cellent; but it is pleasanter to read than it was to listen to their speeches. Oratory does not thrive among the opulent in Glasgow; and they seem afraid, lest any body not yet at their standing should exhibit any symptoms of being likely to excel in the art. conduct has, upon the whole, been most exemplary. To be sure, a few hundreds have once obeyed the call of their noisy delegates, and assembled in the open air; but one-half of them were as much unparticipating spectators as the larger portion of the crowd who went to see the sight and the speakers-hearing them was out Our galeties are all over for the season. The latest of the question. Indeed, a large portion were boys--as were on the King's birth night. These consisted of a yet happy and healthy-who were mighty glad of any melancholy review, with very faint cheers, and a very excuse for a day's remission from their sixteen hours' strong east wind. Why the dragoons did not turn out, labour, and revived their well-nigh forgotten experiences was a marvel; but the "third" are rather a stupid of the hand-ball and "shinty," while the M'Kays and body. We expect the 12th Lancers here daily. They the Kellys harangued their gaping grandfathers. It are commanded by a townsman, and are expected to be was at first proposed to exclude all of eighteen years any thing but "heavy." After the review, sundry dinof age and under from the meeting; but one of the de- ners were eaten, and after these, the Magistrates of Glaslegates remarked that this would leave 5000 without gow, in their own hall, and those of the various incoran interest in their proceedings, and accordingly all were porated appendages to old Mother Clutha, in their reinvited. It is wonderful that, in making this state- spective town-halls, met those whom they had invited ment, it escaped the acuteness of men who are at least to drink the King's health, and other public toasts. cleverer than their fellow-workmen, and more bustling, The city meeting was an amazingly dull one. It could -paradoxical as it may appear, though they be lazier, not well be otherwise; for especial care was, as usual, the conclusion as to the improvidence of their class taken to exclude, by not inviting, almost every body which this fact forces upon one. If there be 5000 who could have enlivened it. Will it be believed, weavers of eighteen years and under, consequently that that one, whom, whether we regard him as a citizen for number must have been apprenticed to the trade within twelve years among us as an author of eminence-as the last eight years-ten being the earliest period that a "general acquaintance" of every person of note here boys can comprehend it. And what has been its condi-or, as a social companion of great powers, would have tion during that period? Every second year as wretched been an honour and delight to any public meeting-was as at present. The labouring man can never too soon not asked ?I mean Mr J. S. Knowles. In the fine balearn that he must be the regulator of the value of la- ronial hall of Gorbals, matters were better managed, bour, by adapting the supply to the demand. Perhaps and gentlemen nowise connected with its functionaries one-tenth of these youths are married too, and, in ano- were invited, as a compliment due to their admitted ther decade, will have sent their representatives of wretch- talents. When Dr Ure entered the room, he was reedness to a field-meeting of 1839. It is odd the weavers ceived with an applause, which could not but be gratihave never discovered a tendency towards single bless-fying to even a savan and philosopher. After the Maedness; but, till they do so, there is little hope for them since he who has half a dozen children is almost compelled to make them of his own trade, as it is the one of all others they can soonest aid him by learning. A word as to the delegates. They are almost all clever, noisy chaps, who like speaking and writing much better than throwing the shuttle. From a common fund, they are allowed much more for exercising their powers in the one way, than they ever could earn by doing so in the other; and, consequently, no disaster can equal the return of tolerable times to them. Some of them are very old stagers in agitation. The others are fresh in the course. Men of middle life seem to keep aloof from their laborious idleness. There is, as yet, no example of their accepting of the out-of-door labour provided for their more athletic or industrious brethren by our Magistrates. This chiefly consists in forming a road, regarding the exact line of which a fierce controversy has been carried on between Dr Cleland and several proprietors near its proposed site. As to which party is in the right, I pretend not to decide. The path is likely to be drawn between them-where the truth may, after all, lie. gistrates and he had left the bench, where they had placed him side by side, an odd circumstance occurred, which caused some gossip. Certain worthies, determined in their loyalty to King George and old Port, insisted on drinking the health of the one, and finishing the bottles of the other, when, just as their reluctant chairman was proposing that they should not forget they were guests, and not payers of scot and lot, the gas was turned off, "And in a moment all was dark" as the muddled comprehensions of some of the party. The revenue was then considerably benefited, by a loyal demolition of crystal. While the Magistrates of Gorbals were thus occupied