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PRICE A PENNY.

THE DAY,

A MORNING JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, FASHION, &c.

CARPE DIEM.

GLASGOW, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1832.

ON DEBT.

"Wretches, whose income is beyond computation, have worn my threshold in dunning payment of a few miserable debts, yet so kindly have I entreated them, grasped them by the hand, give me but a single day. All in vain. What are prayers, oaths, tears to them-they touch not the scaly armour of an impenetrable heart."

SCHILLER'S ROBBERS.

EVERY man seems anxious to be considered free of debt, and to have something, in the language of Scotia, "for a sair fit," but we are all in debt and are all debtors in a greater or a lesser degree. Those who are in this situation, are both the young and the old, the wise and the foolish, the learned and the ignorant, the high and the low, the strong and the weak, the proud and the humble, the industrious and the idle, and the good and the bad, and it is somewhat consolatory that a situation, in which so many are to be found, has both its pains and its pleasures. As to its pains, however, we propose to say nothing; for, as we always prefer viewing things on their sunny side, we are better qualified to speak of its pleasures.

Your merchant, if he has a great many debts, is deemed in good credit and in extensive business, and, if he has wherewith to pay them, he is also deemed a very fine, honest, rich fellow. Your merchant who has no debts, is considered to do nothing and to be worth nothing, and, if yon go higher, your nobleman, unless he has a long catalogue of debts, is considered a pleb, and cut by his fraternity. A man's debts are the index of his character. Shew us his debts, and we will tell his habits and his state of affairs, for debts will

not conceal or mince the matter. Since, therefore, debt is in so much request, and of such importance, it is surely a blessing that it is to be found in all the stages of life. Even in the first stage of all-to "the infant mewling and pewking in the nurse's arms," especially if it be the progeny of a man, living in a large house, and having many fine things, or the expectant of a large estate, though it should have neither father nor mother, even to such a helpless little innocent, debt will not refuse its kind services. It will supply it, with all its nick-nacks, its playthings, its nosegays, its perfumes, its sweetmeats-its trifles, and, frequently, the debt of infancy, affords constant employment for a good old age. To your "school boy," whether be may or may not be a very "promising young man," debt is, equally, if not more obliging. It will supply him with his horses, his dogs, his rings, his trinkets, his cigars, his rich attire, his dancing, riding, and fencing masters, his servant men and serving women, and with every other thing requisite for a dashing young man completing his studies, and, not unfrequently, the debts and difficulties of college make many a wise man in after years. Your lover, too, is equally well used. Debt enables him to spend his time,

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Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad, Made to his mistress' eye brow." while he would otherwise be obliged to drudge and toil behind the counter. By it, too, he is enabled to present to his beloved fair one, "sweet remembrances" as tokens of his affection, and, probably, the best method for a silly fellow to get completely into the good graces of debt, is to have a sweetheart fond of those "sweet remembrances," and who acts on the prudent system of refusing nothing. Your soldier is often en

abled, by debt, to obtain the "bubble reputation even at the cannon mouth," and, if war should cease, and he become a dashing fellow on town, debt will enable him to captivate the heart and gain the hand of some fair one, rich both in beauty and in fortune. By debt, too, your justice is enabled to keep up the rotundity of "his fair round belly with good capon lined," and it may be to debt he owes his justiceship and dignity of office, for it is impossible a justicecan be without all the good things of life, and without due pomp and splendour, of all which, debt is one of the stoutest supporters. Your “ lean and slippered pantaloon," is often supplied by debt with those luxuries which a depraved and vitiated taste has rendered necessary to his existence, and the last scene of all, "second childishness and mere oblivion" is closed and wound up for ever by a funeral pomp and extravagance which debt, and debt alone, may have supplied.

