guage and manners. Struggling with a poverty which almost amounts to a privation of food, and condemned to a labour before which the southern Britons would sink down in listless despondence, the Scotch peasant displays a degree of patience and industry, accompanied at the same time with content, that place him on the scale of moral excellence far above those who ridicule or despise him. Serious, without moroseness; quick, without asperity; and sagacious, without conceit; friendly, kind, and just; this may be considered as the moral portrait of such part of the Scotch as are not sophisti. cated or spoiled by a communication with their southern neighbours. Of this description I think I may pronounce the inhabitants of the borders to be, who perhaps are more national in their manners, practices, and ideas, than the northern counties of the kingdom; from the circumstance of effects being still felt in these parts, which have long faded away in the more distant divisions of the country. The natural consequence of those perpetual feuds which subsisted between the borderers of both kingdoms was a reciprocal rooted hatred, piously handed down from father to son, and carefully transmitted through successive generations by legendary tales and popular ballads, whose constant theme and burthen were the injuries which each party had received from the other, and the vengeance which these injuries deserved. Amongst the other Scots, the national disgust to the English, though excited before their conquest by fre quent wars, had ceased (at least in a great degree) as soon as those wars had terminated. But with the borderers the case had been different; their relative situation with the English prevented the wound from being closed; the cause was always operating; new occasions of rancour were ever occurring in the violences of each party; and their mutual dislike, instead of being softened by time, was, on the contrary, every day increased and confirmed. Hence it happens, that a great degree of coolness and dislike still subsists between the inhabitants of the respective neighbouring countries; which not only operate as a bar to free communication between them, but at the same time render the Scotch infinitely more tenacious of those manners, customs, and opinions, which distinguish them from their ancient enemies. We were concerned to find that these little local prejudices subsisted as well amongst the higher classes of society, as the peasantry of both the borders; scarcely any intercourse subsisting between the Scotch and English gentlemen of those parts. Frequent attempts have been made by men of liberal minds to overcome this unsocial spirit, but without effect. About fifty years ago a club was established for the express purpose of bringing these neighbours, separated only by a river, to more friendly communication; and intended to be held one week in Scotland and the next in England. The parties accordingly met, dined in peace, and spent part of the day in cheerfulness and friendship; when unfortunately a descendant of an English bordering family, renowned in the history of the petty wars of those parts, reminded a Scotch gentleman sitting near him of some successful innovations made by his own ancestors on the castle of this other gentleman's great grandsire. In a moment the moulder ing ashes were re-kindled, the deadly feud was revived, and the spirit of insulted nationality spread itself from the Scotchman to all his countrymen. The feast of the Lapitha once more displayed itself; all was riot and confusion; and few of the party returned home without having received some proofs imprinted on their heads or faces, that the hatred of the borderers for each other had not been extinguished, but had only lain dormant for a time. I believe no trial since this has been made for bringing such dissocial spirits together.' Speaking of the mountainous parts of Westmoreland and Cumberland, the author observes; Here, in the midst of these secluded scenes, formed by the involutions of the mountains, uncorrupted by the society of the world, lives one of the most independent, most moral, and most respectable characters existing-the estatesman, as he is called in the language of the country. His property usually amounts from 80l. to 2col. a year, of which his mansion forms the central point; where he passes an undisturbed inoffensive life, surrounded by his own paternal meads and native hills. Occupied in cultivating the former, and browzing the latter with his large flocks of three or four thousand sheep, he has no temptation to emigrate from home; and knowing but few of those artificial wants which spring from luxury, he has no opportunity of lessening or alienating his property in idle expenditure; and transmits to his descendant, without diminution or increase, the demesne which had been left to himself by his own frugal and contented forefathers. Hence it happens, that more