in the baronial hall, their Glasgow brethren were patronising the ball, in its now eclipsed rival, the Old Åssembly Rooms in Ingram Street. The meeting, however, was as cold as its purpose-charity, and very different from that which Cunningham, our inimitable fiddle-player, collected on his benefit night, when the ladies got so into the spirit of the dance, that daylight alone stopped their whirling. It I am afraid these details may weary you. I fancy Of other amusements we have had none, saving the them the more interesting out of Glasgow, however, just fidgetings of a small body of the unco guid," when because every body in Glasgow knows them so well, your review of Mrs Ewing's Memoir reached us. that our Newspapers do not think of noticing them. was diverting. You are aware that we have no theatre These have for two weeks been filled nearly to the-for Alexander's house, as yet, deserves not the name. exclusion of every thing else—with the proceedings of our two public meetings upon the East India question. The first of these was to form an Association of those more immediately interested in the trade the second was to prepare a general petition against the monopoly. There is but one opinion here upon the subject. Of that opinion Mr Kirkman Finlay is unquestionably at the head. He was the chief promoter of both meetings, and speaker at them. Without caring about being an elegant, he is yet, in its best sense, a good speaker. He knows his subject thoroughly, and gave new and interesting information on it. There were some other speakers whose information and matter were also ex A most absurd plan has been started, to convert our Riding School, situated in the westernmost suburbs of the town, into one-just as if you were to turn Captain Carnegie's markets into a playhouse! There is to be a meeting about erecting another Riding School, if the present one be so misappropriated. Never did a city more require such an academy. In the absence of players on the stage, your players on the fiddle have astonished us. Murray has performed here, and per. fectly electrified the few who had the good fortune to hear him. Wilson also pleased us much as a singer. Yet, will it be believed, that Mr Thomson, brother to our own delightful female vocalist, who had the spirit to bring these stars above our horizon, is minus many pounds by the astronomical experiment ? Every body is meditating a flight to the country, since the weather set in fine; and already the watering places are half filled, and the steam-boats wholly so. I will, by and by, give you some gossip from them, where it abounds. A propos of steam-boats. Captain Ross is to set sail from the Clyde, for his Northern Expedition, in one built for the purpose. He was in town lately, and it augurs something for his success, say the seers here, that his tender is the vessel Captain Scoresby first visited the Polar regions in. A good thing was said of him at the annual dinner of the famous Literary and Commercial Society here t'other day. The witty chairman, when it was questioned whether he ever would pass to Behring's Straits, said, that he "did not at all doubt that the Captain would soon be in straits past bearing!" The scheme is not irrational, after all, and is at least spirited. An excellent account of the details of it is given in the last Westminster Review, which, by the way, has trebled its circulation in Glasgow since its resumption. Its amiable and talented editor was here lately, delighting us as much by the most unradical suavity of his manner, as by his varied information and polyglot knowledge. As a joke upon Ross, we presume, some wags advertised on Friday last that one of them would fly over the city. At least 20,000 fools and rogues were collected to see the achievement; and it says much for the peaceable character of our population, that they dispersed, under their disappointment, in the most good-humoured way. Summer amusements are now the rage. A Cricket club has been got up with great spirit, and already comprises fifty of the finest young men in Glasgow, who, in spite of some pardonable little foppery about their uniform dress-coat, buttons with the mystic ini tial W. C. C., &c. are genuine lovers of the noble game. A Gymnastic club is also talked of, on the plan of your Six Feet one, but without its provoking imitation, or extension, rather. We have also some pretty good rowers on our river, but they are not yet equal to the Etonians, or they who haunt Christ Church meadows; but they will improve, doubtless. An absurd burlesque took place last week; it was called Anderston Fair. That place is a suburb or pendicle of Glasgow, and was lately erected into a burgh. Some of its magistrates are very clever menothers of them no conjurors. But they must, forsooth, have an annual fair, with foot, pig, and sack (why not smock ?) races, as if they had a village green and Maypole to run them on, in place of a dirty causeway and gaudy lamp-posts. Sickly silk-weavers, in dirty shirts, contested for the ten-shilling prize, and cadaverous cotton-spinners bore off the palm. Their speed was four miles an hour! A row of course concluded the whole, when a vast deal of blackguardism was exhibited, and the seeds of more sown. We are likely, however, to have no more of it, since a bailie got a black eye in the battle; and this lese majesté is never to be forgiven or forgotten in the annals of Anderston.