Your rich merchant is enabled, by debt, to enter into great speculations, and to send his vessels, loaded with all sorts of fine things, into the most distant corners of the earth. He has only to draw a bill on Messrs. Tick, Credit, & Co. when Debt honours it, and then the merchant swells like a turkey cock -getting his fine castle of a house, his servants, his horses, his carriages, his wines-giving his sumptuous dinners, his blow-out parties, and doing every thing nice, pleasant, fashionable, and genteel. -Your tradesman, too, by means of debt, may be enabled to send his daughter Naney, or Juliet, or Vespina, to a top boarding house, to learn the airs and graces of genteel society, to strum the piano, to sing, to dance, and to "lisp and nick-name God's creatures;' and, if Papa, himself, is anxious to achieve magisterial honours, and to be decked out with a cocked hat, and the other insignia of "little brief authority," he may be enabled, by debt, to neglect his business, and to attain this high and dignified situation, and to discharge its important duties, in the language of the newspapers, "with honour to himself, and satisfaction to the public." By debt, you may gain the character, for a time, of being a very rich, a very clever, and a very industrious man, while, after all, you are neither the one nor the other; and, by debt, you may gain the character of being a very worthless, stupid, lazy fellow, while, of all these, you are equally free. Debt, truly, is а deceiver ;" for, sometimes, he gives the outward appearance of happiness and gaiety to one, who may, inwardly, be most melancholy, miserable, and worn out. Yet, by debt, a man may do any thing-he build may up, and pull down houses he may buy and sell to any extent he may keep all sorts and sizes of establishments, and all kinds and sorts of both living and dead things he may make some happy, and others sad-he can do much good and much evil, and let us talk as we may, every one of us either is, has been, or will be, one time or other, in the arms of debt, but, we trust, not in difficulties.

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Nor is it any disgrace to be in the arms of debt; for the wisest and the best of men have been so, will be so, and are so. It seems inseparable from our very nature. Our best propensities, and our best endea vours, do frequently lead us into debt. If you are industrious and fond of driving a great share of business, take care, lest by losses, you get into debt. If you are

fond of speculation, and anxious to lay your money out to good advantage, take care lest it prove a bad spec, and you get into debt. If you are a good soul, and fond of giving your friend a month's grub and claret, take care, lest you fall into debt. If, good naturedly, you accommodate your friend with your name to a bill, or be security for a cash account, take care lest you have all to pay, and tumble into debt. If you are anxious to occupy a place in the "public eye," take care you do not neglect your business, and fall into debt. If you love a fine house, fine furniture, fine wines, fine dinners, take care lest your expense exceed your income, and that you fall into debt. If you go to taverns, play-houses, the race course, the gambling table, and love a snug rubber at whist, take care lest you become unfit for any thing else, and that you are plunged into debt. If you are fond of purchasing, take care lest you pay too much, and get into debt. Take care that you give your goods to no one, but he who pays, lest you get into debt. Take care that you do not scandalise your neighbour, lest an action of damages should throw you into debt. If you love law pleas, have an eye on debt. Even by praying, fasting, and preaching, you may get into debt. By talking, by silence, by laughing, by grumbling, by sleeping, by dreaming, by walking, by riding, you may get into debt. In short, there is nothing that you can do, can speak, think, or dream of, without the hazard of falling into debt; and, therefore, we say, though steeped in debt to the very lips, it is no disgrace, and no fault of thine.

There are a great variety of debts. There are national debts, joint stock debts, individual debts, company debts, mercantile debts, gambling debts, honourable debts, private debts, public debts, legal debts, illegal debts, household debts, secret debts, and a great many sorts of debts, and, though last not least, grateful debts. Now, as we love fair play in every thing, we don't like to see any debt ill used, and, although we consider it no disgrace to be in debt, we consider it a very great one, to use any debt ill, or unhandsomely. For example, a pack of monsters have been threatening, for a long time, to strangle the national debt altogether; but he has flourished his oaken cudgel so powerfully, that these rogues have been afraid as yet to make the onset, and, when they do so, there will be a fearful struggle. Then again, your Courts of Law have assumed a great deal of unnecessary austerity, towards honourable debts, and gambling debts, by considering their claims of a very doubtful nature, while these courts have really carried this abominable austerity so far as to discountenance illegal debts altogether. As to grateful debts, it is quite proverbial that there are no description of persons, so ill used, for all the return they often receive is snapping of fingers, and lots of impertinence. Of the other debts, every whipper snapper, from the Lord to the chimney sweep, makes a perfect conveniency, offering a farthing, a sixpence, or a shilling in the pound, as circumstances may admit, in full payment of their legal demands. And, should debt shake his head, and remonstrate against this evident injustice, then these whipper snappers talk of what they call "trust deeds, sequestrations, cessio bonorums, discharges," and of such like things. Debt is thus often obliged to give in, for the sake of peace, and to make the best of a bad bargain; but sometimes, when he is nettled, he gives these whipper snappers a fright; and when debt is really roused, and put in a passion, you see them scampering off to the Continent, to the Abbey, or to a prison, to the tune of twelve miles an hour, while all their fine things, all their