frequent instances occur in the deep vales of Cumberland, of property being enjoyed for a long series of generations by the same family, than in any other part of England. The pride of descent would be put to the blush, were it to be told that in a hallowed recess of this kind in the neighbourhood of Keswick Lake, a man is now living, who enjoys exactly the same property which his lincal ancestor possessed in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Their sheep, running wild upon the mountains, and never taken into the farm-yard, are exposed to perpetual accidents and loss, arising from the inclemency of the weather, and the horrors of snow-storms, which, in some instances, have amounted to twelve or fifteen hundred head in a year. This circumstance prevents them from getting rich; but on the other hand, as the flocks are kept without the least expence to the proprietor, their losses never induce poverty upon them; so that, happily oscillating between their loss and gain, they are preserved in the only blessed, the only independent state--that golden mean which the wise Agur so earnestly and rationally petitioned of his Gop that he might enjoy: "Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die. Remove me far from vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full, and deny thee, and say Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my GOD in vain." Removed by their situation and circumstances from the ever shifting scene of fashionable life, their manners continue primitive, unabraded by the collision of general intercourse; their hospitality is unbounded and sincere; their sentiments simple; and their language scriptural. "Go," said an estatesman to a friend of mine, whom he had entertained for some days in his house, "Go to the vale on the other side of yon mountain, to the house of such an estatesman, and tell him you came from me. 1 know him not; but he will receive you kindly, for our sheep mingle upon the mountains.” Bella island, in the lake of Windermere, is a rare instance of the advance of price, even in these times. We are told that the island was purchased about seventeen years ago by Mrs. Curwen, before her marriage, for the sum of 1640l. of the creditors of Mr. English, who had begun the house which Mr. Curwen now inhabits; the plantations commenced two years afterwards; but so much has the value of property hereabouts increased, and so elegantly has Mr. Curwen completed the mansion and grounds, that within this present year 20,000l. have been offered as the price of his purchase.' If our limits would permit, we could add numerous other passages from these volumes, equally interesting and curious; for many have presented themselves, which we have passed over with reluctance. From a work of such a nature, indeed, it is much easier to make copious extracts than to restrain the pen : but we must at last exert this necessary resolution, and recommend a perusal of the whole to those who desire farther gratification. Two pleasing drawings are given as frontispieces to the Northern Tour, and both publications are furnished with small local maps displaying the author's course: but an index is wanting. MONTHLY CATALOGU E, For JUNE, 1803. NATURAL HISTORY. Art. 12. The Woodland Companion: or a brief Description of British Trees. With some Account of their Uses. Illustrated by Plates. Compiled by the Author of Evenings at Home. 8vo. pp. 92. 8s. half-bound. Johnson. 1802. THIS little Sylva exhibits, in a pleasing and familiar style, short descriptions of the appearances and properties of thirty-seven trees, or shrubs, the ordinary tenants of our woods and pleasure grounds. The account of each is preceded by the English and Linnéan names, with the generic and specific characters. Appropriate practical allusions are occasionally sprinkled among the descriptions; and not fewer than twenty-eight species are illustrated by distinct and handsome engravings.-The following article may serve as a specimen of Fructification. Barren flowers in a long scaly catkin, each flower of eight chives. Fertile flowers on the same tree in buds, distant, each flower with two shafts, the seed bud changing to a nut. Specific character. Leaves oval, serrated, wrinkled; props or stipulæ oval, blunt. If Though the hazel does not arrive at the bulk of a timber-tree, it is on several accounts worth notice among the natives of the forest. Its male catkins, of a yellowish green, are among the first appearances in the year of vegetable expansion, generally unfolding in the month of January. Its fruit-bearing buds make a beautiful show in March, when they burst, and disclose the bright crimson of their shafts. The hazel is met with native in almost every part of this island, forming hedges or coppices, and thickening the approaches of woods. suffered to attain their full growth, they shoot into poles of twenty feet in length; but they are usually cut