ART. II. A Supplement to Reflections on the Political and Moral State of Society at the life of the Eighteenth Century*; in which the Political State of Society is continued to the Month of June, 1801. By John Bowles, Efq. 8vo. 31 pp. IS. Rivingtons.

WITH equal fpirit and propriety does this author continue his progrefs, ftill marking the characteristic events of the new period, and ftill applying them in reflections to the heart as well as the head of his readers. He thus goes on, throwing a light upon the political hemisphere, part of which we fhall reflect to our readers, as peculiarly qualified to illuminate their minds.

"After robbing them of their dominions," he fays, concerning the German Princes on the left fide of the Rhine," the humanity of French revolutionifts could not endure the thought of leaving them, without compenfation, to the pity of the world. But where could compenfation be found for loffes like theirs? Certainly not within the widely extended range of French frontiers, not among the immenfe conquefts made by France, not even in any of the affiliated republics, which depend for their very existence on the nod of the mother republic. The territories, which came within any of the above defcriptions, were too facred to be charged with the fmalleft incumbrance in favour of the difpoffeffed princes. Such however was the juftice of revolutionary France, that, eagerly as the defired the fweets of repofe, the would not fuffer herself to taste thofe fweets, until the could provide indemnities for the unfortunate fovereigns, who had fuffered in confequence of her difcovery of her natural boundaries. Where then could thofe indemnities be found? Her ingenuity alone could folve the difficulty. The German empire, though exceedingly diminished, ftill contained many fine provinces."

This plan of indemnifying the Princes on the left fide of the Rhine with principalities on the right, while it left the Princes on the right totally unindemnified was, in the French,

"admirably calculated to promote their grand defigns. Under the mask of justice, it violated every principle of juftice; under the pretext of peace, it opened new and inexhauftible fources of contention; it provided endless caufes of difpute and hoftility among all the parts of the empire, and scattered the brands of difcord and revolution all over Germany.-In fhort, the plan of compenfation, if perfifted in, will in all probability produce a civil war, before it can be carried into effect; and, fhould it ever be fully executed, it will weaken all the ties of German union, and produce a complete difmemberment of the empire."

* See the Reflections, vol. xvii. pp. 144, 299.

Mr.

Mr. Bowles has thus laid open the project of indemnities, with a ftronger ray of intelligence than has been hitherto made to bear upon the point, by any writer whatever.

"From" this and a fubfequent, though "curfory review. of the principal political occurrences of the laft fix months,' adds Mr. Bowles, near the clofe,

"it appears that Bonaparte, far from evincing any difpofition to permit mankind again to enjoy the bleffings of peace, order, and fecurity, has given the moft unequivocal proofs that he ftill adheres, with inflexible perfeverance, to that fyftem of univerfal fubverfion, which for above ten years has rendered France the fcourge of the world. Nay, fo pertinacioufly, and, alas! fo fuccefsfully has that fyftem been purfued by him, during the above period; fo fkilfully has he availed himfelf of all the means by which it could be promoted; and fo powerfully has he been aided by fome, whofe duty and whofe interet it was to give him the moft ftrenuous oppofition; that in all probability no reasonable hope would at this time have remained, of his being any longer effectually refifted, unlefs the exertions of Great Britain, in the defence of fociety, had been alike diftinguished by perfeverance, ability, and fuccefs. Happily for the whole human race, the efforts of this magnanimous country in the caufe of order have been as refodute, as gigantic, and as profperous, as thofe of France in the cause of anarchy, The late atchievements of the British arms have filled the world with aftonishment, given fresh confidence to the friends of lawful government, and infpired its enemies with difmay. Those arms have recently performed prodigies, which are fcarcely to be equalled even in the hiftory of their own renown; and which, no lefs beneficial than glorious, have defeated both in the north and the east the deep and dangerous projects, on which the crafty and defperate adverfary relied chiefly, for the fuccefs of his fchemes of universal devaftation. Thus does the prefent moft tremendous conteft ftill maintain the character, by which it has from its commencement been diftinctly marked. To this hour it continues to be a fierce and defperate conflict, between the Genius of Good and the Genius of Evil. The latter, under the fanguinary banners of revolutionary France, and aided by all the powers of darknefs, affaults with implacable malice and inextinguishable rage all the religious and civil eftablishments of mankind; which the former, under the tutelary ftandard of Britain, defends with an ardour and intrepidity adequate to the fury and defperation with which they are attacked. Unfortunate as it may feem, to be caft upon times fo difaftrous as the prefent; painful as it is to reflect on the fcenes which are now paffing, and to furvey the profpects which the future prefents to the imagination; yet if a Briton, folicitous only for the honour which has hitherto been infeparable from that appellation, were to choofe for the period of his exiftence in this world that part of his national history, in which the British name has fhone with the greatest splendour, and established the ftrongeft claim to univerfal admiration and immortal renown, he would not hesitate to select that in which his country has flood forward, as the intrepid defender of an that is valuable in focial life, as the dauntlefs champion of religion, of