"Ancient most domestic ornaments,

Rich hangings, intermixed and wrought with gold," are tumbled into a heap, for public sale.

When debt does this, he cannot surely be blamed; for he has his feelings and his passions like every other man, and, like all others, he is perfectly right to

look after his own interest. But the apparent severity, with which he sometimes proceeds, has given rise to much difference of opinion as to his real character, and whether he is truly a good or a bad man. With some he is the best of fellows, and certainly the great proportion of travellers shake hands with him at once, and travel on with him to the last scene of all, sometimes pleasantly, and sometimes not, as we have already described. But there are another proportion, smaller however in number, who consider debt a perfect devil, and who, sooner than have any thing to do with him, would sacrifice every thing on earth. These persons hate him so fervently, that they take all bye paths and quiet roads to avoid him, while they are in perpetual fear lest they should stumble, and lest debt should come to their assistance. But they need not hold their heads so high, for they may be glad, at one or other of the stages through life, to sit down and take a dinner, and a night's rest, at the expense of debt. Thus it is however, that one part of the world hateth that to which they may be often indebted, and, without attempting to account for this, our own opinion is, that debt, to say the least, is a fellow of "infinite jest, and of most excellent fancy," whom the world can never do without, and who will always be in high repute, while Messrs. Tick, Credit, & Co. are in their present extensive business, a business of which, in point of extent, both at home and abroad, and both in town and country, it is impossible to give any adequate notion. May debt never be ill used, may he always be handsomely treated, and may every man be able and willing to pay him twenty shillings per pound, with the fair and the legal interest!

CHARACTER OF BONIFACE.

BONIFACE is of a jolly, round, vulgar countenance. He affects an open bluntness of speech and manner, but that is only to mask his real character. By means of this he can pay compliments without being suspected of insincerity, as they appear to be honest effusions of his heart. He has an intuitive perception of the weakness of others, which he seldom fails to turn to good account, and is not at all afraid of offending, by the extravagance of his praise, as it generally takes very well. When he dines with an Alderman, he is sure to launch out in commendation of the good things before him. "Most admirable soup, my worshipful friend! I never eat turtle in such perfection as in your house. Indeed I may say the same of every dish on your table. Your wines, too, are certainly the best in Europe." When he visits Sir John Dash, he addresses himself in like manner to his predominant vanity. "I was admiring the splendour of your equipage, this morning, Sir John. I observe nothing in town at all to be compared to it, either for the symmetry of the carriage itself, the taste of the liveries, or the beauty of the horses." My Lord Period he extols to the skies for his eloquence. "Your late speech in the House, my Lord, I consider one of the finest orations ever delivered within the walls of Parliament! I can assure your Lordship that it has electrified the nation, and that it is the theme of universal admiration. Discourse, such as this, is frequent with him; and, as he is one of those, who, according to the old homely adage, are fond of giving a sprat to catch a whale, he is wonderfully liberal of small presents. These he invariably bestows on the wealthy and powerful, with a view to reap a hundred times their value, in which, it is lamentable to think, he generally succeeds. Hares, partridges, pheasants and grouse, answer very well in common; but when he has a point of consequence to carry, he does not scruple to risk such things as a French watch or a musical snuff-box. On other occasions, an Indian shawl, or a Chinese writing desk, dexterously applied to a lady of interest, will attain his ends. He is, also, extremely alert in being the bearer of good news to those he has a design

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XVII.

When thou ridest on the lion beware of his claws: i. e. When thou becomest a leader beware of evil counsels.

XVIII.

