the best. Making it our study to elucidate national character by original sketches of national scenery, we have endeavoured to revive much that time and circumstance had obscured-to give expression to those features of which accident had left but a faint or imperfect outline-and to present, in a condensed form, the essentials of Scottish scenery and statistics. The former of these has long afforded scenes of romantic beauty and subjects of the deepest historical interest to every class of travellers; and, by its inexhaustible combinations, still presents ample materials for the gratification of the most fastidious, and the surprise of those who delight to contemplate the changes which have crept into so many districts within the last twenty years. The bold natural landmarks are the same; the mountains, lakes, and rivers, retain their pristine character and relative positions; but, in many instances, luxuriant forests have overspread the once barren heath, and the progress of cultivation effected so many pleasing transformations, that the territory which, in other times, limited its productions to the heathbell and blæberry, may now, in poetical phrase, be said to bourgeon forth as the green bay, and to blossom like the rose. Canals have been dug, towns enlarged, villages have sprung up, agriculture has reclaimed the waste and reaped the fruit of her productive labour; while architecture has liberally contributed her embellishments, and nature, seconding the efforts of art, has invested the whole picture with her own livery, and, in numerous instances, replaced sterility with plenty.†

The Highlands, which, till a recent period, were only partially known to adventurous tourists, and too generally misrepresented, have at length, by a laudable spirit of inquiry, and the facilities of steam navigation, been thrown open like an

From the year 1767 to 1807 the late Earl of Murray planted, on an average, three hundred and fifty thousand trees annually, making a total of fourteen millions, of which one million and a half were oaks. The late Earl of Fyfe planted about seven thousand Scotch acres, while the Dukes of Athol and Gordon increased their plantations to a similar or even greater extent. The last report on this subject estimates the natural woods at nearly four hundred and eighteen thousand Scotch acres, and the plantations at three hundred and forty-four thousand, but which latter has received a vast augmentation within the last ten years. Lochaber and Rosshire are the only districts that exhibit any relics of the Sylva Caledonia.

For authentic and most satisfactory information on this subject the reader is referred to the General Report by Sir John Sinclair. The counties which have undergone the most pleasing and extensive transformation in this respect are those of Ayr, Lanark, Berwick, Lothian, Stirling, Perth, Angus, and Mearns. "Districts," says Dr. Playfair, "which formerly yielded scanty pasturage for sheep, are now enclosed with fences, highly cultivated, and produce rich crops of wheat, barley, clover, and turnips." To afford our southern readers some idea of the value of landed property north of the Tweed, we may add, on the same authority, that extensive farms have been let at five and even six pounds sterling per acre. During the late agricultural distress, these, of course, have been variously modified; and several landlords with most becoming regard for the welfare of their tenants, have reduced the rental to an extent of from ten to twenty per cent. Still, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other principal cities, land continues to be held at a rate much superior to that stated.

HIGHLAND CHARACTERISTICS.

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exhibition for public curiosity. The sacred barrier of the once secluded Gaël has been thrown down, and the Sasenach admitted into those mystic recesses which the traditions of eld and the genius of our own times had invested with the gloom of superstition, and the vivid colouring of romance. By this unprecedented intercourse, and the means of personal observation, former prejudices have been effaced, friendly offices interchanged, and the foundation of mutual and permanent advantages established. The cautious Celt no longer views the approach of a stranger with apprehension or distrust, but as one who barters substantial comfort for the gratification of personal curiosity, and leaves the inhabitant richer, or, at least, better informed and more civilized, than he found him.

The highlands, so peculiarly distinct from the lowland provinces, and so long the cherished freehold of impetuous clans, present for our investigation a field of rare and primitive interest. Here, contentment in the midst of privations, cheerfulness in the depths of solitude, fortitude under adversity, courage in the hour of danger, and a warmth of friendship and hospitality, long proverbial, are hereditary virtues. Here, too, at that disastrous period when the proscribed native had nothing left him but his poverty and reproach, the last of a powerful dynasty found that inviolable sanctuary, and that ennobling loyalty which no threats could intimidate nor bribes corrupt.