order,

order, and of lawful government; and in which, by flead faftly op pofing, amid feemingly unfurmountable difficulties, the deftructive at tempts of Jacobinifin and Anarchy, the has prevented thofe hellish fiends from extending their ravages over the whole habitable globe.”

Mr. Bowles thas speaks in a strain, to which our bears beat refponfiv 1. We teel it vibrating on the ftrings there, while our intellects ap, rove and applaud it. It is juft, it is cheering, it is arimating.

Having t ken thefe two paffages from fo fmall a pamphlet, we thould think we had done fufficient juffice to Mr. Bowles and our readers, if the prefent pofture of politics did not require from us one extract more. It is equally ftrong, equally original, with the two others; but it turns upon a nicer point.

"It does not admit of a doubt," Mr. Bowles obferves, on the grand fubject of peace," that the foe to fociety would long ere now have accomplished its deftruction, if he had not met with the most deterinned and vigorous refiftance from Great Britain: and fuch, alas! is his prefent afcendancy, that, if our refiftance were to be withdrawn, the whole of Europe would lie at his mercy. To deprive him of that afcendancy, or (in other words) of the ability to effectuate, when no longer oppofed by us, his undoubted purpofe of universal fubverfion, is therefore effential to the general fecurity, and confequently to the fecurity of each individual ftate. But this can be done only by a reftoration of the balance of power; for nothing elfe can enable the continent to refift in future his attacks. If we were to make peace on terms the most advantageous to Great Britain, feparately confidered, that our love of glory could defire; if infulating ourselves from our neighbours, we could prevail on the enemy to treat with us on the principle of uti pfidetis, and to leave us in full poffeffion of all our colonial acquifitions, immenfe as they are; we should not thereby avert deftruction from the rest of Europe, nor ultimately from ourfelves. For no colonial acquifitions made by us would, while we fhould be in a ftate of peace with the French republic, prevent the progrefs of revolution on the continent; nor, when that progrefs should be completed, preferve us long from the fury of the enemy, who would then have it in his power with a fingle hand to direct the whole force of the continent against us: and it is abfurd to fuppofe that, if the fafety of Europe cannot induce us to continue the war, it would impel us to the infinitely more difficult operation of reaffuming hoftilities after they had been terminated. The balance of power, or (which is the fame thing) the fiatus quo ante bellum, is the only principle on which we can treat for peace; without abandoning the object for which we have fo long and fo ftrenuously contended; nay, without enfuring that general deuruction, which we have made fuch astonishing efforts to prevent."

Thefe arguments are as new to us as they are powerful in their appearance: nor know we how to oppete them. We therefore yield to them, only obferving that, if we thus act, we thall

act

act with a tranfcendent generofity to the nations concerned we shall become the foftering fathers of half mankind; and gain even more glory from the peace than we had acquired before from the war.

ART. III. Remarks on Local Scenery and Manners in Scotland, during the Years 1799 and 1800. By John Stoddart, LL.B. Two Volumes. 8vo. 21. 2s. Miller.

THE HE examination of Scotland, its natural hiftory, antiquities, and manners, has of late years become very frequent, fo frequent indeed, that there feems to be but a narrow field left to exercife the diligence or ingenuity of future travellers. Nevertheless, we never with to reltrain propenfities like thofe which produced thefe two volumes, which are remarkably elegant in their form, and entertaining in their matter.

The author went by Sea to Leith, and proceeded to Edinburgh. This and its vicinity are agreeably defcribed, and reprefented in elegant engravings. Leaving Edinburgh, the traveller went on foot to Dalkeith, and along by the Banks of the Efk to Gorton, Rofline, &c. &c. As Rofline, or Rofslyn, has given a title to the late excellent Lord Chancellor, we infert the following account of it.