-Au Revoir. To bid my world-worn heart retrace the scenes The source of blameless mirth to all around!- TAM BO, TAM BO. "A gliff in the gloaming to daut and woo, "Thy bright looks run through me like swordsThy ripe round lips, wi' their sweet-waled words, Will wile my heart, and then work it wo,- LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. WE are glad to learn that the first volume of Allan Cunningham's Lives of the British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, is now in the press, and contains Lives of Hogarth, Wilson, Reynolds, and Gainsborough. The second volume is nearly written. There will be engravings in each, on steel and wood, and some of the latter, in particular, we understand, are exquisitely beautiful. The Lives are written with freedom, and their talented author has expressed his opinions boldly and honestly. In point of embellishment, these little five-shilling volumes will be scarcely inferior to the Annuals. The Anniversary is to be discontinued as an Annual, and to be published under a new name, in monthly parts, each accompanied with an engraving. The first part is to appear on the 1st of July. Allan Cunningham is to continue the Editor. Mr Blackwood announces a new novel, called The Five Nights of St Albans, which will appear on the 30th of this month. A work, which promises to be of considerable interest to the admirers of female beauty, is announced for publication, under the superintendence of Mr Alaric Watts. It will consist of a series of portraits of the most beautiful and celebrated women of all nations, from an early period in the history of portrait painting to the present time; each portrait accompanied by a biographical notice. Mr Northhouse, formerly editor, we believe, of the Glasgow Free Press, is preparing for publication a work on the present state of the principal Debtors' Prisons of the Metropolis; with a variety of anecdotes, illustrative of the impolicy and inhumanity of imprisonment for debt. A volume of Stories of popular Voyages and Travels, with illustrations, comprehending abridged narratives from the recent travels of some of the most popular writers on South America, is announced for speedy publication. There is preparing for publication, a new edition of Miller's Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary; the plants, &c. arranged according to the natural system of Jussieu; and comprising all the modern improvements and discoveries which have been made in the sciences of botany, horticulture, and agriculture, to the present time. NEW MUSIC.-We recommend to the attention of our readers a song published a few days ago, entitled, "The Mariner to his Bark," the words by Robert Gilfillan, and the music, with pianoforte accompaniment, by R. Tevendale. The words are flowing and good; and the music is spirited, original, and expressive, Mr Tevendale, though not so well known as his merits deserve, appears to follow closely in the footsteps of his late friend, R. A. Smith. PAINTED GLASS-The beautiful red colour, so well known to antiquarians, so much admired in all old painted glass windows, and the method of manufacturing which has been considered as lost, has been reproduced in Germany by means of the oxide of tin. Much, however, depends on the manipulation; but, with proper care on the part of the workman, this splendid colour appears in all the brightness, and with the perfect transparency, which for some centuries was considered inimitable. Theatrical Gossip.-Miss Smithson has apparently failed in London, and the sooner she returns to the Continent the better, for she seems to have little chance of being admired unless where she is not understood.-At the Literary Fund Dinner, which took place a few days ago, in London, Mr Price, (Manager of Drury Lane,) stated, that in consequence of the success of Miss Mitford's "Rienzi," two tragedies of very high character had been put into his hands by eminent writers; and he hoped that this example would be followed by others, whose efforts would redeem the dramatic muse from the stigma under which she has too long lain.-Hawes is to have the musical direction of the English Opera-house this season; and Miss Paton is already en gaged. The managers of the Winter Theatres are mutually agreed upon the ruin consequent to both houses by the continuance of the present exorbitant nightly salaries; and at the end of this season they mean to abolish that destructive system. Whilst between twenty and thirty pounds, each, are paid to Madame Vestris, Mr Young, Miss Paton, Mr Braham, and Mr Liston, every night they act, the respective theatres can scarcely hope to remain in a solvent condition. In the golden age of the Drama, when Mrs Siddons, Mrs Jordan, the Countess of Derby, Kemble, Suett, Farren, Edwin, Henderson, Bannister, Lewis, Munden, Incledon, and other excellent actors, graced the stage, from twelve to twenty pounds per week, was the highest sum given to any one performer.-Our friend, "OLD CERBERUS," has not favoured us with any dramatic criticism this week, probably because nothing very remarkable has taken place at the theatre. The Benefits have been going on prosperously.