thefe lofty cliffs. For the fake of obtaining a particular point of view, or of exploring a cavern, I have fometimes ventured into fituations of no fmall danger: the former object generally repaid my trouble; but the latter gratified nothing but curiofity. The caves are evidently artificial; but the art is very rude, without either variety or magnificence. In one, which is called the Cyprefs Grove, Drummond is faid to have compofed many of his poems. No circumftance relating to this poet is more interefting than the intercourfe 'which fubfifted between him and the cotemporary authors, both in England and Scotland. Ben Jonfon, at the age of forty-two, walked to Scotland to vifit him; and Drayton thus fpeaks of him and his brother poet Sir William Alexander:

frigid criticifm of Johnfon, that the poet and his loft companion were not fhepherds; that they did not drive a-field, ere the high lawns appear'd, ' under the op'ning eyelids of the 'morn;' and that they had no flocks to batten with the fresh dews of 'night;' yet there is an imaginative belief, fufficient for the purposes of fancy; there is a beautiful fimplicity in the picture itself, and an interesting allufion to ancient manners and ancient poetry." Vol. i. p. 127.

CARTLANE CRAIGS WALLACE'S COVE.

our own,

'I do but fhow the love that was 'twixt us,

toll-house at Lanerk bridge, conducts you to Moufs-mill bridge, a fingle light ing rocks and buildings a very fimple arch of stone, forming with the adjoinretired view. Here a countryman,

whom we by chance met, became our conductor in exploring the wild haunts above the bridge, called Cartlane Craigs. Thefe can only be approached by

brave and high;

men,

'I Menftry ftill fhall love, and Hawthornden'."

Elegy to H. Reynolds, Efq. “The esteem in which Drummond was held by his own countrymen, appears from the very affectionate ftrain of the verfes addreffed to him by the above-mentioned Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, as well as by Lauder, Johnston, Crawford, &c. He was ufually characterized by the poetical name of Damon, as Alexander was by that of Alexis, and Lauder of Lyfis; an imitation of the claffic paftorals, which can only become ridiculous by excefs, and by a want of the claffic fpirit which fhould accompany it. In Milton's Lycidas, though we know, according to the

along the edge of the bank, which is fometimes befet with tangling fhrubs, and fometimes formed by naked fhelving rocks, while the lofty cliffs fhooting to a height, as it is faid, of 400 feet, and winding like a labyrinth, involve the whole in obfcurity, and form gloomy and apparently impenetrable receffes. The general character is much like that of the views below Rofline; but the features here poffefs a more favage grandeur from the superior height of the cliffs, the more frequent and abrupt turns made by the river, the rocks rent as it were by an earthquake, and appearing at times like maffy pillars naked to the top, at others wholly throuded by dark coppices and ancient pines. Every thing feems to fhow the hand of defolation and untameable wildnefs; and fo dreary a fpot is a fit haunt for its only inmates, the fox, the badger, wild cats, and birds of prey.

"Our voluntary guide was as much delighted as ourfelves with thefe objects; but his pleasure arofe from a different fource. They were the scene

Q9 2

of

of many a joyful hunting (in which he told us with great glee he had joined), almoft equally dangerous to the purfued and purfuers. The fox is driven from crag to crag, from cavern to cavern, in the fides of thefe perpendicular rocks; the dogs in their eagerness frequently fall headlong down the precipíces; and the men who climb about after them, are fufpended as it were between fport and deftruction.

"Half way up one of these terrific cliffs, a cave is pointed out (for few I believe attempt to fcale it), ftill called Wallace's Cove, and faid to have been the retreat of that hero when purfued by the English. The name of Wallace is attached to every spot, with which there is a bare poffibility of hiftorically connecting it. In the prefent inftance there is fomething more: Lanerk is mentioned by Fordun, the earlieft hiftorian, as the scene of his firft warlike exploit, in defeating the English fheriff Helliope and Blind Harry relating the fame, with many interefting and romantic circumftances, particularly defcribes Cartlane Craigs as his hidingplace." Vol. i. p. 161.

SMOKY COTTAGES.

