nonymous with fairies; but the brownie is always benevolent, the elf or fairy generally mifchievous. The elffhots are fuppofed to kill cattle, the elf-knots to entangle the hair: and the moft fatal of all the fupernatural delufions is the dance of 'Fairy elves,

nally, fuch notions are attached to things, real or fictitious, to elf-fhots, elf-knots; Druch, or ominous meteors; Glamour, or visual deception, charms for love, or for difeafes, accidental circumftances, and peculiar cuftoms, at funerals, &c. &c. All thefe notions may, perhaps, have their counterparts, among the lower claffes of fociety, in more populous and polifhed diftricts; but they must neceffarily affect the mind moft forcibly in these folitudes, amidft objects of fuch accordant fublimity; and in return, they must inveft thofe objects with additional awe and terror." Vol. ii. p. 57.

"Invergarry was one of the places believed, till very lately, to be frequented by a Brownie, an innocent little being, answering in every thing but fize, to Milton's drudging gob'lin,' who

- sweat,

To earn his cream-bowl duly fet, When in one night, ere glimpse of

morn,

His fhadowy flail had thresh'd the corn,

Which ten day-lab'rers could not end.'

"The prefence of the Brownie was believed to be fortunate. He forfook the house, on being scalded by one of the fervants: and it was remarked, that for fome time after his departure all the domeftic bufinefs went wrong. So fays the legend of Glengarry; and who will doubt it, when even the learned and reverend Olaus Wormius appeals to common experience for the existence of fimilar beings: Qui fe, adhuc noftro feculo, in effigie humana, accommodare folent minif'teriis hominum, nocturnis horis laborando, &c. *.' These sprites he believes to be the fouls of men, who in their lifetime had been too prone to earthly pleasure's; and he distinguishes them by the name of elves, a word, which, in Scotland, appears to be fy

fide,

Or fountain, fome belated peasant fees.'

"A countryman in this neighbourhood is believed to have been once enfnared in this manner. Croffing the mountains, with a keg of whiskey, he was charmed with the fairy mufic; and induced to join in their dance. At this exercife he continued a whole year, which appeared to him to be only a few hours. When the fpell ceafed, he returned home, very pale and emaciated; but was always looked upon with fome fufpicion; for it is believed, that they who have once joined the fairies, generally rcfort to them again, and at laft are enrolled in their fociety. Upon the whole, the Scottish fairy is defcribed with more terrific attributes, than are to be found in the traces of a belief in fuch beings, in England." Vol. ii. p. 64.

THE FALL OF FOYERS.

"ON the left of the road, from Fort William, is a wall, beyond which is heard the roaring of waters. Entering near two rude pillars, you almoft immediately behold the wonderful scene. The mountain, on whofe declivity you are standing, feems to have been rent afunder. The bold rocks louring on each other, from the oppofite fides, form a deep jagged chafm of feveral hundred feet: part of their ruins remain bare and fhattered, as in the moment of the earthquake, which first feparated them; part are covered with heath and fern, and fhaded by ragged woods of fir, and native birch. Through the fhapelefs breach' bursts a torrent, which, confined by the narrow channel above, fhoots in one unbroken column, white as fnow, into a deep caldron, formed by the black rocks below. By the vaft height, and the large body of the water, a quantity of spray is created, which forms a perpetual shower, glittering like dew on the verdure

around,

around, cafting a transparent mift over the gloomy caverned rocks, and rifing like the fmoke of a furnace, into the air. This appearance, feen at a confiderable diftance, has occafioned the country people to give it the picturefque name of Eafs na Smudh, by which, as I before mentioned, they alfo characterize the falls above Kinloch Leven. No fpot, however, which I have feen, is at all comparable to this, in the ftrong and fudden impression which it produces. The falls of Clyde are, indeed, more beautiful, more varied, and have a larger quantity of water; but the openness of the view renders them much lefs fublime. There is fomething in the darkness and imprisonment of wild overhanging crags, inexpreffibly awful; and in this inftance their grandeur is heightened by the kindred impulfes around, by the ceafelefs toil of the ftruggling river, by the thundering found of a thousand echoes, and where the jutting barriers do not exclude the view, by the mighty fummit of Meal Fourvonny, rifing beyond the lake.

