil Morris, as printed by Percy, confers this magnificent ornament on his hapless hero, contributing to the engaging effeminacy of the picture

"His hair was like the threeds of gold
Drawne frae Minerva's loome;
His lipps like roses drapping dew,
His breath was a' perfume."

But to take the words of dreaming poets on such a
subject is not our purpose here, and we therefore pro-
ceed to give another of the few historical and authentic
instances of the occurrence of golden hair which we
have met with in our course of reading. It is that of
Beatrice Cenci, an Italian lady, whose deplorable
story has been made the subject of a tragedy by Percy
Bysshe Shelley. "Beautiful exceedingly" in all re-
spects, Beatrice had also the ornament of golden hair.
The manuscript which narrates her fate thus de-
scribes her: Beatrice was of a make rather large
than small. Her complexion was fair. She had two
dimples in her cheeks, which added to the beauty of
her countenance, especially when she smiled, and gave
it a grace that enchanted all who saw her. Her hair
was like threads of gold; and because it was very long,
she used to fasten it up; but when she let it flow
loosely, the wavy splendour of it was astonishing. She
had blue eyes, very pleasing, of a sprightliness mixed
with dignity; and in addition to all these graces, her
conversation, as well as all that she did, had a spirit
in it, and a sparkling polish, which made every one in
love with her. She was then under twenty years of
age." Shelley himself saw the portrait of Beatrice
Cenci, and says "Her hair is bound with folds of
white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her
golden hair escape and fall about her neck."

Burns's "Lassie wi' the Lint-white Locks" could not, we suspect, make any pretensions to a place among the golden-haired. No modern poets, in fact, say much about golden hair, and this is perhaps a sign that truth is insinuating itself, of late days, even into poetry. Any one, however, who wishes to see a fine description, in fiction, of a golden-haired girl, may turn to the experiences of Richard Taylor (story of Mary Anne's Hair), in the early numbers of Tait's Magazine, where the supposed possession of such an ornament is turned to fine account. We have heard of several cases of girls in humble life, who had hair of the hue of gold, and received considerable sums, every year or two, by selling the surplus quantity. We believe, indeed, that, in the palmy days of female wigs, such sales were not uncommon.

PROFESSOR JOHNSTON ON THE RELATION
OF GEOLOGY TO AGRICULTURE.

SOILS being formed (by weathering or natural disso-
lution) out of the rocks on which they rest, their
character, with a regard to the purposes of the agri-
culturist, depends on the constitution of those rocks.
It therefore becomes of great consequence to know
the constituent materials of rocks, as well as their
arrangement and geographical situation—a branch of
knowledge which falls within the department of the
geologist. We find the relation which thus subsists
between geology and agriculture briefly, intelligibly,
and most convincingly explained in a small treatise*
recently published by Professor Johnston of Durham,
a young cultivator of science, who seems to delight in
turning his studies to a practical account, and for
whom, if we are not greatly mistaken, there waits an
enviable reputation in and out of his country. Mr
Johnston's treatise gives also a view of the relations
of chemistry to agriculture; but this is a subject on
which we have often before addressed our readers.

The first lesson in agricultural geology is, to observe how rocks are disposed on the surface of the earth. Let this be briefly stated for the sake of the altogether ignorant. Some rocks exist in great mountainous masses-forming in reality the bulk of huge mountain ranges-and in these nothing like the bedstructure or stratification is to be traced. They are, in fact, the ridges or upper parts of masses which stretch to an unknown distance into the earth. Upon the sunk parts of these rocks rest others, which take the form of layers, beds, or strata; all of them distinguished by peculiar constitutional characters, but each kind found in a certain place in an invariable

* Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

order of supraposition; some one or other being at the surface, sometimes with the flat side lying along, sometimes with the edge presented upwards; all under the superficial stratum in the order being probably present below, and all those higher in the order being absent. Where a stratified rock, or a certain kindred group of stratified rocks, lies for a great way flat, or comparatively flat, as is often the case in extensive valleys, one character of soil obtains over a large surface; in other places, the beds lying more or less edgewise, we may pass over various characters of soils in the space of a short walk. It is further to be observed, that as the dust of one kind of rock is liable to be washed or otherwise transported, in whole or in part, to a distance from its native seat, it may sometimes happen that a soil is not strictly of the character which might be argued from that of the subjacent rock; but it is generally so; and such cases as those are to be held only as exceptions, against which the skilled agricultural geologist requires to be upon his guard. |

chiefly fitted for pasture. Of the Lower it may also
be said, that the predominance of the sandstone and
limestone is requisite to create a good arable soil.
The Lias, being a pure clay, is chiefly for pasture.
The New Red Sandstone formation [by formation is
meant a kindred group of strata] "consists of red
sandstones and marls-the soils on which are easily
and cheaply worked, and form some of the richest
and most productive arable lands in the island. In
whatever part of the world the red soils of this forma-
tion have been met with, they have been found to
possess in general the same agricultural capabilities."
The soil of the Magnesian Limestone bears naturally a
poor pasture, and is only capable of being improved
into arable land by "high farming."

margins of the lakes, spots of bright green meet the eye, and patches of a willing soil, fertile in corn."