-On Monday and Wednesday next we are to have Madame Caradori, who, after Pasta, is probably one of the best Italian singers this country has seen. We hope, for a selfish reason, that she will be well attended, for we understand that the depression of theatricals during the past season here has been so much exaggerated in London, that it has been reported there that the audience has been several times dismissed from a want of sufficient attendance. This has lost us already Braham, Miss Paton, and Liston, who wont venture the journey after such rumours; and, should Madame Caradori return to London with a bad account of us, it may go a great way to defeat the manager's exertions for next season. THE next Number of the EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL will conclude the First Volume, and with it a title-page and index will be delivered gratis to our subscribers. The second volume will commence with the Thirtieth Number, which will be published on the first Saturday of June, and will be printed from an entirely new fount of types, which have been procured expressly for the JOURNAL, and which it is hoped will still farther improve its appearance. A few copies of the first volume will be found on sale at the Publisher's as soon as ready. TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS. A LONG poem by the ETTRICK SHEPHERD, TRADITIONS OF THE PLAGUE IN EDINBURGH, "THE EDITOR IN HIS SLIPPERS, No. 2," and other interesting articles, which are in types, are unavoidably postponed till our next. Had Mr George Thomson's reply to the paper on the Characdressed in the first instance to ourselves, we should have had no ter of Burns which appeared in the Literary Journal, been adhesitation in giving it a place, but it is impossible that we can copy it from the columns of a Newspaper. We regret this, because, for our own part, we look upon Mr Thomson in undertaking to defend Burns, in conjunction with Messrs Lockhart and Carlyle, as being entirely on the right side of the question, al though, for the sake of fair discussion, we gave a place to an article of an opposite tendency, which we know to have contained the conscientious opinions of its author, however erroneous we and others may consider them. In the list of Sir Walter Scott's Novels, given in our last, we omitted to mention " Peveril of the Peak," in 4 vols. published in 1822. The Reviewer of the work mentioned by " Q." is not in Glasgow, nor is he personally acquainted with the author of the work reviewed." Laura" has our thanks.-We are afraid that we cannot avail ourselves, for good reasons, of the suggestion of "A Subscriber and Constant Reader."-The anecdote of "D. V." is characteristic; but we do not intend taking any farther notice of that individual. "The Pains and Toils of Authorship," by the editor of the Inverness Courier, shall have an early place. The "Sonnet" by Thomas Brydson in our next.-We regret that the verses by "Glottianus" will not suit us." Scotch and English songs Frenchified" in our next. EDINBURGH LITERARY JOURNAL; OR, WEEKLY REGISTER OF CRITICISM AND BELLES LETTRES. No. 29. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1829. LITERARY CRITICISM. Corpus Scriptorum Historie Byzantina. Editio emendatior et copiosior, consilio B. G. Niebuhrii, C.F. instituta, opera ejusdem Niebuhrii, Imm. Bekkeri, L. Schopeni, G. Dindorfi Aliorumque Philologorum, parata. Pars III. Agathias. Bonnæ impensis Ed. Weberi. 1828. Idem. Pars XI. Leo Diaconus. Varii libelli qui Nicephori Phocæ et Joannis Zimiscis Historiam illustrant. Bonnæ, &c. 1828. Idem. Pars XIX. Nicephorus Gregoras. Volumen I. Bonnæ, &c. 1829. Idem. Pars XX. Cantacuzenus. Volumen I. Bonnæ, &c. 1829. THESE are all the numbers that have yet appeared of a new edition of the Byzantine historians, undertaken by Niebuhr, the learned, ingenious, and indefatigable historian of Rome, with the co-operation of the most distinguished philologists of Germany. With regard to the editor of this work, it may not be unnecessary to inform our readers, that Niebuhr is a man who has served his sovereign with distinction in the most difficult diplomatic employments-who, even amid the distractions of public business, was ever the patron and promoter of science, and was mainly instrumental in the recovery of the most important of those ancient works which have had such an influence upon the views of the civilians of Europe who has concentrated his naturally acute and comprehensive mind, stored with erudition, and formed in active life, to the production of a work which has cast new lights on the history of Rome and the whole progress of society-who had the honour of suggesting to Savigny those investigations which he has so successfully pursued who has shown himself possessed, in addition to the talents thus evinced, of the most unbending independence, united to the most polished and courtly manners. Of the importance of that publication on which we are about to submit a few remarks to our readers, we need only say, that its object is to give to the public, in a comparatively cheap and accessible form, that valuable body of historians upon whose works our Gibbon has reared that stupendous structure of genius and research-his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. These writers form a body of history,-varying in value according to the native talents of the individual author, and to the state of literature at the time in which he lived, but always valuable as the production of the contemporaries, and as being thus at the least a monument of the time in which they were composed,—of the Eastern empire, from the translation of the seat of government from Rome to Byzantium, down to the final capture of that city by the Turks. The period is one of deep interest to the student of human nature. It presents the