"The greatest poet of our days has attempted to defcribe this fall in verfe; but however accurate he may have been in defeription, he has wholly erred with reípect to poetical effect. In Burns's lines on the Fall of Foyers, no one recognises that magic impulfe, which at once touches the heart, in his pathetic pieces, or fets the table in a roar, by his effufions of humour. In fact, mere picture is not the province of the poet. External forms are only deferving his notice, as they may be connected with feeling, and ferve for fymbols in its communication. The fentiment must always be pre-eminent, the picture fecondary; and very high-wrought defeription may be rendered fubfervient to very exquifite feeling: the fault lies not in defcribing; but in merely defcribing. Thefe obfervations apply only to the poet; because we expect very different things in reading poetry and profe: the profe writer lays not fo frong a claim to the excitement of feelig, and may, therefore, deal much more Largely in defeription." Vol. ii. p. 75.

INVERNESS

"ITSELF may be confidered as the capital of the north of Scotland; it contains above five thousand inhabit ants; no town to the northward of it

poffeffes any thing like that number, nor is any town fouthward comparable to it in magnitude, until you reach Aberdeen. In confequence of this, manufactures and commerce, of which we had for fome time feen no traces, here prefented themselves to us. At one extremity of the town is a confiderable establishment for the spinning, dreffing, and weaving of hemp and flax. Many coafting and fome foreign veffels frequent the harbour, which admits thofe of 200 tons burden to its quay: thofe of 400 or 500 can anchor within a mile of the town. Education is conducted here on an extensive and liberal plan, by means of an academy calculated to afford initiatory knowledge to those who are intended for the learned profeffions, and to all others a complete courfe of inftruction. Here, in fine, the legal bufinefs of the northern part of Scotland is tranfacted; and the circuit and other courts are held in the court-house, a convenient and handfome edifice.

"For purposes of amusement alfo, Inverness is a point of union to the nobility and gentry of the surrounding counties. The Northern Meeting attracts thofe of Sutherland, Caithness, Rofs, Inverness, and Murray: it ferves to keep alive a friendly intercourse be tween families fcattered at a vast diftance, over a thinly-inhabited country: and during the week of their annual affemblage, thefe circumftances feem to increase the livelinefs and good humour of the party. The traveller who has an opportunity of contemplating, and of participating the pleasures of fuch a meeting, may deem himself in no fmall degree fortunate. There is fomething amiable and interefting in thofe local attachments which generally predominate, and which, whilft they ftrengthen the bonds of union among the inhabitants, render them doubly hospitable to a casual vifitor.” Vol. ii. p. 88.

"By the aid of my kind friend, Captain Robinson, and of Inglis, Efq. Provoft of Inverness, I foon examined whatever was curious in this town and neighbourhood. I vifited the harbour, the manufactory near it, and the remains of the fort built by Cromwell. It is faid, perhaps with fome justice, that the garrisons sent by him into Scotland not only contributed to improve the country, by introdu

cing many articles of domestic accommodation, but also by that purity of dialect for which the inhabitants of this city have ever fince been noticed. English is, indeed, spoken here with remarkable accuracy; but many of the lower claffes alfo fpeak Gaelic, and this language is taught in the academy; fo that Inverness may be confidered, in this respect, as a barrier town, between the Highlands and Lowlands; beyond it, English is almost exclufively employed.

"The town, which is built with confiderable neatnefs, flopes toward the river Nefs, from an eminence, on which once ftood the Caftle. This was the fuppofed fcene of Duncan's murder. It should have been rendered facred by Shakspeare's poetry; but its remains were removed, for the fake of the ftone, by fome person who probably cared little about poetry, and felt no refpect for the name of Shakspeare. On the other fide, the town is connected with a fuburb on the western bank of the Nefs, by a stone bridge. In one of its buttreffes is formed a dungeon, a cruel place of punishment for petty offences; but this pile has been difgraced by ftill greater cruelty. In 1746, a number of poor wretches, flying from the battle of Culloden, were taken, and conducted to this bridge, where they were beheaded, and their heads caft into the river." Vol. ii. p. 91.

"I fhould not quit Inverness, without mentioning a fingular kind of palladium, with which the fate of the town is fuppofed to be, in fome way or other, connected. Clach na Cutan is the toaft of profperity in all the feftal entertainments of Inverness. It fignifies the ftone of the water-tubs, a relic brought from the river-fide, where it had for ages ferved to fupport the tubs of the washers, and religiously preserved in the middle of the town.