In

In addition to the varieties of rock already specified, there is a kind of what may be called an eccentric character, as far as arrangement is concerned, being found in masses and thin partitions amongst and bisecting other rocks, into which positions it has apparently been thrown in a molten form from below. This is Trap Rock (basalts and greenstones). granite, felspar, the parent of clay, unites with quartz; in trap, with hornblende, in which there is much lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron. Granite soils are generally unfruitful; and the plains below mountain ranges of this rock are often unfruitful also, in consequence of being overspread with the drift of the felspar clay. But a trap soil, from its containing (through the hornblende) so much of the "inorganic constituents which plants require for their healthy sustenance," proves generally more productive. In some instances, as in the Scilly Isles, the granite contains hornblende also, and is thereby rendered fertile.

Mr Johnston draws the following conclusions:--"1. That some formations, like the New Red Sandstone, yield a soil almost always productive; others, as the Coal Measures and Millstone Grits, a soil almost always naturally unproductive. 2. That good-or better land at least, than generally prevails in a district-may be expected where two formations or two different kinds of rock meet—as when a limestone and a clay mingle their mutual ruins for the formation of a common soil. 3. That in almost every country, extensive tracts of land, on certain formations, will be found laid down to natural grass, in consequence of the original difficulty and expense of working. In raising "The Coal Measures [another term for a group of corn, it is natural that the lands which are easiest strata], from 300 to 3000 feet thick, consist of beds of and cheapest worked should be first subjected to the sandstones and dark blue shales (hard clays), inter-plough; it is not till implements are improved, skill mingled (interstratified) with beds of coal. Where the increased, capital accumulated, and population presses, sands come to the surface, the soil is thin, poor, hungry, that the heavier lands will be rescued from perennial sometimes almost worthless. The shales, on the other grass, and made to produce that greatly increased hand, produce stiff, wet, almost unmanageable clays amount of food for both man and beast which they not unworkable, yet expensive to work, and requiring are easily capable of yielding." draining, lime, skill, capital, and a zeal for improvement, to be applied to them, before they can be made to yield the remunerating crops of corn they are capable of producing. To the Millstone Grits, of 600 feet or upwards in thickness, the same remarks apply. They are often only a repetition of the sandstones and shales of the Coal Measures, forming in many cases soils still more worthless. Where the sandstones prevail, large tracts lie naked, or bear a thin and stunted heath; where the shales abound, the naturally difficult soils of the coal shales again recur. These rocks are generally found on the outskirts of our coal-fields. The Mountain Limestone, 800 to 1000 feet thick, is a hard blue limestone rock, separated here and there into distinct beds by layers of sandstones, of sandy slates, or of blue shales like those of the Coal Measures. The soil upon the limestone is generally thin, but produces a naturally sweet herbage. When the limestone and clay (shale) adjoin each other, arable land occurs, which is naturally productive of oats, yet, when We trust that this scanty outline of the agricultuthe climate is favourable, capable of being converted ral characters of the various rocks will be sufficient to into good wheat land. In the north of England, a con- inspire a wish in many minds to study the subject siderable tract of country is covered by these rocks, more deeply. It is clearly one of the greatest practibut in Ireland they form nearly the whole of the in-cal importance, and particularly so to all who have terior of the island. occasion either to purchase or lease land, whether in The Old Red Sandstone varies in thickness from this country or the colonies. We could not well, in500 to 10,000 feet. It possesses many of the valuable deed, over-estimate the importance of either geology agricultural qualities of the New Red, consisting, like or chemistry to those whose business is with the soil. it, of red sandstones and marls, which crumble down All such persons ought to give their minds in some into rich red soils. Such are the soils of Brecknock, measure to both studies. We observe that Professor Hereford, and part of Monmouth; of part of Berwick Johnston has afforded opportunities of doing so in a and Roxburgh; of Haddington and Lanark; of south-series of lectures, in which the subjects are treated ern Perth; of either shore of the Moray Firth; and of more largely than in the present volume, and which the county of Sutherland. In Ireland, also, these are published at a cheap rate. But even this small rocks abound in Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Monaghan; pocket manual may be sufficient for the purpose with in Waterford, Mayo, and Tipperary. In all these a large class of minds, as it presents both subjects in places, the soils they form are generally the best in a remarkably clear manner, without any scientific their several neighbourhoods; though here and there, difficulties or details that could tend to occasion the where the sandstones are harder, more siliceous, and least perplexity. impervious to water, tracts, sometimes extensive, of

Now, all rocks whatever are formed of a limited range of materials; and what makes them so different from each other is simply their having the materials in different proportions, or in having individually some of the materials and wanting others. The materials of some are much better calculated than others to form a soil which will be productive or improvable. Hence, when we know the rock below the soil, we may form a tolerably confident augury as to the value of the soil for purposes of rural economy. Mr Johnston very justly remarks—“" If the agricultural geologist be informed that his friend has bought or is in treaty for a farm or an estate, and that it is situated upon such and such a rock, or geological formation, he can immediately give a very probable opinion in regard to the agricultural value of the soil, whether the property be in England, in Australia, or New Zealand. If he knows the nature of the climate, also, he will be able to estimate with tolerable correctness, how far the soil is likely to repay the labours of the practical farmer; nay, even whether it is likely to suit better for arable land or for pasture; and if for arable, what species of white crops it may be expected to produce most abundantly. These facts are very curious, and illustrate beautifully the value of geological knowledge-if not to A and B, the holders or proprietors of this and that small farm, yet to enlightened agriculturists, to scientific agriculture in general. To those who are now embarking in such numbers in quest of new homes in our numerous colonies, who hope to find, if not a more willing, at least a more attainable soil in new countries, no kind of agricultural knowledge can at the outset I may say, even through life-be so valuable as that to which the rudiments of geology will lead them. Many who prepare themselves [as they think] for becoming farmers or proprietors in Canada, New Zealand, or in wide Australia, leave their native land without a particle of that preliminary practical knowledge which would qualify them to say, when they reach the land of their adoption-On this spot rather than that, in this district rather than that, will I purchase my allotment; because, though both ap-heath and bog occur. pear equally inviting, yet I know, from the geological structure of the country, that here I shall have the more permanently productive soil; here I am more within reach of the means of agricultural improvement; here, in addition to the riches of the sur

