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Though we were yet in the most populous part of Scotland, and at so small a distance from the capital, we met few paffengers.

The roads are neither rough nor dirty; and it affords a fouthern ftranger a new kind of pleasure to travel fo commodiously without the interruption of toll-gates. Where the bottom is rocky, as it seems commonly to be in Scotland, a smooth way is made indeed with great labour, but it never wants repairs; and in those parts where adventitious materials are neceffary, the ground once confolidated is rarely broken; for the inland commerce is not great, nor are heavy commodities often transported otherwise than by water. The carriages in common ufe are fmall carts, drawn each by one little horfe; and a man feems to derive fome degree of dignity and importance from the reputation of poffeffing a two-horfe cart.

ST. ANDREWS.

At an hour fomewhat late we came to St. Andrews, a city once archiepifcopal; where that university still fubfifts in which philofophy was formerly taught by Buchanan, whofe name has as fair a claim to immortality as can be conferred by modern latinity, and perhaps a fairer than the inftability of vernacular languages admits.

We found, that by the interpofition of fome invifible friend, lodgings had been provided for us at the house of one of the profeffors, whofe eafy civility quickly made us forget that we were ftrangers; and in the whole time of our stay we were gratified by every mode of kindness, and entertained with all the elegance of lettered hospitality.

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In the morning we rofe to perambulate a city, which only history fhews to have once flourished, and furveyed the ruins of ancient magnificence, of which even the ruins cannot long be vifible, unless fome care be taken to preferve them; and where is the pleafure of preferving fuch mournful memorials? They have been till very lately fo much neglected, that every man carried away the ftones who fancied that he wanted them.

The cathedral, of which the foundations may be ftill traced, and a fmall part of the wall is ftanding, appears to have been a fpacious and majeftick building, not unsuitable to the primacy of the kingdom. ⚫ Of the architecture, the poor remains can hardly exhibit, even to an artift, a fufficient fpecimen. It was demolished, as is well known, in the tumult and violence of Knox's reformation.

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Not far from the cathedral, on the margin of the water, ftands a fragment of the caftle, in which the archbishop anciently refided. It was never very large, and was built with more attention to fecurity than pleasure. Cardinal Beatoun is faid to have had workmen employed in improving its fortifications, at the time when he was murdered by the ruffians of reformation, in the manner of which Knox has given what he himself calls a merry narrative.

The change of religion in Scotland, eager and vehement as it was, raised an epidemical enthusiasm, compounded of fullen fcrupuloufnefs and warlike ferocity, which, in a people whom idlenefs refigned to their own thoughts, and who, converfing only with cach other, fuffered no dilution of their zeal from the gradual influx of new opinions, was long tranfmitted

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in its full ftrength from the old to the young, but by trade and intercourfe with England, is now vifibly abating, and giving way too fast to that laxity of prac tice, and indifference of opinion, in which men, not fufficiently inftructed to find the middle point, too easily shelter themselves from rigour and constraint.

The city of St. Andrews, when it had loft its archiepifcopal pre-eminence, gradually decayed: one of its ftreets is now loft; and in thofe that remain, there is the filence and folitude of inactive indigence and gloomy depopulation.

The univerfity, within a few years, confifted of three colleges, but is now reduced to two; the college of St. Leonard being lately diffolved by the fale of its buildings, and the appropriation of its revenues to the profeffors of the two others. The chapel of the alienated college is yet ftanding, a fabrick not inelegant of external structure: but I was always, by fome civil excufe, hindered from entering it. A decent attempt, as I was fince told, has been made to convert it into a kind of green-house, by planting its area with fhrubs. This new method of gardening is unfuccefsful; the plants do not hitherto profper. To what use it will next be put, I have no pleasure in conjecturing. It is fomething, that its prefent ftate is at least not oftentatiously displayed. Where there is yet fhame, there may in time be virtue.

The diffolution of St. Leonard's College was doubtlefs neceffary; but of that neceffity there is reafon to complain. It is furely not without just reproach, that a nation, of which the commerce is hourly extending, and the wealth increafing, denies any partici

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pation of its prosperity to its literary focieties; and while its merchants or its nobles are raifing palaces, fuffers its univerfities to moulder into duft.

Of the two colleges yet ftanding, one is by the inftitution of its founder appropriated to divinity. It is faid to be capable of containing fifty ftudents; but more than one muft occupy a chamber. The library, which is of late erection, is not very fpacious, but elegant and luminous.

The doctor, by whom it was fhewn, hoped to irritate or fubdue my English vanity, by telling me, that we had no fuch repofitory of books in England.

St. Andrews feems to be a place eminently adapted to study and education, being fituated in a populous, yet a cheap country, and expofing the minds and manners of young men neither to the levity and diffolutenefs of a capital city, nor to the grofs luxury of a town of commerce, places naturally unpropitious to learning; in one the defire of knowledge eafily gives way to the love of pleasure, and in the other, is in danger of yielding to the love of money.

The ftudents however are reprefented as at this time not exceeding a hundred. Perhaps it may be fome obftruction to their increafe that there is no epifcopal chapel in the place. I faw no reason for imputing their paucity to the prefent profeffors; nor can the expence of an academical education be very reasonably objected. A ftudent of the highest class may keep his annual feffion, or as the English call it, his term, which lafts feven months, for about fifteen pounds, and one of lower rank for lefs than ten; in which, board, lodging, and inftruction are all included..

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The chief magiftrate refident in the univerfity, anfwering to our vice-chancellor, and to the rector magnificus on the continent, had commonly the title of Lord Rector; but being addreffed only as Mr. Rector in an inauguratory fpeech by the prefent chancellor, he has fallen from his former dignity of ftyle. Lordship was very liberally annexed by our ancestors to any station or character of dignity: they faid, the Lord General, and Lord Ambassador; fo we ftill fay, my Lord, to the judge upon the circuit, and yet retain in our Liturgy, the Lords of the Council.

In walking among the ruins of religious buildings, we came to two vaults over which had formerly stood the house of the fub-prior. One of the vaults was inhabited by an old woman, who claimed the right of abode there, as the widow of a man whose ancestors had poffeffed the fame gloomy manfion for no less than four generations. The right, however it began, was confidered as established by legal prescription, and the old woman lives undisturbed. She thinks however that she has a claim to fomething more than fufferance; for as her husband's name was Bruce, fhe is allied to royalty, and told Mr. Bofwell, that when there were perfons of quality in the place, she was distinguished by fome notice; that indeed fhe is now neglected, but fhe spins a thread, has the company of a cat, and is troublesome to nobody,

Having now feen whatever this ancient city offered to our curiofity, we left it with good wishes, having reafon to be highly pleafed with the attention. that was paid us. But whoever furveys the world

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