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but at 8 A. M. of the 15th January, it was, at Canonmills, as low as 101 or 21 degrees below the freezing point, and during the night, it had, in the New Town of Edinburgh, been as low as 9o. On the 18th of the month, the mercury again stood at 11° at 8 A. M.; and it had, at the same time, been observed nearly three degrees lower in the neighbourhood. At Glasgow it is stated, on one particular night, to have sunk five degrees below zero.

We thus experienced, in some measures the rigour of the arctic regions, and had an opportunity of observing some of the effects of intense cold described by travellers. Every one has read of the rending of trees by the frost in the forests of high northern latitudes: this was realized in various places in this neighbourhood; at Inverleith, Dunfermline, and Vellefield near Alloa. At this last place in particular, on the morning of the 16th, several elms burst, with a loud noise, resembling the report of cannons. All the trees which burst were of the hard-wooded sort, such as elm, ash, and walnut. The rending seems uniformly to have happened on the damp or wet side of the tree, or where water had lodged ; and is therefore to be ascribed to the freezing and consequent expanding of this external moisture, and not to the congelation of the sap itself of the tree.

The Frith of Forth was nearly covered with floating ice from the Queensferry upwards. From the interstices which remained free, the vapour ascending from the water being suddenly condensed, produced the appearance of smoke rising from the surface, exactly as is described to happen in Hudson's Bay and West Greenland, at the edges of the ice.

Many birds were benumbed with the cold, and easily surprized and caught. A woodcock was found frozen to death by the side of a ditch in Hope Park, in the immediate vi

cinity of Edinburgh. The fulmer or malleduck (Procellaria glacialis,) approached our shores for shelter; and the wild swan (Anas cygnus,) was observed on wing passing southward. In ordinary seasons, the swan is seldom seen farther south than the counties of Caithness and Inverness.

The cold continued unabated till the 24th January, when a gentle thaw commenced. At this time, the ice on the mill-pond at Canonmills was bored with a wimble in different situations, and found to be on an average 9 inches thick. It may however be added, on good authority, that, over the deep parts of the large lakes in the neighbourhood, it did not exceed 7 inches. In rivers, where successive layers of ice were formed, the covering was considerably more than a foot in thickness.

In a few days afterwards, the ice on the rivers broke up, and produced great devastation along their banks.

In the southern and western parts of Britain, the fall of snow was much greater than in the Lothians in the north of Scotland there was very little. In Devonshire, which is considered as possessing the mildest climate in England, the snow in the course of one night fell to the depth of six feet, and in many places it soon after surmounted the hedges, and present-. ed a uniform white waste. In the vicinity of London, also, the quantity of snow was very great, and the frost intense: fairs were held on the Thames, as during the "hard winter of 1740," and printing-presses were erected on the river, and watch-papers cast off, with inscriptions commemorative of the "great frost of 1814."

During February, alternate frosts and thaws succeeded each other; but the ice, which covered the lakes in this neighbourhood on the 3d of January, did not wholly disappear till the 24th February, having thus lasted 52 days.

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Proceedings of the HIGHLAND SOCIE

TY OF SCOTLAND.

THE anniversary general meeting of this Society was held, in the Hall of the Royal College of Physicians here, on Tuesday last, at which there were present-the Right Honourable the Earl of Wemyss and March, The Earl of Fife, Lord Elibank, Honourable Lords Bannatyne and Hermand, Sir George S. Mackenzie, Sir George Stewart, Sir James Colquhoun, and Sir A. Muir Mackenzie, Barts. Sir Alexander Gordon, Generals Maxwell, Robertson, and Graham Stirling, Admiral Fraser, Mr Erskine of Mar, Mr Innes of Stow, and other respectable members of the Society, to the number of about

100.

Mr Macdonald, the Secretary, read a letter from his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, stating his being prevented, by indisposition, from coming to town, to preside at the society, as he had intended-when the Earl of Wemyss, in his Grace's absence, at the request of the meeting, took the chair, and after a ballot, as required by the rules of the Society, the following were duly admitted Members, their names ordered to be recorded, and public notification of their election given, viz.

Right Honourable Lord Berridale Right Honourable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, M. P. Major-General the Hon. Alexander

Duff

Kirkman Finlay, Esq. Lord Provost of Glasgow, M. P. Charles Forbes, Esq. of Edinglassie, M. P. for Beverly James Sedgwick, Esq. Chairman of the Board of Excise

John Stirling, Esq. of Kippendavie,

Perthshire

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Major Alexander Francis Tayler, Rothiemay-house

Major Charles Macpherson, Inspector-General of Barracks for Scotland

Major Robert Macdonald, Royal
Horse Artillery

Gordan Duff, Esq. of Hatton
John Gordon, Esq. of Aitkenhead,
Renfrewshire

Alexander Campbell, Esq. of Hall-
yards, Peebles-shire
William Trotter, Esq. first Bailie of
the city of Edinburgh
William Galloway, Esq.-John Mill,
Esq. present Magistrates of Edin-
burgh