face, my descendants may hope to derive the means of wealth from mineral riches beneath.' And this oversight has arisen chiefly from the value of such knowledge not being understood—often from the very nature of it being unknown, even to otherwise wellinstructed practical men."

We shall now briefly run over the characters of the soils of the different rocks, partly using Mr Johnston's language and partly our own.

PLEASANT PROCEEDINGS AT A FACTORY.

The Upper Silurian system is nearly 4000 feet in thickness, and forms the soils over the lower border THE masses of factory population, growing, as they counties of Wales. It consists of sandstones and do, beyond the reach of many of the established moral shales, with occasional limestones; but the soils formed agencies, have formed a remarkable problem in our from these beds take their character from the general national condition for many years past. Alarms of a abundance of clay. They are cold, usually unmanage- this subject, as if factory people were something diffemost extravagant nature have been entertained on able, muddy clays, with the remarkably inferior agri-rent from other human beings-utterly destitute of cultural value of which the traveller is immediately that element of good which, resting in human nature struck, as he passes westward off the Red Sandstones of Hereford on to the Upper Silurian rocks of Radnor. itself, is the true conservative principle of all society. The Lower Silurian rocks are also nearly 4000 feet lation as so much of an anomaly as some writers have For our part, we neither can regard the factory popuin thickness, and in Wales lie to the west of the Upper represented it, nor can we believe that there would Silurian rocks. They consist of about 2500 feet of be so much difficulty as some apprehend in making sandstone, on which, when the surface is not naked, the factory and its neighbourhood a scene of happibarren heaths alone rest. Beneath these sandstones lie 1200 feet of sandy and earthy limestones, from the from the rocky hearts of the colliers of Kingsdown ness and refinement. Whitfield brought good feeling decay of which, as may be seen on the southern edge by one or two sermons: who can despair of right of Caermarthen, fertile arable lands are produced. moral influences while the subjects of the experiment wear the human form? Already, several most encouraging experiments have been made upon the factory population. We shall not here discuss which is the best kind of influence that can be exerted amongst them, but we can show that at least one kind, whatever be its relative merits, has been tried with good effect. We allude to the already partially known proceedings of the Messrs Greg at Bollington, in Cheshire. Two letters from Mr S. Greg to Mr Leonard Horner, Factory Inspector, which were printed for private circulation, contain a most interesting as well as modest account of these proceedings, though not to a very recent date, the first letter having been written in 1836, and the second in 1838. We shall endeavour to present a condensed and connected view of the contents of these letters.

Commencing with the uppermost rocks, and going downwards-the Tertiary Strata, which exist near London and some other parts of England, but are wanting in Scotland and Ireland, are "stiff, almost impervious, dark clays," chiefly fitted for pasture, The Cambrian system, of many thousand yards in unless in the lower beds, which, being mixed with thickness, consists in great part of clay slates more sand, produce an arable soil. The upper beds of the or less hard, which often weather slowly, and almost Chalk make a poor soil, chiefly serviceable for pas- always produce either poor and thin soils, or cold, ture; the lower make a good corn soil. So fully is difficultly manageable clays, expensive to work, and the superiority of the lower beds acknowledged, that requiring high farming to bring them into profitable in some parts of Suffolk, where the former prevail, arable cultivation. Cornwall, western Wales, and the they bring soil from the lower beds in Kent by sea, to mountains of Cumberland, in England-the high counstrew over their lands. "The Green Sand, 500 feet try which stretches from the Lammermuir hills to thick, consists of 150 feet of clay, with about 100 feet Portpatrick, in Scotland-the mountains of Tipperary, of sand above, and 250 feet below it. The upper sand and a large tract on the extreme south of Ireland; on forms a very productive arable soil; the clay im- its east coast, and far inland from the Bay of Dundalk pervious, wet, and cold lands, chiefly in pasture; the-are covered by these slate rocks. Patches of rich, lower sand is generally unproductive. It is an im- well-cultivated land occur here and there on this forportant agricultural remark, that where the clay mation, with much also that is improvable; but the (plastic clay) comes in contact with the top of the greater part of it is usurped by worthless heaths and chalk, an improved soil is produced; and that where extensive bogs. the chalk and the green sand mix, extremely fertile patches of country present themselves. The Wealden Formation is only good where the marls and limestones, partly composing it, come to the surface.