"The river Nefs is fuppofed to be impregnated with fulphur; but this has been denied by naturalifts; it is, however, certain, that its waters poffefs some strong impregnation, which makes them ufually difagree with ftrangers, and that they are particularly prejudicial to horfes. To this fuppofed fulphureous property, fome perfons at tribute the circumftance that the lake never freezes, which is more probably

owing to its depth. We can scarcely forbear fmiling, when we hear Dr. Johnfon gravely arguing on the impo fibility, that the depth of water fhould prevent its freezing; a fubject on which his profound ignorance fhould at least have fuggefted to him the prop dety of hefitation. The word Nefs has been fuppofed to be taken from an adjacent Nefs, or promontory: I fhould rather conceive that it was firft applied to the lake, which probably was called, from the celebrated fall of Foyers, Loch-aneafs, the lake of the waterfall." Vol. ii. p. 94.

1

CALDER CASTLE.

"AT Calder Caftle we again find fome of thofe wild but confined scenes, which the hollows of a river or streamlet often afford. The caftle, from which the prefent Lord Cawdor takes his title, was built in 1454, and came into the poffeffion of his Lordship's family, by marriage, in 1510. Its antiquities are matter of the more intereft, as being connected with the immortal poetry of Shakspeare. Calder, a name common to ftreams in Scotland, is derived from the Gaelic language *. Its ufual pronunciation is Cawdor; and hence that name is given by Shakspeare to one of the Thanes facrificed to the rifing greatnefs of Macbeth. In fact, hiftory informs us, that this ufurper cut off the Thane of Nairn, by whom is undoubtedly meant the Thane of Calder, he being heritable sheriff and conftable of Nairn. The office of Thane implied jurifdiction, and was derived from the Teutonic dienen, to ferve; it was fucceeded by the title of Earl (from the Teutonic ebre and all), first introduced by King Malcolm Can

more. The laft Thane of Calder was

William, who in 1476 had his thanedom erected into a free barony." Vol. ii. p. 108.

"Enough of curious and interesting is to be feen both within and without doors. The apartments are admirably fuited to the wildness of the fitu ation; the stone staircases, the large cold hall, the iron-grated doors, the aged tapestry, the pictures fhaking in their frames, the

All

All these render Calder Caftle a dangerous abode for persons poffeffed of weak nerves and strong imaginations. Add to this, that it contains fome pieces of antiquity no lefs myfterious than venerable. In the lowest part of the building, the trunk of anhawthorntree, firm and found, grows out of the folid rock, and feems to fupport the roof of the vault. The founder, it is faid, was admonished in a dream to build his caftle on one of three hawthorn-trees which grew near together; be chofe this, and its decay, it is believ ad, would be a moft fatal omen, both to the building and to its proprietors. A ftill more valuable relic is preferved in an upper room of the tower-the very bed in which Macbeth murdered the virtuous Duncan! It was brought hither on the deftruction of Macbeth's caftle at Inverness, and is a fquare fabric of wood not inelegantly carved. A criticifing antiquary might, perhaps, doubt whether it was of fo early manufacture as the eleventh century, or, if he should fwallow the pious fraud, it would be becaufe, like Juvenal's turbot, Ipfe capi voluit,' he wished to be

taken in.

"The external appearance of the caftle correfponds with thefe its internal wonders. It is built on a freeftone rock, washed by the Calder on the weft; and on the other fides is a dry ditch, with a drawbridge, which is ftill occafionally raifed and let down. The tower is the most ancient remaining part. Within the court is a ruinous chapel, probably of equal date; but the habitable apartments are much more modern. The fheltered fituation of the building precludes any good diftant view of it; but abundance of wild fcenery is to be found by tracing upward the Calder burn, which flows, to join the Nairn, from among high rocks and woody banks. One fingular crag is called Philip's Castle; and on another is built a moffy hermitage, which, when I faw it, had a moft whimsical effect, the whole fabric being thrown, by the force of the wind, into an oblique pofition, and leaning far over its bafe. The hills around are the haunt of the red deer and roe; and at one or two delightful fpots, are placed rude feats, commanding views of the tower, backed by the diftant fea, beyond which is feen the opening of the Cromarty Firth." Vol. ii. p. 109.

(To be continued.)

LXIX. Obfervations on the Winds and Monfoons; illuftrated with a Chart, and accompanied with Notes geographical and meteorological. By JAMES CAPPER, formerly Colonel and Comptroller-general of the Army and Fortification Accompts on the Coaft of Coromandel. 4to. Pp. 234. 15s. Debrett, Leigh and Sotheby.