Thomas Allan, Esq. Banker, Edinburgh

James Grierson, Esq. of Dalgoner George Millar, Esq. of Frankfield George Meek, Esq. of Campfield John Learmonth, Esq. Merchant, Edinburgh

Robert William Hamilton, Esq. Merchant, Leith

Captain Dugald Macdougal of the

Tigris East Indiaman
Captain John Cheape, Edinburgh
Captain Hugh Macgregor of the 91st
regiment

Robert Gordon, Esq. of Croughlie,
Banffshire
Robert Wight, Esq. Accountant,
Edinburgh

The Secretary then submitted to the Meeting the proceedings of the Directors since the General Meeting in June last, which were taken under consideration, and approved. It appeared, from the Secretary's statement, that the numerous list of premiums offered by the Society, in 1813, for improving waste landsRaising green crops-Best managed farms-Meliorating the breed of cattle-To ploughmen, for improvement in ploughing, had, in general, been claimed, and in several districts had excited much emulation and competition. These premiums, with the names of the persons to whom they

had

had been voted, were directed to be published in the newspapers, in the usual manner, and the Meeting voted the thanks of the Society to the Earl of Eglinton-Sir Archibald Dunbar, Baronet General Hay of RannesColonel Duff of Fetteresso-Col. Macdonald of Boisdale-Mr Garden Campbell of Troup-Mr Monteith of Closeburn-Mr Fergusson of Crosshill-Mr Fraser Tytler of Woodhouselee-Mr Jefferey of Balsarroch and the Reverend Mr Gillespie of Kells, for the great attention given by them, as Conveners, in conducting the black cattle, ploughing, and other competitions, in different districts of the country.

The Society, upon a report from a Committee approved by the Directors, voted a sum of 20 guineas to Mr Dugald Maclachlan, at Achleven, near Bonaw, Argyllshire, for his having constructed, at a considerable expence, and introduced into that district, proper machinery for the teasing, carding, and spinning of wool, and as an encouragement to him to extend his manufactory to the making of cloth. The Meeting also voted a sum of 10 guineas to Mr Walter Samuel, at Niddrie, West Lothian, for a material improvement made by him in the mode of coupling harrows; this ingenious mechanic having, on a former occasion, received a premium from the Society, for an improvement made by him in the method of yoking horses in thrashing machines.

Mr Macdonald, the Treasurer, stated to the Meeting the funds of the Society, its income and expenditure last year, and enforced the propriety, with a view to insure the permanency of this chartered Society, that, while due attention was paid to encouraging the objects of the institution, the intention of accumulating, by degrees, a capital of £.20,000 Sterling, at least, should be persevered in. "This plan met with the approbation of the chair, and the Meeting in gen

eral. The Society were, at the same time, gratified to find, from the state of these funds and the very considerable receipts last year, from most of the arrears due by Members having been paid up, that it was enabled to vote a larger sum than on any former occasion, to be at the disposal of the Directors, in promoting the objects of the institution, for the year 1814, and which the Meeting voted accordingly. The Society expressed their acknowledgments to Mr Wilson, accountant in Edinburgh, for the trouble he takes annually in auditing the Society's accounts, without accepting any pecuniary gratification for his trouble.

Mr Tait, Convener of the General Committee for obtaining an Equalization of Weights and Measures, brought in the view of the Society the steps taken by the Committee, and the very general support which the Society had received from the counties, royal burghs, and principal commercial institutions, for attaining this very desirable object, and particularly mentioned the great attention given to this business by the Chamber of Commerce of Glasgow, which had drawn up and communicated two reports, containing much valuable information. It appeared that every thing had been adjusted in the way of preparation, so far as this can be effected in Scotland, and that there is every reason to hope that the business may be brought before Parliament soon after it meets, and during the present session. The Committee recommended to the attention of the Society the expediency of combining weight with measure in the sale of grain, as the most certain means of ascertaining its productive qualities and value, and that potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables, should be sold by weight. The Society highly approved of the steps taken, and recommended to the Committee to continue its attention, until the important object of equalization should be accom

plished;

plished; and, with respect to combining weight with measure in the sale of grain, the Meeting authorised the Directors to print and circulate the information contained in a report on this branch of the subject, in such form and manner as they shall deem expedient.

The Meeting further recommended to its Committee on Publications, to have the information contained in the approved essays given in to the Society, published in a 4th volume of the transactions, with a correct list of the noblemen and gentlemen who are members of the Society, prepared by the Committee for Facilitating the Recovery of Arrears, in terms of the instructions of last General Meeting.