Shut thy gate against robbers: i. e. Shut up thy senses against sin, lest thine enemies catch thee.

XIX.

Beware of the stone that is in thine hand, how thou throwest it, lest it should come back again upon thee: i. e. If thou art grieved on account of any one, let there be a time remaining when thou shalt be without grief.

MISCELLANEA.

CORNELIUS AGRIPPA-Was necessitated to fly his country, and the enjoyments of a large income, merely for having displayed a few philosophical experiments, which now every school-boy can perform; but more particularly having attacked the then prevailing opinion, that St. Anue had three husbands, he was so violently persecuted, that he was obliged to fly from place to place. The people beheld him as an object of horror; and not unfrequently, when he walked the streets, he found them empty at his approach. He died of disease and famine in an hospital.

A PROLIFIC AUTHORESS.-Mademoiselle Scudery, Menage informs us, had composed ninety volumes! the materials of which were entirely drawn from her own fertile invention. She had even finished another romance, but which she would not give the public, whose taste, she saw, no more relished these kinds of works. The curious only look over her romances. They contain, doubtless, many beautiful inventions; the misfortune is, that time and patience are rare requisites for the enjoyment of these Iliads in prose.

LITERARY IMPOSITION.-Annius of Viterbo, a Dominican, and master of the sacred palace under Alexander VI. pretended he had discovered the genuine works Sanconiatho, Manetho, Berosus, and other works, of which only fragments are remaining. He published seventeen books of antiquities! But not having any MSS. to produce, though he declared he had found them buried in the earth, these literary fabrications occasioned great controversies; for the author died before he had made up his mind to a confession, but it has been ingeniously conjectured that he himself was imposed on, rather than that he was the impostor.

THE CRUSADES,-Impolitic and unjust as they were in principle, contributed something to the improvement of European society; and, by renewing a communication with the countries of the East, they again assisted the diffusion of those vegetable treasures which had been neglected after the destruction of the Roman empire. The monastic gardens owed many of their choicest fruits to the care of those provident ecclesiastics who had accompanied the expeditions to the Holy Land.

THE CUCUMBER-Has been known in England from the very earliest records of horticulture. Gough says, that it was common, like the melon, in the time of Edward III.; but being neglected and disused, became entirely forgotten, till the reign of Henry VIII. It was not generally cultivated till about the middle of the seventeenth century. There are many varieties of cucumbers. Some cucumbers are cultivated for their fantastic shapes, of which the Snake is remarkable for its great length and small diameter; but it is of no value, except for shew.

ORIGINAL POETRY. WESTERN LYRICS.-No. I.

THE OCULIST.

IN London dwelt, in noble state,
An Oculist, well-known of late.
The blind he could restore to sight,
Return to rayless orbs their light;
Fame had so oft proclaim'd his name,
She grew quite breathless with the same.
An Irishman, with painful eyes,

To our great Oculist applies:
He couch'd, he bled, he poulticed o'er,
Gave "wash, at bedtime as before,"
Then took a book, and said, "Now, Pat,
Be kind enough to read me that."
Pat tried in vain, no, not one letter.
The Doctor" Pat, you are not better."
So twice again, Pat, went through all,

But worse" there's something wrong with ball!
Yet try once more, Pray, read that book,"
Pat on the wrong side chanced to look,
"Worse! how is't, Pat, I can't succeed ?"
"'Cause, please ye, I ne'er learned to read."

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THIS phenomenon is one of the Lions of Trinidad, and it is generally resorted to, at least once, by every stranger. If we mistake not, the substance, alluded to by our correspondent, is the compact bitumen of the mineralogist. It varies from brownish black to black, it occurs massive, with a conchoidal fracture, and is opaque and brittle. A gentle heat renders it ductile, and, when mixed with grease or common pitch, it is used by seamen for the exterior of their vessels. We were sometime ago favoured with the following extract of a letter from a young Gentleman in Trinidad :---