Of the Oolite, so conspicuous in England, the Upper is only good "where the sandy limestone beds rest upon and are intermixed with the clay." The Middle gives good arable land where the limestones happen to abound; the pure clays are heavy to work, and

The Mica Slate and Gneiss systems are of unknown thickness, and consist chiefly of hard and slaty rocks, crumbling slowly, forming poor thin soils, which rest on an impervious rock, and which, from the height to which this formation generally rises, are rendered more unproductive by an unpropitious climate. They form extensive heathy tracts in Perth and Argyle, and on the north and west of Ireland. Here and there only, in the valleys or sheltered slopes, and by the

Mr S. Greg states, that he and his partners commenced business at Bollington Mill in 1832, and by 1834, had the works in full operation. They had no theoretical views as to the capabilities of their people, but they seem to have entertained genuinely kind feelings towards them. Mr S. Greg was sensible of the moral evils of the condition of factory people as low company, neglect of home and domestic duties, frequenting of public-houses, and seeking for pleasure in vulgar and brutalising amusements of various kinds.

He also felt strongly the need for an improvement in their manners towards each other. On this last point he makes some remarks, in which we most cordially concur:-"The gentleness, the tenderness, the delicacy, the patience, the forbearance, the fear of giving pain, the repression of all angry and resentful feelings, the respect and consideration due to a fellow-man, and which every one should be ready to pay, and expect to receive-what is all this but the very spirit of courtesy -what is it but the very spirit of Christianity? And what is there in this that is not equally an ornament to the palace and the cottage, to the nobleman and the peasant?" Mr Greg likewise perceived that the low habits of many of the factory men are but forms of the evils of their condition. He sought deeper for the sources, and found these, as he believed, in the "having nothing to supply that want of our nature which demands recreation after toil, as well as toil to give relish to recreation; nothing to occupy the thoughts, which insist on being occupied with something; nothing for him to pursue who is by nature an animal of pursuit; nothing innocently to engage the affections which absolutely refuse to be left void. This," he continues, "is the real evil-the foundation of the mischief. This want of resource and recreation is not to be supplied by mere intellectual pursuits. There are many whose minds are not sufficiently cultivated to avail themselves of these: they have little or no taste for them, and yet are quite capable of being made very worthy, sensible, respectable, and happy men. Resources must be provided of sufficient variety to supply the different tastes and capacities we have to deal with."

* *

These were Mr Greg's principles, as far as he had any besides the benevolence of his nature. We shall now see what he did. "For the first two years I was almost entirely occupied with the mill itself-building, making reservoirs, erecting an engine, putting in shafting and machinery, preparing gas-works, &c., and in collecting about us the requisite number of hands. In doing this, I endeavoured, as far as possible, to find such families as I knew to be respectable, or thought likely to be so, and who, I hoped, if they were made comfortable, would remain and settle upon the place, thus finding and making themselves a home, and losing by degrees that restless and migratory spirit which is one of the peculiar characteristics of the manufacturing population, and perhaps the greatest of all obstacles in the way of permanent improvement among them. Partly with this view, and partly for the sake of giving them innocent occupation for their leisure hours, we took three fields lying in front of the cottages, and between them and the mill, and broke them up for gardens, which we divided with neat hedges, and gave one to every house. Each garden is about six roods, and they are separated from each other by a neat thorn hedge. Besides these, most of them have a little flower-garden in front of their houses, or behind them; and the houses themselves have been made as comfortable as their size and situation would allow.

In the spring of 1834, the mill being then nearly completed, and a numerous population settled on the spot, I thought it time to establish a Sunday school for our children, as there was no school in the neighbourhood to which they could conveniently go, or which could afford accommodation to so large an increase of numbers as those our little colony could supply. I first mentioned my wish to a few of our elders, who I thought most likely to engage in such an undertaking. They received the proposal very gladly, and offered their services in the management of the school, if we could succeed in establishing it. We then called a general meeting of all the men in the mill, laid our plan before them; and as they all entered warmly into the scheme, and many proffered their services in the prosecution of it, we at once drew up our regulations, formed our committee, appointed some of the teachers, and opened the school, I believe, the next Sunday. We were for some weeks obliged to hold it in a cellar, for want of better accommodation; and we found many more children willing to attend than we had the means of providing room for. I was at this time, however, occupied in making a school-room near my own house, and when this was finished, the girls, who were the most numerous, took possession of the new building, and left the cellar for the use of the boys. From that time the school has continued to flourish and increase in numbers. The girls' school now contains about one hundred and sixty children, and the boys' one hundred and twenty. Each school is under the management of a superintendant and a certain number of teachers, who give their services gratuitously, and relieve each other by dividing the work in such a manner, that each teacher is only obliged to attend every alternate or every third Sunday. They consist of men and young women entirely belonging to the mill. I take, myself, no active part in the management of the school, farther than spending an hour or two every Sunday in the room, and making such suggestions to the superintendant as I think necessary, which, if he approves of them, are at once adopted; or, if they involve any important change, are proposed at the next meeting of the teachers, which takes place every month; and which, in conjunction with the committee (a distinct body, however), transacts all the business relating to the school. The officers, such as the

*We have now, however, built a very good school-room for

the boys.

superintendant, treasurer, and secretary, are chosen annually by the body of the teachers, and the committee is appointed in the same manner. The superintendant of the girls' school, who is the head of the whole concern, and to whose zeal and exertions its success hitherto is mainly to be attributed, is himself, during working hours, one of our dressers, and labours in the ranks as humbly and diligently as the lowest of his fellows; but when the week's work is done, and Sunday morning rises to make the operative as free as his master, this worthy man assumes his long, black, clerical coat, puts on a broad beaver, grasps his walking-cane, and is at once metamorphosed into a methodist minister, a superintendant of the Sunday school, a spiritual friend and pastor among his neighbours, and the most important and honoured man in our whole community.

We celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of our school, by a general meeting and procession of all the children, on some Sunday in the month of June. They assemble in the morning with their teachers in my garden, and many of the parents come to share the pleasures of the scene. It is, indeed, a beautiful sight-at least to our eyes; and when they join together in singing a hymn, and the little silver voices of the younger children are heard mingling with the manly tones of their elders, and the deep bass of the accompanying instruments, we all pronounce our music to be excellent, and think no choir of a cathedral could be better.

As soon as the Sunday school was fairly established, and no longer required my immediate attention, I began to think of establishing games and gymnastic exercises among the people. With this view, I set apart a portion of a field near the mill, that had originally been designed for gardens, and taking advantage of a holiday and a fine afternoon, I called some of the boys together, and commenced operations. We began with quoits, trap and cricket balls, and leapfrog; and as I saw that many others soon joined us, and our playground continued to fill more and more every evening it was opened, I gradually introduced other games, and established a few regulations to preserve order, assigning a particular part of the playground for different games, and appointing certain individuals to distribute and preside over them. The girls and boys each took their own side of the field, and generally followed their games separately. The following summer, I erected a swing, and introduced the game called Les Graces, with bowls-a leaping-bar -a tight-rope, and afterwards a see-saw. Quoits are generally the favourite game of the men-the hoops and tight-rope among the boys-and the hoops and swing with the girls. The last is in perpetual requisition. With the hoops, the boys and girls now play a good deal together, and I encourage this companionship, as being extremely favourable to the cultivation of good manners, kind feelings, and perception of their proper place and relation towards each other. When we first began these games, this was a thing that had yet to be learned, and instances of rudeness and improper conduct did occasionally occur; but as I made a point of being always present on the ground, and gave our young ones to understand that I wished my leaving it to be the signal for the breaking up of the party, I had the opportunity of observing any breach of good manners or good temper, and gradually succeeded in breaking them into my system. We are now near the close of the third summer since the playground was opened; and during this season, I have not once had to remark upon any breach of order and decorum. Indeed, the system is now so well understood among us, that I no longer feel it necessary to be present during the games, though I generally am so, because I enjoy them as much as any of the party; and it is one of my chief opportunities of social intercourse with the people. The playground is open only on Saturday evening or holidays, during the summer. In the autumn of the same year, 1834, we began our drawing and singing-classes. The drawing-class meets every Saturday evening during the winter, from six to half-past seven, and generally spend half the time in drawing, and the rest with geography or natural history. This class I teach myself; it consists of about twenty-five boys, and some of them have made considerable proficiency. They occupy themselves at home during the evenings of the week with copying drawings that I lend them for the purpose; and this affords an interest for their leisure hours, and an attraction to their home fireside, which it was one of my chief objects in introducing this pursuit to supply. During the summer, they continue the occupation or not, as they choose; but our regular lessons are given up, as our Saturday evenings are then spent more profitably in the playground, and we return to our winter occupations with much more zeal and relish, after a long vacation, than if they had been continued without interruption during the whole year. Some variety and change in our pursuits, I find as necessary to keep up my own interest and attention as theirs.

As soon as the drawing-class breaks up, at half-past seven, the singing-class assembles, and remains till nine. This class consists of girls and young men, to the number of twenty-eight. It is entirely under the management of the superintendent of the Sunday school, who meets them once a-week during the winter to teach them their different parts, and then brings them on Saturday evening to our large school-room, where they practise all together. We contine our

selves, for the present, to sacred music, singing in four parts, and, with the assistance of two instruments, make what we think very tolerable music. This class is very popular, especially with the girls, and it is considered a great privilege to be invited to join it.

One of the most successful of our plans, and the most effectual in civilising the manners of the people, has been that of having regular evening parties during the winter. The number at these parties is generally about thirty. They consist chiefly of the elder girls and boys, generally an equal number of each. They come by special invitation, a little printed card being sent to each, on which is written the day and hour when the party will take place. Much of the distinction shown to the guests depends on this individual incitation; and it is part of my plan to show as much respect as possible to those whom I invite to join our society. I do not invite all promiscuously; and among so many as we employ there are necessarily some who, on my system, have never been at a tea-party at all. I put those on my list whose manners and character mark them as in some degree superior to their fellows, or those who, I think, with a little notice and encouragement, and the advantage of good society, may gradually become civilised and polished; and I take care that no family that has any members of the proper age, who are tolerably respectable, shall be entirely left out, especially if they attend the Sunday school so that, out of about three hundred people who are employed in the mill, and also live in our own colony (for many who work in the mill live at a distance from it, and these it is almost impossible to introduce into our circle), I think my list of eligible guests amounts to about one hundred and sixty. Of these, however, the superior ones-the aristocracy of the place-are invited more frequently than others, both because the presence of some of these is absolutely necessary to make the party go off well, and because I wish to show my sense of their merit by more than ordinary attention and respect.