Those annual pilgrimages to which, in our own day, the spell of poetry and romance gave birth, the beauty and novelty of the scenes have perpetuated; till, what was at first undertaken at the command of fashion or caprice, is now enjoyed as a matter of taste and feeling, and is every day conducting fresh votaries through those recesses which first inspired our northern ARIOSTO, and grew immortal under his pen. During the present year the Highlands have been unusually frequented by strangers, many of whom were men of science, who sought to unite the pursuit of health with philosophical research, and carried home with them the pleasing conviction of having succeeded in both.

The political history of Scotland, as an independent state, is full of the most varied incidents, changes, and catastrophes-such as cannot but produce, even in the most listless reader, a degree of excitement which the striking character of its details may well excuse. Startling events, protracted struggies, patriotic devotion, striking vicissitudes, hard-earned victories, martial skill and intrepidity-all are calculated to rouse the mind and enlist our inmost sympathies in their behalf. The fervour kindled by the recital of heroic ballads, or the pity and commiseration awakened by the martyred queen, whose beauty-in the words of Filicaja—

"Dono infelice di bellezza
Funesta dote d'infiniti guai !'

was only equalled by her misfortunes-hold alternate sway in our memory, and usurp a command over our feelings, which it is impossible to question or resist. The classic spell of Scottish literature and traditions, the weight and influence which, in later times, she has so happily employed for the healthful expansion of human intellect, serve as a fine relief to the darker interest of her political records— while they improve the heart, invigorate the mind, and engage the attention of every reflecting reader. The field of her heroic achievements, like her native landscape, presents a vast assemblage of bold, variegated, and romantic features, which give fresh point and colour to her national vicissitudes-fascinate the eye by the beauty of her scenery, or feast the imagination with the wild and various character of her legends. It may be fairly surmised, that what Greece and Rome owe to their rich and copious mythology, Scotland owes to her superstitious, but scarcely less copious and poetical, creed. To this her literature is indebted for many of its choicest gems. Her popular belief in the supernatural influence of brownies, kelpies, water-wraiths, witches, and other mysterious agents, fully establish her claim as the Fairy Land of modern times.-As the Swiss had their peasant of Uri, so had the Scotch their knight of Ellerslie--names which, by proud association, have perpetuated the love of freedom in their respective countries, and infused into their descendants that spirit which, under every trial, has proved itself the strength and sanctuary of their independence.

Of the valour, patriotism, and loyalty of the Scottish nation, innumerable traits are recorded on the contemporaneous authority of foreign as well as native historians-virtues which the testimony of later times has amply verified. In making common cause against the oppressor of Europe, her troops have stood in many a deadly breach-gathered on many a hard-fought field the prize of unquestioned gallantry-and, what is yet higher praise, have never sullied victory by licentiousness. So high, indeed, have they carried the union of those knightly virtues—the martial and domestic-strength tempered by moderation, and courage by humanity-that they have drawn, even from their enemies, the generous epithet of " brave as they are gentle, and gentle as they are brave."

That political amalgamation with a powerful rival-by which the primitive features of a country and people are so often effaced, has softened, but not obliterated, her native complexion: so that through every successive change the character of Scotland-like that of her own glens and mountains-has preserved its identity. From the natural fastnesses of the north, to the Tweed and the Solway, not a river, fortress, lake, or valley, but have had their historian, and not a mountain, it may be literally affirmed," lifts its head unsung."

The adventurous system of border warfare, alone, furnishes materials such as no

PROGRESS OF REFINEMENT.

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other history can supply-all illustrative of a period fertile above every other in scenes of daring enterprise, romantic incidents, reckless bravery, and when historical facts, monkish legends, and superstitious observances, were singularly and grotesquely blended.