A report from the Committee on Celtic Literature and Antiquities was given in and read, from which it appeared, that a mass of materials had been collected, as aids to the compilation of a Scoto-Celtic or Gaelic Dictionary, and that after communicating with several Gentlemen, eminent for their acquirements in Celtic literature, the plan of such dictionary had now been nearly matured. The report anxiously recommended the accomplishment of this work, as serving to record or illustrate what yet remains of the ancient language of the kingdom, either in the literary compositions of former ages, or in the vernacular use of the present day; besides the sum proposed by the Committee to be given from the funds of the Society for this object, the report recommended, in respect of the very considerable expence which the compilation and publication of the dictionary upon a proper plan must require, and the numerous objects which the Society was called upon to encourage and promote, that a general subscription for defraying the same be set on foot, sot only among the Members of the Society, but also among the friends of literature, at home and abroad, for this purpose.

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The Society, after hearing Henry Mackenzie, Esq. Chairman of the Committee, Lord Bannatyne, Sir G. S. Mackenzie, Sir A. M. Mackenzie, and Mr Graham Dalyell, resolved to approve the report, and voted 100 guineas annually, for three years, to be at the disposal of the Committee, towards the expence of the compilation, &c. of the intended dictionary. The Meeting farther approved of opening a subscription, as proposed, for completing and publishing the dictionary, and generally authorised the Committee, with the approbation of the Directors, to accomplish the measures recommended in the report.

Upon the report of a Committee of the Society, before which Captain G. W. Manby had exhibited his plan and experiments for rendering assistance to persons shipwrecked near the shore, by establishing a communication with the stranded vessel, by prcjecting a rope fixed to a shot fired from a small mortar, and other means, which he has practised with success in various instances, the Meeting voted the Society's gold medal, with a suitable inscription, to Captain Manby, for his great zeal and perseverance in the prosecution of an object so interesting to humanity, which he has successfully brought to practical utility, and expressed their acknowledgments to Captain Manby for his attention in the course of the experiments.

The Meeting authorised the Secretary to convey their thanks to Mr Thomas White of Woodlands, county of Durham, for his communication on the subject of tanning leather, and of the great advantages attending the use of larch bark in that process.

Several approved implements of husbandry and ingenious models were exhibited at the Society-among others, Mr Liston's patent plough, and the model of a draw-kiln, upon a new construction, produced by Mr Monteith of Closeburn. On the mo

A

tion of Mr Graham Dalyell, the Directors were authorised to have drawings made of the most interesting and useful implements and models which may be laid before the Society, with a view to their publication, along with accurate descriptions of them.

The Society having, on motion, proceeded to the election of President, Vice-Presidents, and other Officebearers, for the current year, the following noblemen and gentlemen were chosen, VIZ.

His Grace the Duke of MONTROSE, re-elected President.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Right Hon. Lord John Campbell,
Right Hon. Lord Seaforth
Honourable Lord Hermand
Sir George Clerk of Penicuick,
Bart. M. P.

Sir George Stuart of Grantully,
Bart.

Sir John Macgregor Murray of Lanrick, Bart,

Alexander Boswell, Esq. of Auchinleck

Thomas Miller, Esq. of Glenlee. Several applications, connected with the introduction of the woollen mannfacture in the West Highlands, having been laid before the Meeting,

His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch these and other matters were referred and Queensberry

Most Noble the Marquis of Queens-
berry

Right Hon. Lord James Murray
Right Hon. Lord Macdonald..
William Macdonald, Esq. of St Mar-
tin's, Treasurer.

to the Directors. The Meeting then,
with much approbation, voted the
thanks of the Society to the Earl of
Wemyss, not only for his conduct in
the chair, but for his uniform, and
unremitting attention, while in office
as Vice-President, to the business and

Ranald Macdonald, Esq. of Staffa, interests of the institution.
Secretary.

Robert Wilson, Esq. accountant in
Edinburgh, Auditor of Accounts.
Rev. Dr George Baird, Principal of
the University of Edinburgh,
Chaplain

Mr Lewis Gordon, Depute Secretary
and Collector.

Mr David Watson, Recorder and
Clerk.

Mr John Campbell, Translator of the

Gaelic language.

Mr James Mackay, jeweller and medalist.

Besides thirty Ordinary Directors, resident in Edinburgh, for managing the affairs of the Society, (seven of whom go out annually by rotation), the Society also made choice of the following noblemen and gentlemen to be Extraordinary Directors, some of whom are only occasionally in town, and cannot regularly attend the stated meetings, VIZ.

Right Hon. the Earl of Wemyss and
March

Right Hon. the Earl of Aboyne

Particulars of the Process carried on by the Ministers of Edinburgh, against the Magistrates of Edinburgh, for increase of Stipend.

N the year 1810, the Reverend

Dr Davidson and the other ministers of the city of Edinburgh, brought an action against the magistrates, libelling " that by the law of the land, and the constitution of the city of Edinburgh, the common property and revenue of the community are liable to the charge of supporting the clergy of the city, in a manner suitable to their rank in society, and to the expensive mode of living to which they are exposed, that in aid of these sources, certain funds have been provided and placed under the charge of the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, for the special purpose of supporting the city ministers, and ought, in reason and justice, to be

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