These parties are held in the school-room, which 1 have fitted up handsomely, and furnished with pictures, busts, &c., and a pianoforte; and as it is close to my own house, the accommodations necessary for refreshments and amusements are easily supplied. Before the guests assemble, books, Saturday magazines, or drawings, are laid on the tables; and with these they amuse themselves till tea is brought in. The tea and coffee are then handed round to the company, and they continue to chat with me or with each other, and keep up a very tolerable amount of conversation till the meal is ended. I go about from one table to another, and always find several among the company who are not only able to ask a question and answer one, but to keep up conversation in a way that I think would surprise you. I never address myself to the whole company at once, and avoid, as much as possible, all unnecessary restraint or formality, endeavouring, as far as the case admits, to carry on the party as if it were held in my drawing-room, and consisted of my own friends and equals in society. After tea, we fall to our games, which consist of piecing maps or pictures, spilicans, chess, draughts, building houses of cards, phantasmagoria, and several others of less note; while those who do not play amuse themselves with reading, or discussing the news of the week or politics of the colony. Sometimes we have a little music and singing; and towards the end of the evening, we rouse ourselves with Christmas games, such as, tiercely, my lady's toilet, blind man's buff, &c. &c.; and soon after nine, I bid them good night, and they disperse.

I should have told you that there is a little anteroom attached to the school-room, where the guests deposit their hats, bonnets, &c., and where there is a good fire; so that, after their evening walk, they come into the room dry and comfortable, and are generally dressed with a neatness and propriety, and even good taste, that do them great credit. The boys and girls sit at different tables during tea; but in the course of the evening, the ranks are generally broken, and many of them join each other in their different games. The parties I have just described consist of the elder girls and boys of our colony. Occasionally, however, we have a junior party. These are generally the most pleasant ones, as the little restraint that is somewhat requisite among the elders is here voted unnecessary and out of place, and there is much more laughing, fun, and merriment among us. These parties take place about once in three weeks during the winter, on Saturday evening; the drawing and singing class being given up for that day.

In the autumn of last year, I established some warm baths in our colony, which have been brought into very general use, and have contributed materially to the health, comfort, and cleanliness of the people. The bathing-room is a small building close behind the mill, about twenty-five feet by fifteen. The baths, to the number of seven, are ranged along the walls, and a screen about six feet high, with benches on each side of it, is fixed down the middle of the room. The cold water is supplied from a cistern above the enginehouse, and the hot water from a large tub, which receives the waste steam from the dressing-room, and is kept constantly almost at boiling temperature. A pipe from each of these cisterns opens into every bath; so The men and that they are ready for instant use. women bathe on alternate days, and a bath-keeper for each attends for an hour and a half in the evening. This person has the entire care of the room, and is an

swerable for every thing that goes on in it. When any one wishes to bathe, he comes to the counting-house for a ticket, for which he pays a penny, and without which he cannot be admitted to the bathing-room. Some families, however, subscribe a shilling a-month, which entitles them to five baths weekly; and these hold a general subscriber's ticket, which always gives them admittance to the room. I think the number of baths taken weekly varies from about twenty-five to seventy or eighty. During the first four months (from November to February inclusive), the average was about seventy-five weekly. I pay the bathkeepers two shillings and sixpence, and two shillings a-week; and I believe this amount has been more than covered by the receipts. The first cost of erecting the baths was about eighty pounds.

The above plans, with our library, day-school, band, and flower-shows, are all that we have yet [1835] set on foot in our colony, as the time which has elapsed since we commenced is short; and I do not think it is desirable, even if our progress were more easy, to go on too fast with such schemes of improvement as those I have attempted. Many of them were at first mere experiments, and I was obliged to feel my way cautiously, that I might not throw my labour away, or run the risk of doing harm instead of good by what I undertook. But the more I hare done, the more I see may be done, and ought to be done; and as I have better understood the characters of those I have had to work upon, and succeeded in developing their capabilities, the more have I been convinced how much both may yet be elevated and improved."

MRS CALDERWOOD'S TRIP TO THE my opinion, and came so far short of the ideas I had

CONTINENT.

THE MAITLAND CLUB-an association for privately printing curious manuscripts of former times-has recently given birth to a quarto entitled "The Coltness Papers," consisting of various memorials of the Steuarts of Coltness, a respectable family in Lanarkshire, recently terminated in the main line. The bulk of the volume is occupied by a narrative of a tour from Scotland to the Low Countries in 1756, by Mrs Calderwood of Polton, a sister of the Sir James Steuart who was one of the earliest British writers on political economy. A remarkable flow of intellectual vitality has characterised this family from its progenitor, Sir James Steuart, Provost of Edinburgh in 1648-50, down to the present times, and Mrs Calderwood seems to have had her full share of the inheritance. "To read English ill and plain work" were then the sum of a Scottish gentlewoman's education; spelling had not taken its place amongst the virtues; and any one who was acquainted with Pope, Swift, and Addison, was most likely to show her wisdom by saying nothing on the subject. But the less education that existed, natural talent seems to have had just the greater chance of ripening into a certain piquancy, such as the disciplined intellect perhaps rarely exemplifies. We see this strongly in Mrs Calderwood, whose narrative, though written only to amuse a daughter left at home, is full of pointed racy remark, keen sense, and a very considerable amount of humour, of the character of that of Smollett. We are the more disposed to introduce it to the notice of our readers, that it is a curious and instructive record of contemporary characters and

circumstances.