"I LOOKED into fome of them, but could not endure to stay long on account of the peat-reek with which they were filled; few of them having a chimney, or at the best one fo conftructed as to carry off but little of the fmoke; yet fuch is the force of habit, that the inhabitants prefer this conftruction to one which, they think, would deprive them of the warmth of the fire. It is faid that when the foldiery were employed in making the roads here, an officer hired one of these cottages, and, to render it habitable, built a chimney; but when he left it, the owner infifted that he should remove the difagreeable improvement, and reftore the house to its original ftate of smokinefs and comfort." Vol.i. p. 222.

ASCENT OF BEN LOMOND.

"THE afternoon being fine, I determined to afcend this noble mountain. The perpendicular height is 3262 feet; but the length of flope, and the numerous breaks in the way, make the eftimated afcent fix miles. It is ufual

to take a guide; but the men here being bufily employed in ferrying over lambs to the fair at Lufs, I fet of alone. As was to be expected, I deviated very much from the easiest path, which lies along a green ridge, very confpicuous from below; but any one who has climbed fuch a mountain, muft know how greatly its breaks and charms deceive the eye. That which you look toward as one unbroken furface, upon your approach appears divided by impaffable vallies; an unheard rill becomes a roaring torrent; and a gentle flope is found to be an unscaleable cliff. Thefe circumftances rendered me unable to reach the top, with the moft persevering toil, in less than three hours. The higher ridges are remarkably green, and, like moft lands in fuch fituations, very wet and boggy; until you reach the laft afcent, which is fteep, and formed moftly by huge fragments of flaty rock, intermixed with a kind of sparry marble, of very confiderable fize.

"Toilfome as this afcent is, it is richly repaid by the scene which it lays open; a scene not indeed picturesque, for it defies the pencil; but nobly poetical, as it excites the fenfations of true fublimity. To the Lowland traveller, nothing is fo ftupendous as the vaft ocean of mountains, feparated by deep glens in every direction, which look like the perturbed waves of a mighty chaos: they have every variety of form and magnitude, and sweep round as far as the eye can reach, from the Ochils on the eaft, and northward by Ben Vorlich, Ben Lawers, and Ben More, to Cruachan and Ben Nevis on the weftern fea. To the fouth-weft is feen the wild corffufion of fea and mountain which forms the Scotch coaft. Due fouth lies the glaffy mirror of the lake, with its islands, now mere specks, the vale of Leven, the rock of Dumbarton, the Clyde, and the diftant counties of Renfrew and Ayr. Eaftward, the caftles of Stirling and Edinburgh are both vifible on a clear day; but thefe, as well as Ireland, the Western Ifles, and other faint objects in the diftant horizon all round, I was prevented from diftinguifhing by the approach of evening, and the hazinefs of the atmosphere. Among the most attractive objects in this view are some of the Perthshire lakes, especially Loch Ketterine: and fome mountain crags, particularly

particularly that fantastic one in Glen Croe, called the Cobler; but the north fide of Ben Lomond itself excites a de. gree of furprise arifing almoft to terror: this mighty mafs, which hitherto had appeared to be an irregular cone, placed on a spreading bafe, fuddenly prefents itself as an imperfect crater, with one fide forcibly torn off, leaving a ftupendous precipice of 2000 feet to the bottom.

"In fuch a fituation, the most sublime fenfations cannot be felt unless you are alone. A fingle infulated being, carrying his view over thefe vaft inanimate maffes, feems to feel himself attached to them, as it were, by a new kind of bond; his fpirit dilates with the magnitude, and rejoices in the beauty of the terrestrial objects; and, —“ ❝ the near heav'ns their own de-. lights impart'."

"A feeling of this kind, which once abforbed my whole mind on a mountain in Cumberland, will never be blotted from my memory. It was a bright lovely day, and I ftood contemplating with admiration a beautiful vale, with its glittering lake, rich woods, and numerous buildings. Gradually a thick mift rolled like a curtain before it, and took away every object from my view. I was left alone on the mountain top, far above the clouds of the vale, the fun fhining full upon my head; it feemed as if I had been fuddenly tranfported into a new ftate of existence, cut off from every meaner affociation, and invifibly united with the surrounding purity and brightness.

"I had fcarcely time to contemplate the view from the fummit of Ben Lomond, before a heavy shower oblig. ed me to defcend. The black clouds collecting on the north, and rolling in their pitchy mantle the mountains in that direction, while the setting fun gilded thofe on the weft, produced a moft ftriking and admirable contraft. As I defcended, the shower paffed of, and left me at leisure to obferve fome beautiful effects of the fun's rays, which, long after the lake and its fhores were left in fhade, fhot athwart the glens, and illumined the mountain tops, marking the nearest with a bright orange-green, whilst the more diftant died away gradually in the purplish gray haze of evening. I reached the bottom in one hour and ten minutes.