"From Hawthornden, we took a path across the fields, by the Houfe of Gorton, and through the woody bank oppofite to Rofline, of which lovely fpot, as I vifited it more than once, I thall fpeak at fome length. The village, which is feven miles from Edinburgh, and about one mile to the left of the Peebles road, is much frequented in the fummer by parties, who come to ftroll among the rocks, and ruins, and to feast on the ftrawberries, which are cultivated here in abundance. No part of Great Britain affords fuch quantities of this fruit, as the villages near Edinburgh, especially Rofline. They yield on an average 181. per acre, and have been known to produce 50l. yet they are very cheap, the Scotch pint, which is equal to four English pints, being fold at 83. in 1799, a fcarce year; and of thefe pints 100,000 are calculated to be fold annually in Edinburgh. The inn affords tolerable accommodation to these parties, which are fometimes very numerous: I dined, and paffed a molt agreeable afternoon here with Profeffor Dugald Stewart, and feveral of his friends and pupils. The barony of Rofline is faid to have been granted, early in the twelfth century, by Malcolm Canmore, to William de Sancto Clere, a Norman, from whom it has defcended to the prefent Sir James St. Clair Erfine. The chapel, which adjoins to the garden of the inn, is a most beautiful fpecimen of florid Gothic, enriched with buttreffes and pinnacles, like the chapels of King's College, Eton, Auckland, &c. Among many erro neous accounts, which are given on the spot, they tell you, that it was

built in 1306, by William St. Clair, Earl of Caithness, and Prince of the Orkneys, who married the daughter of King Robert Bruce; but it is evidently of a much later date. The pointed arch, the characteriftic of that fpecies of architecture, which is improperly but generally termed Gothic, may be of Arabic, Perfian, or even Indian origin; but it feems that this ftyle did not unite lightnefs and beauty, in the higheft degree, by its pinnacles, and other ornamental parts, until long after its introduction into Europe. In the beginning of the thirteenth century it was practised (at least in England) in its greatest fimplicity; and I cannot refrain from paying a tribute of praise to the earliest complete fpecimen which we poffefs, Salisbury cathedral. From my childhood, I have been accustomed to admire the dignified lightnefs, and chaitity of character, which that noble edifice poffeffes. The more ornamented ftyle, which fucceeded it, was ftill beautiful; until the licentious defire of variety, after introducing the flatted arch, the heavy fret-work, and all the other corruptions of the Gothic architecture, at length, in the fixteenth century, entirely deftroyed it, by an heterogeneous combination with the Grecian. Rofline chapel was not certainly completed until the beginning of the fifteenth century; it is faid to have been intended only as the choir of a large collegiate church, and at the weft end appear traces of an intended extenfion. The minuter parts of the ornaments, both internal and external, are very highly wrought; the buttreffes have double pinnacles, with niches for ftatues, &c. and the whole is in fine prefervation, though not used for religious purposes. The interior is very fimple, confifting only of a straight aifle, with fide aifles, formed by two rows of pillars. The pillars, five in each row, have rich capitals, fome of them underwrought, all diffimilar; and around one of the pillars (which, like all the reft, is an aggregare one) a remarkable wreath is twifted. At the east end, the middle aifle is divided by two arches; and in the fouth corner is a flight of fteps defcending into the facrifty. The roof is femicircular, formed entirely of ftone, which in the infide is divided into fquare compartments, with rafes. The only monuments remaining are thofe of an Earl of Caithness, who died A. D. 1582, and of a Knight Templar, faid to be Sir William St. Clair. I did not find that the chapel had been dedicated to any faint; but at a small diftance are fome traces of a church, called St. Matthew's, the ground about which is ftill used for burial.

Defcending the hill, you find the ruins of the caftle feated on a projecting rock, near a bend of the river, from whence its name was probably derived; rofs, in Gaelic, fignifying a peninfula, or point of land, nearly furrounded by water, and linne, a pool or deep. The lit tle which remains of this cattle fhows it to have been formerly a place of great ftrength, moated, and acceffible only by a drawbridge. At the bottom is an arched gateway, whence the building appears to great advantage, founded on the rock, and rifing immediately from the river. It is built of a reddifh ftone, fimilar to that of the neighbouring banks, and is probably coeval with Craigmillar; both thefe caftles having been burat by King Henry the Eight's army in 1554, but foon afterwards rebuilt. If any part be prior to that period it is the round tower, which is much decayed, as is the whole building, except a fet

of