naked, by a little peat-fire, in the middle of the hut and over the fire-place was a small hole in the roof for a chimney. The floor was common earth, very uneven, and no where dry, but near the fire, and in the corners, where no foot had carried the muddy dirt from without door.' Vol. I. p. 14. II. pp. 35, 40, 41.

Such, without any strong colouring, is the comfortless shealing, the miserable hovel, of a poor Highlander; very different, undoubtedly, from the meanest cottage in England. The inhabitant of this lowly dwelling, is not, however, as he is frequently described by superficial tourists, an uncivilized being. Poverty is not to be confounded with barbarism. The poor mountaineer, in his cheerless tenement of turf, often possesses an elasticity of mind, a courteousness of address, an independence of spirit, a vivacity of intellect, and a stock of useful information, which seldom fall to the lot of the English hind; and they might justly be envied by some of those who possess the good things of this world in abundance, and who look down upon the Highland peasant with a degree of pity bordering on contempt.

There is a very ridiculous and disgusting custom very prevalent among superficial tourists, of detailing an uninteresting catalogue of the most unimportant occurrences. They are incessantly calling our attention to an enumeration of the most trivial events of a traveller's life, as if it could be of the least import to the world, to know whether the tourist pursued his track in boots or in shoes, clad in a gray coat or in a blue jacket. And this becomes still more insufferable, when we are treated with a diurnal† register of the Author's palate; and are condemned to sympathize with him over his tough beef-steaks and parboiled vegetables. For such tedious minuteness every sensible reader will manifest his thorough contempt; and he will have not unfrequent oecasion for its exercise in these volumes. We must except, however, from this remark, every occurrence, though humble and insignificant in itself, which throws light upon national habits, as it indicates the degree of refinement of the people. With this view we shall present to our readers an extract or two upon the subject of Scotch cookery, which

* The word shealing is, in its strict sense, applicable only to the hut constructed for the temporary summer residence of the shepherds. It is applied, also, to a fisherman's hut, or to any very humble dwelling. See Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary, in

Voc. To those who really can indulge so preposterous and gross a taste, we recommend Thornton's Sporting Tour in Scotland.

is proverbially disagreeable to Englishmen. We begin at Kelso, in the Lowlands.

I asked what was to be had, and she [the Gude wife or mistress] told me potted pigeons; and nothing I thought, could be more greeable, as requiring no waiting, after a fatiguing day's journe in which I had eaten nothing. The cloth was laid, but I was too unwilling to grease my fingers to touch it; and presently after, the pot of pigeons was set on the table. When I came to examine my cates, there were two or three of the pigeons lay mangled in the pot, and behind were the furrows, in the butter, of those fingers that had raked them out of it, and the butter itself needed no close application to discover its quality.-At a house which was my next quarters-I was told I might have a breast of mutton done upon the brander (or grid iron:) but when it was brought me, it appeared to have been smoked and dried in the chimney corner: and it looked like the glue that hangs up in an ironmonger's shop: this, you may believe, was very disgusting to the eye and for the smell, it had no other, that I could perceive, than that of the butter wherewith it was greased in the dressing; but for my relief, there were some new-laid eggs, which were my regale.'-At Edinburgh, I was asked to sup at a tavern. The cook was too filthy an object to be described; only another English gentleman whispered me, and said, he believed, if the fellow was to be thrown against the wall, he would stick to it. Twisting round and round his hand a greasy towel, he stood waiting to know what we would have for supper, and mentioned several things himself; among the rest, a duke, a fool, or a meer• • fool. This was nearly according to his pronunciation; but he méant, a duck, a fowl, or a moor-fowl, or grouse.' Vol. 1. pp. 14, 15, 17, 18.

The Caledonian metropolis has rapidly improved in this particular since our officer's visit; and now rivals some of the most polished cities in the world in elegance and refinement. A con sidérable change has also been effected throughout the Northern part of our island in general; although still, among the lower orders, and even in some few particulars among their superiors, it cannot be denied that there is a lamentable deficiency in attention to the comforts and conveniences of ordinary life, and much to displease both delicacy and good taste. As to the Highlands, the improvement has been more tardy, as might be expected from the poverty of the country, and the many local physical impediments to the luxuries of neatness and cleanliness. Most persons that have travelled among the mountains, will be able to recal many of his own adventures in corroboration of the following statements.

• Shall I venture at one only instance of cookery? I will, and that a recent one. An officer, who arrived here [Inverness] a few days ago with his wife and son (a boy of about 5 or 6 years old)

told me, that at a house not far distant from this place, as they were waiting for dinner, the child, who had been gaping about the kitchen, came running into the room and fell a-crying; of which the mother asking the reason, he sobbed, and said, "Mamma, don't eat any of the greens.' This occasioned a further inquiry; by which it appeared the maid had been wringing the cale with her hands, as if she was wringing a dishclout, and was setting it up in pyramids round the dish by way of ornament-At another place, he tells us, My fare wis a couple of roasted hens, as they call them, very poor, new killed,* the skins much broken with plucking, black with smoke, and greased with bad butter. As I had no great appetite for that dish, I spoke for some hard eggs. In other journeys, when I have baited and eaten two or three eggs, and nothing else to be had, when I asked the question, "What is there for eating?" the answer has been, "Nothing for you, Sir, but sixpence for your man Vol. I. p. 127. II. pp. 39, 41.