"I shall now give you an account of my excursion to view that wonder of the world, the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. I sailed from the bay with two other gentlemen, about six in the evening, we were all night in going down, and about seven o'clock, next morning, we came to anchor in a small creek, (the distance from Port of Spain is about 40 miles,) we immediately went on shore and proceeded on our journey. It was a delightfully cool morning, I was much surprised to see the beach and also the surf black, and large quantities of pitch continually washed ashore, so that I judged from that, that there must be a bank of pitch under the water; I was afterwards told by a gentleman, that there is a bank which runs a considerable way out to sea, so that I was right in my conjecture. It much resembles coal when seen first, but if you smell it, it soon undeceives you. We had a long walk before we got to the Lake, it is only three miles from the sea, but as we were all strangers to that part of the coast we lost our way, and found afterwards, that instead of going to it, we went from it, We breakfasted at an estate about four miles from where we landed and three from the Lake, a walk like that is no joke in this country, and particularly on such roads as we went, however the sight of the Lake amply repaid us for our toil,

"We walked over the Lake, and found in some places it was so very soft, that we left the print of our shoes every step, so, when we found that was the case, we made a retrograde movement, and got off, for some places are in a liquid state, and boil up, others are so very soft that you sink down when you least expect it, and it is not easy to extricate yourself. I cut several pieces out with my penknife and keep them as a curiosity."

ODDS AND ENDS.

THE CRITIC QUIZZED.-When Pope was first introduced to read his Iliad to Lord Halifax, the noble critic did not venture to be dissatisfied with so noble a composition; but, this turn, and that expression, formed the broken cant of his criticisms. The honest poet was stung with vexation; for, in general, the parts at which his Lordship hesitated, were those of which he was most satisfied. As he returned home with Sir Samuel Garth he revealed to him the anxiety of his mind. "Oh!" replied Garth, laughing, "you are not so well acquainted with his lordship as myself; he must criticise. At your next visit read to him those very passages as they now stand; tell him that you have recollected his criticisms; and I'll warrant you of his approbation of them. This is what I have done a hundred times myself." Pope made use of this stratagem, and my lord exclaimed, "Dear Pope, they are now inimitable !"

INQUISITION.-Voltaire attributes the taciturnity of the Spaniards to the universal horror which the proceedings of this tribunal spread. "A general jealousy and suspicion took possession of all ranks of people; friendship and sociability were all at an end! Brothers were afraid of brothers, fathers of their children."

WESTMINSTER-HALL-Is the largest roof of the ancient construction any where to be met with; and it is difficult to imagine a work of human art which possesses, in so equal a degree, the three requisites of beauty, strength, and durability. This ball was built by William II. (Rufus), în the year 1097; it was originally intended as a banqueting hall; and the monarch is said to have held a magnificent feast in it on the Whitsuntide after its erection. It is two hundred and seventy-five feet long, and seventy-four feet wide. The roof, constructed in the time of Richard II. is formed of chesnut, and does not appear to be in the least decayed. Westminister-ball is now set apart for the most solemn state purposes, such as the trial of persons impeached by the Commons; and banquets at the coronations of kings. PULPIT APPEARANCE OF MASSILON.-His person is still present to many. It seems, says his admirers, that he is yet in the pulpit, with the air of simplicity, the modest demeanour, those eyes humbly declining, those careless gestures, that passionate tone, that mild countenance of a man penetrated with his subject, and conveying to the mind the most brilliant light, and to the heart the most tender emotions. Baron, coming out from a sermon, truth forced from his lips a confession humiliating to his profession. 66 My friend, (said he to one of his companions) this is an orator and we are only actors."

POETICAL REMONSTRANCE.

To the Editor of the THE DAY.

DEAR SIR,

WHY not insert my verses?

I'm sure, each line sublime and terse is;
You have them sentimental, pretty,
Heroic, sacred, comic, witty.