POETRY OF OSSIAN.

"CONCERNING Offian as a poet I received in this neighbourhood (Dalmally) information which appeared to me of an interesting nature, from Mr. Alexander Mac Nab, a farmer, much impreffed with the admiration of Gaelic poetry. I vifited him as a traveller dufirous of acquiring, on the spot, the opinions and feelings of real Highlanders. I was received with the greatest readiness, and was equally ftruck with his unaffected franknefs, and intelligent difcourfe. Mr. Mac Nab is one of the persons who furnished Dr.Smith, author of the Gaelic Antiquities, with fome of the originals which are there tranflated: all the persons concerned in that work are too refpectable to admit a doubt of their veracity; and we muft, therefore, accede to the truth of the plain tale which they tell. The real amount of this is fanctioned by the concurrent feeling of all with whom I converfed on the fubject throughout the Highlands, as well those who were wholly unverfed in literature, as perfons of a liberal education. It seems fcarcely to admit of difpute, that all thofe perfons are impreffed with a belief in the great, but uncertain antiquity of parts of thefe poems; that from the earlieft living memory, they knew whole poems of the fame character to have exifted; and, what is of far the greatest confequence, that the manners and circumstances reprefented in them bore the character of thofe given to the public.

"As far as the tranflations of Mr. Macpherson ftand upon this ground, they are to be admitted to the fame credit with thofe of Dr. Smith; and if by the production of ancient manufcripts, or by any equivalent teftimony, they fhall hereafter be entitled to a higher claim, it will then be right to accede to their stronger pretenfions." At prefent it does not appear that there is any reafon to believe in the early

existence

existence of Fingal, or Temora, in the connected epic form which they now bear; and though they may have fo come inte Mr. Macpherson's hands, it feems probable that they had undergone many changes before they reached him. To make fuch works the bafis of an historical system, is furely unworthy the gravity of a feientific writer; and the weakness of the attempts which have been hitherto made to eftablish fuch a fyftem, the confufion of dates, the dubioufnefs of names, and the total uncertainty of events, fufficiently betray its abfurdity. Still lefs reafon is there in denying the poffibility of antiquity to thefe poems. Since the year 1745, a great change has been introduced into Highland manners; but we are warranted by every previous teftimony in believing, that tradition was once fo regular and conftant as to preferve fuch records a very long while unaltered. Upon the whole, perhaps, we may draw this general conclufion; that, in very early times, poems defcriptive of the manners and events of the age were compofed with fo much merit as to enfure their permanence in the memory of their auditors; that the ftate of language, which is much lefs changeable in uncivilized than in civilized fociety, contributed to their prefervation; and that they reached nearly to modern times, with fome changes, omiffions, and additions, indeed; but ftill no invaluable relics of former genius.

"It is to be lamented that the perfon who firft gave them an English drefs, was, in fome refpects, but ill qualified for fuch a task. By a want of fidelity, he has afforded a very inadequate idea of the poems, fuch as he found them exifting. I have been affured by a man of learning, who was acquainted with Mr. Macpherson when he first formed his collection, that he ufed great freedom in expunging the extravagances of fuperftition with which they abounded, and which to this day are to be found in the popular notions of the Highlanders refpecting the Fions. In this, as a principle of tafte, he has been followed by fubfequent tranflators, who allege that there

is a manifeft diftinction between the fgeulachd, or fimple ancient tales, and the ur-fgeul, or later corruptions; but however this may be, as the public poffefs no teft of fuch a distinction, it would, in all cafes, be proper to lay the exifting facts firft before them, and then the grounds of criticism. It is, perhaps, owing in fome measure to a fimilar caufe, that thefe poems contain fo little minute defcription of manners, that the weapons, food, &c. are not more particularized; that fome animals, fuch as the wolf* and bear, which then abounded in the Highlands, are not mentioned; in fhort, that many circumftances which might rationally be expected to have given a peculiar character and intereft to these productions, have been either loft by the inaccuracy of tradition, or rejected by the faftidioufnefs of the editor. The ftyle of the translation is, to the Englith reader, not its leaft objectionable part; and in this alfo Mr. Macpherson has found many imitators. The Gaelic idioms predominate so much, and the English, or rather Scottish writers, who are imitated, are themfelves fo far from perfection, that the awkwardnefs of this heterogeneous compound is by no means furprifing. With all thefe defects, the poems of Offian are highly valuable; they contain much that is beautiful, and much that is fublime; and it is a proof at once of their worth and antiquity, that many paffages in them have long been proverbial in the Highlands.