Mrs Calderwood travelled with her husband, who seems to have been an indolent good-natured man, one or two young people, and a servant, John Rattray, whose remarks, in broad Scotch, she is fond of commemorating. The reader will probably be surprised at her commenting on political matters, questions as to agricultural improvement, and so forth; but we find that she took sole charge, at home, of both the family estate and its political influence, and was successful in both departments. It was on the third day that the party reached Durham, where Mrs Calderwood was surprised, as it was Sunday, to find boys playing at the ball in the piazzas of the cathedral. She asked a girl if it was customary for the boys to play at ball on Sunday; to which it was answeredThey play on other days as well as Sunday." The girl's mother, again, who showed the cathedral, seemed to think Mrs Calderwood an outlandish heathen for not understanding the use of the hassocks placed in the seats. In those days travelling was travelling, not locomotion; we must not therefore be surprised that, betwixt Doncaster and Bantry, a highwayman approached their carriage, and was only beaten off by a stratagem of John Rattray. Mrs Calderwood seems to have everywhere asked questions; but she was vexed to find that few people knew any thing beyond their own immediate concerns a remark which the Scotch are still apt to make respecting the English. "In our first day's journey in England, I asked the post-boy to whom the lands on each hand belonged? He said To Sir Carnaby. I knew who he meant; and to try him, asked, what Sir Carnaby, or what other name he had?' but he answered-Just Sir Carnaby, who lived yonder,' and that he had never inquired the surname of the man on whose ground he was born." The journey from Edinburgh to London seems to have required six days. Mrs Calderwood makes this general remark on the surface of England:"It is easy to be seen who has been long in peaceable possession and who not for, till you come to Newark upon Trent, the farthest ever the Scots

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Our tourist thought the Dutch solid and rational, and more ready of understanding than the English. She was struck by their behaviour on Sunday. "They almost all wear black to go to church, and you would take them for so many Seceders, they put on such a Sunday face, and walk as if they could not look up. No sooner is sermon over but they fall to feasting, drinking, and dancing." Their toleration astonished her, and she could not understand how the men in authority should not endeavour to suppress Popery. Magistrates would even order orphan children to be brought up in that profession, if it had been so appointed in the marriage-contracts of their parents. Travelling in the waggon from the Hague to Amsterdam-in which conveyance they found several men of consequence-they met a youth who had been in England. "He said he could not understand the pleasure the English took in horse-races and cock-fighting, such cruel diversions, but said, what things folks were accustomed to, they did not reflect upon the cruelty of them; for, when he was in England, a gentleman whose house he was at desired him to show him the way of dressing a water-sutchy. I took,' said he, the perches alive, and scraped them with a knife, for otherwise the scales do not come off.' 'Oh!' cried the Englishman, there never was such a cruelty, to scrape the fish alive!' Are you not as cruel,' said I, who can take such pleasure in tormenting a poor cock for your diversion? Truly,' says the Englishman, I never thought of that before." Nor,' said I, 'of the pain it gives the perches."

went into England, the improvements are not of old Delft ware, but "ugly pewter," nor the ladies the fine standing, nor the grounds don't seem to be of great chintzes of the country, but English cottons; and value; they use them mostly for the breeding of adds-"Providence has certainly wisely ordered, for cattle and sheep." Another of her observations sa- the greater correspondence amongst mankind, that vours strongly of the Scottish Presbyterian :-"I every country should despise its own produce or mathink the Cathedral of Durham is the most ridiculousnufactures." We have been rather surprised to find piece of expense I saw, to keep up such a pageantry of Mrs Calderwood describing, as a thing new to her, the idle fellows in a country place, where there is nobody custom of having a hole through the wall beside the either to see or join with them, for there is not place outer door for a bell-pull. for above fifty folks besides the performers." With the following, which is called forth by a reference to the large, many-horsed waggons used in England, there will probably be less dispute:" It is surprising how much nonsense I have heard spoken by folks who would introduce English customs into Scotland, without considering the difference of the two countries. I must own I saw very little new to me but what I could plainly see was calculated for the particular situation of the country, and could never answer for general use. It has always been my opinion, that the fault-finders are the folks who want judgment, | and not the people whose practice they quarrel; for time and experience have taught every part of every country to follow the method most agreeable to its soil and situation." Mrs Calderwood incidentally mentions that the wages of a labourer in a rural district-and she seems to hold the case as a general one-were a shilling a-day, which she considered high.* In London, she thought meanly of the brick houses, admired the vast number of fine horses, and found the noise of vehicles intolerable. A fortnight elapsed without her having seen any of the royal family; and for this she gives as a reason-" I found, as I approached the court and the grandees, they sunk so miserably in conceived, that I was loath to lose the grand ideas I had of kings, princes, ministers of state, senators, &c., which I suppose I had gathered from romance in my youth. We used to laugh at the English for being so soon afraid when there was any danger in state affairs, but now I do excuse them. For we at a distance think the wisdom of our governors will prevent all these things; but those who know and see our ministers every day see there is no wisdom in them, and that they are a parcel of old, ignorant, senseless bodies, who mind nothing but eating and drinking, rolling about in Hyde Park, and know no more of the country, nor of the situation of it, nor of the numbers, strength, and circumstances of it, than if they had never been in it. Lord Anson, he sailed round the world; therefore he must rule all naval affairs: which is just like a schoolmaster imagining himself qualified for the greatest post in the law, because he understands the language in which the law is wrote. The king, every body says, and I do believe it, knows more of the world, and takes more concern, than any of them. It is reported he cried when he read Byng's account of his actions, and said, 'Who can I trust ?-or upon whom can I depend?" At Kensington, "I could not see the private apartments of the old goodman [the king], which they say is a great curiosity. There is a small bed with red curtains, two satin quilts, and no blanket, a hair mattress; a plain wicker basket stands on a table, with a silk night-gown and nightcap in it; a candle with an extinguisher; some billets of wood on each side of the fire. He goes to bed alone, rises, lights his fire, and mends it himself; and nobody knows when he rises, which is very early [George II. was then seventy-three], and is up several hours before he calls any body. He dines in a small room adjoining, in which there are very common things. Ile sometimes, they say, sups with his daughters and their company, and is very merry, and sings French songs, but at present he is in very low spirits. Now, this appearance of the king's manner of living would not diminish my idea of a king: it rather looks as if he applied to business."