EXTRACTS FROM THE PREFACE.

IN treating of the regular monfoons of India, I have often availed myself of the information of Monf. D'Apres, author of that admirable work, the Neptune Oriental.' Nevertheless, in fome few refpects I have. found it neceffary to differ from him, particularly refpecting a comparison of the winds which prevail in the Arabian Gulf and the Perfian Gulf. But his work is intended to describe the course of the winds only, and not to account for, the caufes of them, otherwife it might have been prudent implicitly to adopt his fentiments. After having fo often benefited by his advice, it would be highly ungrateful not to acknowledge my obligations to him both as a navigator and an author.

"But as he has written only on the hydrography of the Eaft Indies, I have added, amongst the notes and illuftrations, a journal of the weather for twelve months, kept on fhore at Madras; in which are noted the winds upon the coaft, and iniand, at different seasons of the year, and in which is particularly ftated the commencement and duration of the long-shore winds, and the land and fea breezes, which never extend more than three or four leagues out at sea.

"These winds, which blow at the fame time, but in a different direction from the regular monfoon, will probably be confidered as a strong prefumptive proof of the truth of this hypothefis.

"For information on the subject of the winds and weather in Egypt and the Arabian Gulf, added to my own flight knowledge of them, I have in general had recourfe to the work of Mr. Volney, which is very deservedly admired for the correctnefs of the narrative, and for the depth and ingenuity of the remarks. As the inundation of the Nile has always excited the atten

tion

tion of the curious, I have likewife had recourse to authentic materials for marking the regular period of its return: in one of these fources of information, each particular year, during the courfe of thirty years, is diftinguished, wherein that dreadful scourge of the human race, the plague, appeared in the city of Cairo. It is a prevailing opinion in Egypt, that this malady commences about the winter folftice, continues through the spring to the fummer folftice, and generally (the natives fay always) ceafes with the overflowing of the Nile. Humanity requires that great pains should be taken to afcertain this fact; for if the time of its commencement and duration can be clearly established, we fhall have advanced one step at least towards a discovery of its caufe; and the cause once difcovered, in this as in every other dangerous disease, the fatal confequences may poffibly, by medical fkill, be in future prevented.

"It has always appeared to me worthy of obfervation, and indeed I have already mentioned it in a former work, that in Hindoftan, where, in fome parts, the climate is nearly the fame as in Egypt, the religion of a confiderable portion of the natives precifely the fame; where the cities are built in the fame ftyle, and all their habits of life of courfe are perfectly fimilar; the plague, that fpecies of it, at leaft, which proves fo deftructive to the inhabitants of Cairo, has never yet appeared. But fo far from the overflowing of the Ganges, in the Delta of Bengal, ing confidered as falutary, in the South and S. E. extremities of that province, it is confidered as the moft unhealthy feafon of the year.

fand; whilft that of Bengal, below Calcutta, is neither drained nor cultivated, for the tides from the Gulf of Bengal introduce in the southern part of the Delta great quantities of fand and fea-falt, and of course leave conliderable stagnant pools of water amongst the brushwood, which all together produce noxious vapours, that render the air of these parts extremely unwholefome.

"Whilft then the overflowing of the Nile brings health and fertility to the Egyptians, who have always em ployed the waters of that river for the improvement of their lands, the Ganges in the Delta, for want of proper ma nagement, brings with its fertilizing qualities, near the fea at least, disease and death." P. xiv.

"When the thought first occurred of attempting to investigate the causes of the winds, great doubts of fuccefs arofe in my mind, from the apparent number and variety of them, even of thofe within the tropics, where they are most regular; but as I proceeded, thefe difficulties gradually vanished; for the tempeft, tuffoon or typhon, the hurricane, and the tornado, were foon difcovered to be mere diftinctions, without the shadow of difference; and only the English, the Greek, or Perfian, the Italian, or Spanish name for a whirlwind.

"This point gained, my next inquiry was into the nature of what are generally called the trade winds and the monfoons.

"With the treatife of Dr. Halley before me, added to my own knowledge on thefe fubjects, I was surprised to find the following defcription of the trade wind in Dr. Johnfon's Dictionary:

blow periodically; fome for half a ' year one way, others but for three months, and then fhift and blow for fix or three months directly dontrary.'

I

"On a reference to Bailey likewise, found his explanation of the trade wind equally unfatisfactory; he defines it a wind which at certain times 'blows regularly one way at fea, within the tropics;' which, he adds (pro3 E

bably