instructive picture of a people-the descendants of a highly cultivated nation-gradually sinking in the scale PRICE 6d. of moral and intellectual elevation; yet still retaining, like clouds after sunset, a reflection of glories gone bysaved from utter degradation, by the last dying influences of arts and sciences which they could no longer comprehend or appreciate. It shows us not unfrequently the interesting spectacle of an individual superior to his fellows, burning with the old Roman spirit, though weakened by the enervating moral atmosphere that breathed around him, and hurried away despite his struggles, by the torrent that was sweeping the devoted empire to anarchy and overthrow. It paints to us the repository in which the arts and sciences of Greece were treasured up till the time should come when a few homeless fugitives should carry them to the west, there in a fresh and virgin soil to strike deeper roots, and spread out wider and richer branches, than even in that old and godlike land which was their native home. Our limits do not allow us to enter upon this subject as we could wish: and we hasten to notice briefly in detail those numbers of the work which have already appeared. We intend, however, to revert to it occasionally as the succeeding volumes are published, and an opportunity may thus be sometimes offered of extracting from their pages what may at once be interesting and new to our readers. As we have, however, some httle lee-way to make up, seeing that the philologists of Bonn have already got four volumes a-head of us, we dare scarcely promise the general reader much of minuter detail in to-day's paper. AGATHIAS. The narrative of this historian's five books extends over the space intervening between A. D. 552 and 558. It comprehends a part of the reign of Justinian, and is principally occupied with the wars of Narses in Italy against the Goths, Franks, and Alemanni; with those of other Roman generals against the Huns and Persians; and with the history of the last bright service of Belisarius to an ungrateful emperor. It contains little that throws light on public business, or the constitution of the empire; but it embraces several interesting notices of the manners of the Huns, the religion of the Alemanni, the learning of the Persians, the state of science among the Romans, and their popular superstitions. Agathias was a man of good family, well trained in the polite learning of his time-such as it was and afterwards a lawyer. His style is far from purity, and even grammatical correctness, and rendered not unfrequently ludicrous by an admixture of fine, high-sounding words, picked up in the course of his poetical reading. He was also himself a parcel poet, and most of his epigrams are still preserved, some of which are by no means unhappy. He is supposed to have been a Christian. LEO DIACONUS. This author seems to have formed his style on that of Agathias, and to have carried some of its most glaring vices to excess. He is fond of describing battles; but, ignorant of tactics, he conveys no accurate notion of them. He is fond of putting fine harangues into the mouths of his generals, and seems to have placed the height of eloquence in affected recherché phrases. He contains, however, some interesting particulars of the earlier struggles of the empire with the Saracens in Crete and Asia; as also of its contests with the Russians. In his character of priest, the domestic affairs seem to have fallen more under his observation than that of Agathias. If he does not give much insight into the weightier matters of the state, he at least gives us lively pictures of court intrigue, and the popular tumults of Constantinople. The statesmen of his age are dwarfs in comparison with those of Justinian's, and they change and succeed each other with proportionable celerity. His history extends from A. D. 961 to 975. Several minor, but interesting, fragments of history are appended to his work, to make up the volume. NICEPHORUS GREGORAS. As yet only eleven books of this historian have been published. They extend from A. D. 1204 to 1341. It will appear from this, that the author has undertaken a more laborious task than the two already noticed, and has not, like them, confined himself to the history of his own times. He was a native of Asia, and seems to have been born about the year 1295. He was well versed in the learning of the times-that is, its lighter literature and dialectics, and some knowledge of astronomy, which was devoted to elucidating the important question of the proper time of celebrating Easter. He is described by his contemporaries as rude, austere, and obstinate; alike offensive to princes and private individuals, by the petulance of his remarks. At the same time, his public conduct evinces independence, and a freedom from selfishness. He is a keen partisan; but his history is minute in its details, and exact in its chronology. and uncertain; and it is probably on this account, principally, that men of distinguished learning and research have shrunk from the task; while others, from whose reputation and name we were entitled to look for better things, have studied and delivered to the world their Histories of Scotland very imperfectly. It is needless to refer to our old historians and chroniclers, such as Fordun or his continuator Bowar, Boece, Mair, Bishop Elphinstone of Aberdeen, and others, whose names we have not space to enumerate. Bishop Leslie, who began his