covenanted sons has been heard, claiming their unalienable rights. The citadel of the General Assembly has at last yielded to an honourable capitulation. Scotland's Church has only to hold true to herself; and moderatism, with all her deadly accompaniments, will be numbered with the things that were.

CHAPTER IV.

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON A TOUR IN SCOTLAND AND IN ENGLAND.

AMONG the MSS. papers of Professor Macgill, I have laid my hands on the imperfect jottings of the journals of two excursions he had made at different periods; the one to the North of Scotland, and the other to London and various parts of England. The small volumes which contain the first of these are without date, and it is only by internal evidence I have ascertained the precise period of Dr. Macgill's life to which they must be referred, and that is much earlier than I had at first supposed. It is the summer of 1790, and immediately after he had taken licence. The date of the other MSS. is 1807. This chapter will be devoted to a few extracts from these journals; in selecting which I have been guided partly by the subjects of each, and partly by the comparative degree of completeness in which the record is found. It is plain, that the intention of the writer had been to extend these notices at some future period, with the view of giving them to the public. In the circumstances in which they now appear, an apology may by some be considered necessary for bringing them forward at all. I do not think so. There is a great deal in the journal that no one

would ever dream of printing, and some of the most interesting scenes which met his eye in England, are merely indicated by references and blanks in the pages of the record which he had intended filling up at his leisure.

His visit to the North of Scotland appears to have taken place during his residence as tutor in the family of the Hon. Henry Erskine. It embraced both the Eastern and the Western coasts of Scotland. The following specimens will, I doubt not, be found interesting, and some of them rather amusing to the reader. The remarks on Aberdeen will be held as instructive and edifying.

"Lochness begins at Fort Augustus, and continues till within a few miles of Inverness. It then ends in a fine river which runs into the Murray Firth. We were told at Inverness some curious particulars respecting this lake. Though fresh water, it never freezes. The waters which flow into it freeze till they get near its banks, when they lose that power. If you throw a lump of ice into it, the ice melts as if in hot water, though it be hard frost all around. The river which flows from it is of the same nature. It flows through Inverness, but in the hardest winter the inhabitants never saw it freeze. Yet if you put its water into a tub, it will freeze like common water.

"From a retrospect of this journal it will appear, that from the sea at Port Nacroish, to the Murray Firth on the opposite coast, there is a continued chain of broad deep lakes, without an interval of

L

more than a mile betwixt any of them.

How easy then would it be to join the two seas! The advantages would be great, and the expense, compared with other canals, a perfect trifle. When I mentioned this to a gentleman at Inverness, I was told that such a scheme had been often in contemplation, but these very lochs were against its success. Vessels would often be obliged to lie long in them for winds, and the banks of many of them are too steep for a road to be made for a drag horse. I do not think this an insuperable difficulty, as I imagine these lochs are not subject to great risings of their waters. I should think it would be no great difficulty to build a road on their banks, up from the water, in such places as were too steep to have a road made on the land.

"The land around Inverness is well cultivated, and shews what industry and money can effect; for originally these lands seem to have been no better than other parts of the Highlands similarly situated. The town is increasing both in size and beauty. It is the capital of the Highlands, and presents as fine buildings, genteel inhabitants, handsome carriages, and great abundance of the luxuries of life, as any town in the low country. We visited their town house, which has as handsome rooms as that of Glasgow. Their prison is a very elegant building, and the rooms of it well adapted both to convenience and strength. The mason lodge is a very elegant room; and a new range of handsome buildings are set on foot for the accommodation of

the northern hunt. They have also established an academy in their town, in which is to be taught every branch of literature and science, except those peculiar to divinity, physic, and law. The building for this purpose is well advanced: a large handsome house, on a similar plan with the Grammar School of Glasgow; not so elegant, but I think larger.

"About three miles from Inverness is the field of

Culloden. So near, we could not but pay a visit

to the scene of the memorable battle.

It is a

On

large muir; in the middle of it is a marsh. the north-west of this were the highland troops; on the opposite side those of the king. The highlandmen were so galled by the shot of their enemy, that they rushed forward through this marsh, forced a passage through Burrel's regiment, then went through them again, bestrode the cannon, turned them on their enemies; but they were ill supported, and they knew not how to use the guns they had seized. While on the field, we were told by the gentleman who conducted us several anecdotes which to us were new. The Duke of Cumberland gave no quarter, he said, to the defeated highlanders, and his men committed unheard of cruelties. The day after the battle, among other instances which he mentioned, near 30 wounded men who had been taken into the house of Culloden to be taken care of, were brought out, as then thought, to be carried to the hospital of Inverness, where they might lie till their wounds.