In the arts of peace, and in the cultivation of every means formed to advance the true interests of man, Scotland is entitled to universal gratitude. The union of mental improvement with manual industry; of frugal habits with a high tone of moral conduct; of correct principles regulating the common business of life; of ambition in the acquirement, and discretion in the employment, of her resources; of probity in private intercourse, with a hearty cooperation towards the public weal; and, above all-as influencing all-a profound reverence for the duties of religion, by which the fiercer passions are held in salutary control, and social order and sobriety consolidated-these are severally, not the imputed but, the constituent principles of the native character-such as, at various times, and in every country in Europe, have raised the moral Scot to situations of the highest trust and distinction.

From the intimate connexion which, from the first revival of literature and the fine arts, subsisted between Scotland and France, an early taste for science and the arts of civilized life was introduced, and so successfully cultivated by the former, that many of the first universities in Europe had their philosophical chairs filled by learned Scotchmen;* while in every part of the continent-but more particularly in Germany, monasteries were founded, and placed under the guardianship of learned missionaries from the same nation. These and numerous other facts, of easy reference, go far to invalidate an assertion, on the part of a great authority, that all the civilization introduced into Scotland is owing to her trade and intercourse with England.

The privileges bestowed upon Scotch residents in France were numerous and flattering; they were entrusted with the highest offices, civil, military, and ecclesiastical—were admitted to the full enjoyment of all rights and exemptions claimed by native citizens; and from them the monarchs of those days selected their body-guard, as the highest and most convincing testimony of their confidence. If the southern division of Great Britain derived, as it certainly did, a taste for refinement and literature from the French, it is undisputable that the

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Charlemagne, whose preceptor was Johannes Scotus, or Albinus, was so anxious to illustrate his reign by combining the study of the arts with the practice of arms, that he invited learned men from Scotland," says Buchanan, "to teach philosophy in Greek and Latin at Paris. The first league between Scotland and France was signed by this monarch in 790, and afterwards by Achaius at Inverlochy, and from this remote period down to the Union the alliance continued.”—See "Remarks" by M'NICOL.

C

Scotch, who enjoyed an exclusive, and almost uninterrupted, intercourse of many centuries with that court and country, had opportunities peculiarly favourable for engrafting upon the wild stock of their own land the germs of polished life; and of introducing among their countrymen that passion for literary distinction, thirst for science, and patronage of the fine arts, which—although occasionally chilled and suspended, have descended to our own times with undiminished ardour-thrown a lustre over the whole circle of the belles-lettres, and, leaving none untouched, have adorned every department of human science.

The great privileges enjoyed by the Scotch in France served, also, as a favourable introduction to the more rich and classic provinces of Italy, whence many of the nobility, educated at Pavia and Bologna, and subsequently finished in all the accomplishments of the French court, returned home with their minds expanded by travel, and enriched by daily intercourse with the most enlightened and refined men of their day.

But as the great source of refinement is riches—and as a nation cannot abound in luxuries till it has secured the necessaries of life, the disadvantage which retarded Scotland in her progress towards refinement was-compared with her southern rival-her poverty, and the imperious and constant necessity of cultivating those arts which promised security to her as a kingdom, rather than those which only promised the diffusion of knowledge and the riches of philosophy. But as the progress of civilization must be always estimated by the means enjoyed, and the privations encountered, by that nation to which it is offered; it is delightful to record its gradually triumphant progress in Scotland, under circumstances the most adverse to its indulgence, and to observe that while her right hand was devoted to war, her left was extended for the protection of science, and the intellectual improvement of her subjects.

During the fourteenth century, although glaringly deficient in the usual means of legal administration-in established courts of justice, and other points and forms of national judicature,-in all of which the benefit of English example was unimproved,-still the love of letters acquired a firmer root, and—in spite of much apparent contradiction, in the want of native schools and universities— extended its ramifications in comparative silence, till Barbour, Wintoun, and Thomas of Ercildoun, came forth under a spell of inspiration which placed them in advance of all their contemporaries, and gave to Scotland that superiority in literature which England had acquired in political strength.

To trace the gradual development of humanizing principles-the patronage subsequently bestowed upon the arts-and the encouragement given to learned men, from the period in question down to that of the Union--would furnish a