My heroine's eyes quite bright as stars are,
My hero's feats like those of Mars are,
My plots are deeply interesting,
With wonder great, each piece investing.
There's only this, I'd nigh forgot,
I've not a worth one in the lot;
But then, my meaning is so good,
I wonder you could be so rude
As quite reject my rhyme effusions,
And give my "genius" such contushions,
As have completely spoiled my face,
And made me hide it in disgrace.
Yet, with me, you've not been so coarse- -eh?
As with the "hum-drum" lad, I dare say;
He's surely some great necromancer
In poetry; when your kind answer
Drew out his ire to write such drollery-
He, sure, was not in earnest choler-eb?
I hope your feelings are not hurt,
Now he has left you in the dirt;

I understand, he's gone to college,
To try and magnify his knowledge;
You, also, have not given me half a
Keen doser-as you've given to " Alpha;"
You, certainly, have raised his birses;
(His surely must have been prime verses,)
He swears you have a favourite one,
And you insert his lines alone-
That, in "The Day," he "bears the bell,"
I know him, and his Mother well;
He certainly deserves "a name,"
And he has got it, and great fame.
Long may he wear his wreath of bays,

And flourish much 'midst length of “days;"
May better grow, each page to write,
Dazzling and pure, from muse of light;
And, if his wit should e'er decay,
He'll sleep-then rise another “Day."
THE WHOLE ALPHABET.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"THEATRICAL Note Book," No. 2, to-morrow or Friday.
"Billy B." under consideration.
"Virtue and Vice," too long.

The lines, "Rosa's Rejection," have no better success with us than with her,

PUBLISHED, every Morning, Sunday excepted, by JOHN FINLAY, at No. 9, Miller Street; and Sold by JOHN WYLie, 97, Argyle Street; DAVID ROBERTSON, and W. R. M'PHUN, Glasgow; THOMAS STEVENSON, and the other Booksellers, Edinburgh: DAVID DICK, and A. GARDNER, Booksellers, Paisley: A. LAING, Greenock; and J. GLASS, Bookseller, Rothsay.

PRINTED BY JOHN GRAHAM, MELVILLE PLACE.

THE DAY

A MORNING JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, FASHION, &c.

CARPE DIEM.

GLASGOW, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1832.

JOURNAL OF AN EDINBURGH MINISTER'S

TRAVELS TO LONDON, IN 1714.

On the accession of George I. to the throne of Great Britain, in the year 1714, the Church of Scotland deputed five ministers, as commissioners, to proceed to London, and congratulate his Majesty on the auspicious event. Mr. James Hart, minister of the Grayfriars, was one of the number, and kept "a Journal, by way of Diarie, of my Travels from Edinburgh to London." This curious production remained in manuscript till now, that a limited number of copies has been printed by Mr. D. Stewart, bookseller, Edinburgh, accompanied by a memoir of the author, and an appendix, both furnished by Dr. Lee. As the book was not intended for sale, and is only accessible to few, we trust our readers will duly appreciate the extracts we are now to lay before them.

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In the beginning of the last century a journey from Scotland to London was deemed an enterprize of great pith and moment." The traveller usually proceeded on horseback, and provided himself with pistols-a precaution which even this peaceful clergyman did not fail to adopt. The solemnity of his departure from Edinburgh will, now-a-days, appear very ludi

crous.

I took horse at the Society Port, being accompanied by several gentlemen and some ministers, upwards of twentie in number, and about fourteen gentlemen rode along with me from Edinburgh to Dalkeith. I did light at the Burrough Loch, and took leave of my dear wife and distressed children: it was both to them and me a melancholie parting. And then I mounted my horse and went on with the company that honoured me with a convoy to Dalkeith, where we lighted at Baillie Hog's, and dined together; and then, after dinner, I took my leave of them, all in tears, being at that time under strong apprehensions that we might never all meet together again.

The following is a strong proof of the superstition of the age:

One Runshman, a Scotsman, who lives in Darlington, conveyed us beyond the Teas, and told us two strange stories about the Bishop of Durham. The one was about twelve months ago such a number of lice was found in the coach, that the Bishop's lady was affrightened, and was obliged to goe out of it, and shift all her cloths. The other was-that Lammass last, at his garden, in Bishop Acher, [Auckland] a place belonging to the Bishop, there was such an incredible number of frogs, as the like was never seen in that country, nor were any frogs in other gardens. took a great deal of time to get them destroyed. Great pains were taken to conceal and keep these things secret, but they took air. The common people in that country observe, that God has already visited the Bishop of Durham with two of the Egyptian plagues. The worthy Presbyter's dislike to prelacy, doubtless, helped his belief in these ridiculous stories.