Oe! jam satis! Our readers will, we imagine, be abundantly satisfied with these specimens of northern fare. As for those whose curiosity is not yet satiated, and whose nerves are of a more rigid texture, let them dip into the 147th page of the first volume, and sit down to dinner in the castle of a Highland chief. After all, however, our anonymous officer appears to have had a most fastidious stomach, and to have been much more anxious to gratify his appetite, than to observe with accuracy men and manners. A philosophical traveller, when visiting such a country as the Highlands, will bid adieu to luxury, and will be independent of those paltry solicitudes which in such circumstances, ruffle the tranquillity of the epicure. He rambles abroad, not to pamper a sensual appetite, but to feast an enlightened mind; and this being his object, he willingly makes the sacrifice of much personal comfort, as being infinitely overbalanced by intellectual and moral improvement. We are out of all patience with this military bon-vivant, declaiming against the miserable fare of the country, and, at the same time, dragging in his train several horses laden with wine and provisions! We doubt whether many

* A necessary consequence of the demand being uncertain. We well remember being amused with an adventure at a small changehouse [nn] in one of the less-frequented of the Hebrides. Upon inquiring what could be had for dinner; "Just a fool," was the reply.

And is it of tolerable size?" Our host, with artless simplicity, conducted us to his living poultry, observing, "Gin ye're no satisfied, ye mann tak' a look on 'em, and plase yoursel."-There was character in the occurrence. Even in an English inn the same calamity might have overtaken the traveller: but the truth would have been more artfully disguised than it was by this open-hearted Highlander.

other Alpine tourists have had the delicate extravagance to incumber themselves with lemons in a net,' and 'old hock,' and chateau-margoût.'*

No wonder that the sublime scenery of the Scottish Alps, should have made no impression upon the heart of this luxurious son of ease. Accustomed, it would appear, to associate the idea of personal comfort with every object of in-, terest, it is not surprising that scenes which cannot be explored without much fatigue and self-denial, should have had no charms for one so ill qualified by nature to penetrate into her awful recesses. It was perfectly in character with a mind so contracted, to remark- After this description of the mountains, you may ask, Of what use can be such monstrous excrescences?'+-A question which reminds us of a celebrated modern mathematician, who testified his disappointment in the perusal of Paradise Lost, by asking the friend of whom he had borrowed the poem, "What does it prove?These volumes supply abundant evidence that their Author possessed none of those delicate susceptibilities which are never so powerfully acted upon as in the great school of nature. A very brief extract will confirm the general truth of our remarks.

I shall soon conclude this description of the outward appearance of the mountains, which I am already tired of, as a disagreeable subject. They appear, one above another, of a dismal gloomy brown, drawing upon a dirty purple; and most of all disagreeable when the heath is in bloom! The clearer the day, the more rude and offensive they are to the sight. The summits of the highest are mostly destitute of earth; and the huge naked rocks, being just above the heath, produce the disagreeable appearance of a scabbed head!!! Vol. II. pp. 6, 9, 10.

We have no critical micrometer, sufficiently minute in its subdivisions, to estimate the infinite littleness of such a mind. Every one, we admit, has not an equal perception of the picturesque; but the aberration of intellect must have been great in the extreme, where none but positively the most disgusting images were called up in the mind by a view of the most sublime objects in the physical world. How different were the speculations excited, by the very same scenes, in the comprehensive mind of Dr. Johnson! His testimony is the more valuable, as he was no enthusiastic admirer of Alpinę ruggedness We shall make a short quotation from the philosophical remarks, with which this great man closed his somewhat unfavourable account of Highland scenery. As we see more, we become

*See Vol. II. pp.51, 66, 74, 75, et passim.

+Vol. II. p. 13.

possessed of more certainties, and consequently gain moer principles of reasoning, and found a wider basis of analogy. Regions mountainous and wild, thinly inhabited, and little 'cultivated, make a great part of the earth; and he that has 'never seen them, must live unacquainted with the face of nature, and with one of the great scenes of human existence*.* The general features which distinguish mountainous districts, are pretty much the same in all parts of the world. While, however, the broad outlines have the same character, a considerable modification of scenery arises from the variations of climate. The stupendous mountains which rear their heads in the vicinity of the Equinoctial line, have their bases, to a considerable altitude, covered with spontaneous and luxuriant vegetation; while those within the Arctic circle, are almost entirely devoid of verdure down to their feet. But, whatever be the latitude, at the line of perpetual congelation all distinction ceases; and the awful masses which pierce those regions of frigidity and silence, are buried in eternal snow.

Somewhat below the limits of this rigid barrier, the snow is perpetual only in the hollows which are protected from the influence of the sun; and the naked strata are exposed to the view, towering among the clouds in frightful pinnacles. In these desolate regions, the intermediate—we dare not say imperfect-organization of the mosses and lichens, only tends. to render more striking the unconquerable sterility of the rocky solitude; and when we descend still nearer the habitations of man, the lazy vegetation of the hardy plants breaks forth with reluctance from the ungenial soil; or the scanty crop barely repays the labour of cultivation. This hasty sketch will give a tolerably faithful idea of that Alpine tract which is called the Highlands of Scotland. Its highest pinnacle is 4370† feet above the level of the ocean. This may seem to be but a small elevation, when compared with the towering summits of the Audes, or the ridges of Caucasus; and yet it will not appear altogether contemptible, when it is considered that

*Journey to the Western Islands: (Section, ANOCH).

This is the best barometric measurement that has hitherto been made of Ben Nevis. The peak of this mountain is the most elevated spot in Great Britain. A few more hundred feet would have brought its elevation to the limit of perpetual congelation for that latitude. A considerable quantity of snow, however, remains upon this mountain, and many of inferior altitude, during the whole year, the average temperature being below the freezing point. The Mercury, has been found to stand pretty steadily at 32° (of Fahrenheit) for three hours together in the morning of the 1st of August, while it stood at 64° in the plain below at Fort William.