Among the manufcript poems in Mr. Mac Nab's poffeffion were the four following:

1. Duan an Deirg. The fong of Deirg, or Dargo.

2. Ninghin junfa. The unknown fair one.

66

fall.

3. Eafs ruaidh. The red water

4. Laoidh a ghabhainne. The fong of the fmiths.

"Thefe have been all collected at no great distance of time, and written down from oral tradition. It is not probable that there exist any ancient Gaelic MSS. of confequence; I myself faw at Edinburgh the io often

quoted

quoted Leabhair Dearg, or red book of the Macdonalds. It is a fmall paper 12mo. regularly paged, of which there remain the pages from 31 to 311, a very few being blank, the reft written in various hands and different inks, but all in the Irish character. Many circumstances (fuch as the monuments at Icolmkill, &c.) prove, that this character was used very early in Scotland; but the state of manners rendered it unneceffary to employ it in perpetuating those fongs which had a living record in the memories of men." p. 275.

(To be continued.)

Vol. i.

LIII. Lectures on Painting, delivered at the Royal Academy March 1801. By HENRY FUSELI, P. P. With additional Obfervations and Notes. 4to. pp. 151. 125. Johnson.

LECTURE I. Ancient Art.

Greece the legitimate Parent of the Art: Summary of the local and political Caufes-Conjectures on the mechanic Procefs of the Art-Period of Preparation: Polygnolus, Appollodorus--Period of Eftablishment: Zeuxis, Parrhafius, Timanthes-Period of Refinement: Eupompus, Apelles, Aristides, Euphranor.LECTURE II. Art of the Moderns.Introduction: different Direction of the Art-Preparative Style: Mafaccio, Lionardo da Vinci--Style of Establishment: Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titiano, Correggio-Style of Refinement and DepravationSchools: of Tuscany, Rome, Venice, Lombardy-The Ecclectic SchoolMachinifts The German School: Albert Durer-The Flemish School: Rubens-The Dutch School: Rembrant-Obfervations on Art in Switzerland The French School-The Spanish School-England-Conclufion.--LECTURE III. Invention. Introduction

Difcrimination of Poetry and Painting-General Idea of Invention: its Right to felect a Subject from Nature itfelf-Vifiones, Theon, Agafias: Cartoon of Pifa, Incendio del Borgo-Specific Idea of

EXTRACTS.

THE CARRACCIS-ALBERT DURER, &c.

"TOWARDS the decline of the fixteenth century, Lodovico Carracci, with his coufins Agoftino and Annibale, founded at Bologna that ecclectic school which by selecting the beauties, defects, and avoiding the extremes of correcting the faults, fupplying the the different ftyles, attempted to form a perfect system. But as the mechanic part was their only object, they did not perceive that the projected union was incompatible with the leading principle of each mafter. Let us hear this plan from Agostino Carracci himfelf, as it is laid down in his fonnet on the ingredients required to form a perfect painter, if that may be called a fonnet, which has more the air of medical prefcription. Take,' fays Agoftino, the defign of Rome, Venetian 'motion and fhade, the dignified tone manner of Michael Angelo, the just ' of Lombardy's colour, the terrible ' symmetry of Raphael, Titiano's truth of nature, and the fovereign purity ' of Correggio's ftyle: add to these the decorum and folidity of Tibaldi, the learned invention of Primaticcio, and a little of Parmegiano's grace: but to fave fo much study, fuch weary 'labour, apply your imitation to the 'works which our dear Nicolo has left

us here.' Of fuch advice, balanced between the tone of regular breeding and the cant of an empiric, what could be the refult? excellence or mediocrity? who ever imagined that a multitude of diffimilar threads could compose an uniform texture, that diffemination of fpots would make maffes, or a little of many things produce a legitimate whole? Indifcriminate imi

tation muft end in the extinction of cipher of art." P. 80. character, and that in mediocrity, the

"The heterogeneous principle of the ecclectic fchool foon operated its own diffolution: the great talents which