down sooner, in order to form walking-sticks, fishing-rods, stakes, hurdles, and the like, or for burning into charcoal. Hazel-charcoal is preferred to any other by painters and engravers, for the freedom with which it draws, and the readiness with which its marks can be rubbed out. The nuts of the hazel are a generally agreeable fruit. They abound in a mild oil, which may be extracted by expression, and is used by painters for mixing with their colours. Nuts, however, are difficult of digestion, and, when eaten in large quantities, often prove hurtful. They ripen soon after harvest; and Thomson gives an animated picture of the amusement of gathering them, usually termed nutting. Ye swains, now hasten to the hazel bank, Where down yon dale, the wildly-winding brook Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close array, Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, And, where they burnish on the topmost bough, Autumn. They are a favourite food of squirrels, which lay them up in their winter hoards, and always take care to pick out the best. It is a common observation, that a plentiful year for nuts is the same for wheat. • The filbert is a variety of the common nut, distinguished by a longer fruit, and a thinner skin. It is cultivated in plantations in the Kentish orchards, and yields a valuable product.' The compiler might have subjoined that the oak thrives on the same soil, and that acorns may be safely sown where the hazel abounds. In other instances, too, a few agreeable or useful notices might have been added, without swelling the performance beyond the size of a pocket companion. Thus, the charcoal of oak and beech is preREV. JUNE, 1803. Р ferred ferred in the reduction of metallic calces. The ash, in warm climates, especially in Sicily and Calabria, yields the sweet exudation called manna. Its inner bark and that of the linden tree were used as paper by the antients. It is also worthy of remark that its hardy constitution frequently endures the sea-winds, and enables it to thrive on shores where few other trees will live. The charcoal of the lime is prized by the manufacturers of gunpowder; and St. Pierre has given a lively account of the travels and manœuvres of its seed. The hawthorn, which is spontaneous in most of the countries of Europe, attains, in favourable spots, to an extraordinary age. The beautiful scarlet and double-blossomed sorts appear to be only varieties; and the Glast bury thorn differs in no respect from the white, except that it sometimes flowers in winter.-The wood of the holly affords the best blocks for the callico printers.-The writer's extensive reading and observation will, we doubt not, enable him to enrich a future edition with various other particulars, related in the same pleasing manner with those now before us. Art. 13. Nereis Britannica; containing all the Species of Fuci, Natives of the British Coasts; with a Description in English and Latin, and Plates coloured from Nature. Fasciculus III. By John Stackhouse, Esq. F.L.S. Folio. 11. 8s. sewed. White. In the 28th volume of our New Series (p. 335.), we announced the first and second fasciculi of this very splendid and interesting work. Its learned and indefatigable author thus apologizes for the interval which has elapsed since the publication of the second part : This delay has beca occasioned partly by the arduous nature of the undertaking, and partly by the remoteness of my situation. This interval, however, notwithstanding any seeming inattention to the public on my part, has not been misemployed by me. I have been enabled very carefully to revise and correct what I have already published, and, what is a far more important object, I have pursued my investigations on the different species of Fuci, during their respective seasons of fructification in succeeding years.' The present fasciculus, with its appendix, completes Mr. Stackhouse's descriptions of British Fuci, and, we lament to add, terminates his work, at least for the present. C I at first meant,' he says in a note, to include CONFERVA and ULVA in this work, but the length of time which the investigation of the present genus has occupied, deters me from the undertaking. I have no doubt of its being executed by some abler hand. The Conferva in particular, a very numerous family, have had very little scientific pains bestowed on them nothing but drawings of their internal structure under a microscope will be capable of illustrating them satisfactorily. Till such a work appears, I would advise collectors of marine plants to delineate in pencil, or colours, a small bit under a microscope to shew the internal structure, and to lay down the plant on the paper under. neath.' We are here furnished with fourteen pages of additional preface and descriptions of Fucus Ceranoides, Sherardi, Pinastroides, Hypoglossoides, Laceratus, Alatus, Fibrosus, Coronopifolius, Barbatus, Abrotanifolius, Amphibius, |