On the way to embark at Harwich, Mrs Calderwood seems to have gone deep into the statistics of Essex calf-feeding. Her description of the packet, with its two bed-surrounded cabins, full of miscella neous company, all of whom got sea-sick, is a droll though coarse picture. "Marinasa, the opera-dancer, was in the company, and a companion of his, a Swiss, who was either a singer or a dancer, we could not know which, for he sung very ill, and did not look as if he could dance." On the company being landed at Helvoetsluys in a Dutch boat, the charge of a shilling of fare raised a stormy quarrel, which, as the parties understood nothing of each other's language, became a good representation of the confusion of Babel. Mrs Calderwood could make out nothing but a certain phrase of execration, "which, to the honour of the English, has become a part, and I think the only part, of the universal language so much wished for." She and her friends proceeded in a waggon to Rotterdam, where they lodged at the Swyn's Hooft," which, being interpreted, signifies the swine's head. This house was kept by a Frenchman and a Dutch frowe of the first magnitude." Then we have a vast number of particulars about Dutch streets, canals, houses, and so forth, none of which would be new to our readers except, perhaps, one, which certainly is eminently absurd: "If any street runs a-squint the town, then all the houses run a-squint in the fore wall, and every room is two feet longer on one side than the other." She remarks, that the Dutch do not use their own fine

* A passage in Allan Ramsay shows that labourers were then to be had in Edinburgh for exactly half the sun.

"Every thing is dear in Holland," says Mrs Calderwood, "but East India goods and charity. A beggar is well satisfied with a doit, which is the fourth part of a halfpenny, and I believe our beggars judged ill in destroying the doits, for every body gives, and doits come to a great deal. There are two of the corners at Rotterdam where the ramparts are not joined by bridges, and there is a boat by which you are ferried over for a doit, and these two doit-boats bring into the town's treasury near a hundred pounds sterling per annum each." This is a good illustration of what the present age has recognised as the cheap principle.

Mrs Calderwood discourses largely on the ceremonies of the Catholic places of worship, and the monastic establishments of the Low Countries. At Liege, she went with her friends to the Scots Jesuits' College, where she found several descendants of those who had exiled themselves with James II. One Maxwell, from Dumfriesshire, was a fine tall venerable figure; but another of the inmates was of a different character. This was Daniel Mackenzie, a native of Inverness, who had been a smuggler, or, as she insists on interpreting it, a pedlar, in his own country, and was a proselyte. "As for my friend Father Daniel," says the satiric lady of Polton, "he is a good-natured, innocent, obliging soul, very ugly and very merry. He is just a Seets pedantic scholar, and was always snuffing, out of curiosity, about every sort of religion to see what it was, and what this folks' set of tenets were, and upon what they had founded their differences from others upon. Had he been bred a divine, he would at this time have been a member of the presbytery of Dunfermline, or perhaps Mr Jamieson's pastor at Kennoway; but as he was bred a smuggling merchant, or perhaps a packman, he walked twenty miles to hear Mr Whitfield, Mr Ebenezer Erskine, &c.; and after satisfying his curiosity about them, he fell to trying what sort of cheese the Catholics set their traps with; and, as he was snuffling about that, I suppose he found that a life of study and idleness could be had without an estate, or so much as a farthing, none of which the others had offered him. His being a proselyte gained him an easy admittance, and there he lives at his ease, and labours at logic and what not to his heart's content. I do believe, poor creature, he has not a wish beyond finishing his studies and becoming a professor; he has three years of study yet to come. The students are kept very strictly to hours and rules, and are held at an awful distance from the old fathers. Daniel asked leave to attend us, and obtained it, to his great joy; he looked always, when he came, like a dog wagging his tail for gladness to get out."

At Spa-to reach which, in order to visit her exiled brother, the jacobite Sir James Steuart, was the object of Mrs Calderwood's journeying-they lived in a lodging with a number of Scotch friends, where the landlady cooked for them. "We often got good sport with Jolin's French, and the mistakes that happened betwixt him and her. They wanted to have a haggis;* but John said, we must set our hearts bye that, for he had seen nothing like meal in that town. That day Mr Calderwood had bid the landlady get him some honey; so, when she was counting with John at night, there was an article for miel. Meal! says John

*For those who have the misfortune not to know what a haggis is, let it be stated, that it is a pudding of oatmeal, mixed with spice, minced suet, and meat, and boiled in one of those articles from which puddings originally took their name.

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