It

One of the most striking parts of this journal is the account which Mr. Hart gives of the manner in which he and his fellow-travellers kept the Sabbath at Barnby moor :

We

This night, being Saturday the ninth of October, we came safe (praise to the divine goodness) to Barnabiemoor, which is ten miles distant from Doncaster. We came about an hour after sunset. We lodged in one Mr. Binglie, who was never at pains to come and see us, though we desired him once and again. made enquirie if there was any dissenting meeting-house near to us; and we sent for a man who is a dissenter, and lives in Barnabiemoor, who told us that there is a meeting-house about two miles from this place, but that the dissenting minister was to preach to-morrow at another meeting-house, about eight miles distant from this place. We enquired if there was any other meeting-house near to us-he told us there was one about four miles

distant, but was not sure whether there would be preaching tomorrow. So, being at so great uncertainty, we resolved to stay in our quarters, and spend the Lord's day as well as we could.' So each having retired alone for sometime in the morning, we breakfasted about ten of the clock, and, after that, Messrs. Linning, Ramsay, Adams, Mr. Linning's man and I, did shut our chamber door, and went about worship. I read, sung and prayed, and then we retired again to our several chambers, and met about two of the clock, and Mr. Ramsay read, sung and prayed; and after that, we retired to our several chambers, and met between four and five, supped, and after supper, Mr. Linning read, sung, and prayed, and, after we had sat a while, we retired, and so prepared for bed. Thus we spent the Lord's day at Barnabiemoor, Oct. 10.

Dr. Lee remarks, that it may probably occur to some readers, that if Principal Carstairs (another commissioner) had been one of the party on this occasion, he would have induced them to attend divine service, in the Church of England, rather than absent themselves from public worship. But, the Doctor gives an extract from the record of the Church Court, to whose jurisdiction, Carstairs, as well as Hart, was subject, which justifies the conclusion, that they would have incurred censure if they had gone to any other than a Presbyterian place of worship.

Mr. Hart can tell a story with much arch simplicity. At Wansford, he says,

They tell a storie of a Webster, who, looking after his hay, and having stuck his fork, as far as he could put, in a cock of hay, that is as much as a cart can carry, he lay himself doun to sleep upon the top of the bay, and when he was asleep, there came a mighty spete of water, and carried him four miles doun the water, near to Peterborough ; and the people of that place seeing so great an heap of hay come doun the water together, they got boats and endeavoured to carry the hay ashoar. He awakened, and they asked him whence he came. He told them, from Wansfoord in England, thinking himself to be in another part of the world; so that, to this day, it's called Wansfoord in England. The poor man was preserved, which was a miracle.

Our travellers were greatly astonished at the extent and splendour of the University of Cambridge. A few of the curiosities they there inspected, will amuse our readers.

We saw several other curiosities, such as King Henry the Eighth his comb, with which he used to comb his head-made of timber, and in some places, overlaid with silver; we saw a Parthian quiver with poisoned arrows, they made use of; we saw a piece of an Egyptian mummie, that is, of man's flesh preserved; we saw a huge piece of coral, which grew upon a rock in the sea; we saw the horn of the rhinoceros; we saw an Indian goddess; we saw, also, a wood which was made use of for writing, before the invention of paper; we saw the Duke of Somerset, his statue in marble, and the Lord Halifax, his picture.

"It is to be regretted," says his biographer, "that Mr. Hart kept no journal of the proceedings of himself and his associates, during the period of their residence in London. Probably he might think it unnecessary, as his letters to his family would naturally embrace every thing that he thought worthy of being recorded." This hiatus has, however, been so far supplied by the insertion of a letter from Mr. Linning, giving an account of the fulfilment of their mission.

We were some time before we framed our speech to the King, and behoved to have it turned into French, that the King might fully understand it; a copy of which, with the King's answer, you will hear at the commession. We complemented the Prence also, and both the King and the Prence looked with a pleasant countenance to us, and promised good things to the Church of Scotland; and, when we came from the King's presence, Montrose followed us to the next room, who told the two chaplains that the King continued them in their places, and that Mr. Hamelton, the Professor, was continued in his place; and so we were dismissed.

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