History where the Bishop of Aberdeen terminated his, has given us only a general outline of the history of a certain period; and he has more reputation as the learned and indefatigable defender of Mary's honour and innocence, than as a Scottish historian. With Buchanan's History-the "unchronological Buchanan," as Pinkerton calls him every one is familiar; and whatever may be thought of his work in plain English, for it is peculiarly elegant as respects its Latin, he must not be denied the honour of having been the first to reduce the history of Scotland to something like a digested form, even although his attachment to the fabled kings of the Gadeliac race, his narrative of the exploits of the pretended successors of Fergus I., his credulity, proneness to fable, and his too frequent distortion of facts to set forth his anti-monarchical principles, are palpably notorious. It is needless to mention, also, the ponderous folio histories, complete or partial, of Scotland, such as Scott's, Duff's, Maitland's, or Abercromby's Martial Achievements the most of these works of no great merit-which are now to be found almost exclusively in libraries. Bishop Keith's History is superior to any of them, and perhaps the best of all; but, being written JOANNES CANTACUZENUS one of the royal au- in an old-fashioned style, and the extent of his informathors of Byzantium. As yet only two books of his his- tion being more remarkable than his talents for arrangetory have been published, narrating the events of the ment, it is impossible that his work can ever be popuperiod intervening between A. D. 1320 and 1341. As lar. To be brief, and to come to more recent times, a contemporary of Nicephorus Gregoras, his history is an Principal Robertson acquired all his literary reputation admirable check upon the statements of that author, both from his History-and elegant and polished it undoubtin regard to their having been of different parties, and edly is; but how defective! Nothing at all does it coninclined (the one as a schoolman, the other as a states-tain of the reigns of the five Jameses deserving of the man,) to view things in different lights. Gibbon thus describes him :-"The name and situation of the emperor, John Cantacuzenus, might inspire the most lively curiosity. His memorials of forty years extend from the revolt of the younger Andronicus to his own abdication of the empire; and it is observed that, like Moses and Cæsar, he was the principal actor in the scenes which he describes. But in this eloquent work, we should vainly seek the sincerity of a hero or a penitent. Retired in a cloister, from the vices and passions of the world, he presents not a confession, but an apology, of the life of an ambitious statesman. Instead of unfolding the true counsels and characters of men, he displays the smooth and specious surface of events, highly varnished with his own praises and those of his friends. Their motives are always pure; their ends always legitimate: they conspire and rebel without any views of interest; and the violence which they inflict or suffer, is celebrated as the spontaneous effect of reason and virtue." It would have been fair to have added that he was a man of commanding talent, extensive resources, and great political dexterity. History of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq. IT is singular, that the authors who have preceded Mr Tytler in this department of literature, should have given us so imperfect histories of this country. Well are we aware of the almost insuperable, and, at all times, perplexing difficulties, which attend the Scottish History. The annals of no country are more obscure, involved, name; and the learned Principal's work might have been termed, with greater propriety, a History of the Reign of Mary and of James VI., till the accession to the English crown, with a brief introduction; and that, too, not written with sufficient attention to do justice to the subject. Mr Laing's work is simply a continuation of the Principal's, from the accession till the union of the kingdoms. Mr Pinkerton's is merely a history of the kingdom from the accession of James I. to the death of James V.; and is, therefore, detached, and leaves off where the Principal's work in reality begins. His other History, however, published in 8vo, deserves very great praise. The History of Scotland was therefore to be written; and we are glad to find it in the hands of Mr Tytler, a writer well known in the literary world, who, in addition to his own reputation, may be said to inhe rit also that of his father, the late excellent Lord Woodhouselee, whose life has been so ably delineated by Mr Alison. The great difficulty, of course, in Scottish history, is the want of public and authentic documents. Our readers are aware that Edward 1. of England, in his attempts to subdue Scotland, carried off all the public records, vainly imagining that the want of these would obliterate, in the Scots, the recollection of their independence, and stifle the spirit of patriotism which pervaded the heart of Wallace and his illustrious companions. But Scottish prowess and Scottish chivalry were not so easily conquered; and Bruce, the great restorer of the monarchy, made the triumph of liberty complete on the field of Bannockburn. It was there, as Mr Tytler remarks in a similar train of thought, that he fought, not for himself or his throne only, but for posterity; it was not his wish that his triumph should be |
