riodically, from the first of them, called "Diurnal Occurrences of Parliament," Nov. 3. 1641, to the Refloration. Thefe were fomewhat like our Magazines, and they were generally called "Mercuries" as Mercurius Politicus, Mercurius Rufticus; and one of them, in 1664, appears under the odd title of "Mercurius Fumigofus, or the Smoking Nocturnal." The number of thefe publications appears, from a lift, in an accurate, new, and valuable piece of Biography, from 1641 to 1660, to have been 156. Thefe publications of parliamentary proceedings were interdicted after the Reftoration, as appears from a debate in Grey's Collection, March 24. 1681; in confequence of which, the Votes of the Houfe of Commons were first printed by authority of parliament. In 1792 there were published in London 13 daily, 20 evening, and 9 weekly papers. In the country 70; and in Scotland 14 country papers. Though Venice produced the first Gazette in 1536, it was circulated in manufcript long after the invention of printing, to the clofe of the 16th century, as appears from a collection of thefe Gazettes in the Magliabechian Library at Florence, according to Mr Chalmers, in his curious and entertaining Life of Ruddiman, p. 114. Mr Chalmers obferves, that it may gratify our national pride to be told, that we owe to the wisdom of Elizabeth, and the prudence of Burleigh, the circulation of the firft genuine news-paper. "The English Mercury, printed during the time of the Spanish armada. The first number, preferved ftill in the British Museum, is marked 50; it is dated the 23d of July 1588, and contains the following curious article: From the firft regular paper, the abovementioned Public Intelligencer, commencing Aug. 31. 1661, there were, to 1688, with the Gazette, which has continued regularly, as "6 at prefent, from Nov. 7. 1665, 70 papers, fome of a fhort, and others of a longer duration. The firft daily paper, after the Revolution, was called "The Orange Intelligencer"; and thence to 1692 there were 26 news-papers. Yesterday the Scotch Ambaffador had a private audience of her Majefty, and delivered a letter from the King his mafter, containing the moft cordial affurances of adhering to her Majefty's interefts, and to thofe of the Proteftant Religion; and the Young King said to her Majefty's Minifter at his Court, that "all the favour he expected from the Spaniards was, the courtesy of Polyphemus to Ulyffes, that he should be devoured the lait.” From an advertisement in a weekly paper called "The Athenian Gazette,' Feb. 8. 1696, it appears that the Coffee-houfes in London had then, exclufive of the Votes of Parliament, nine newspapers every week; but there seems not to have been in 1696 one daily paper. In the reign of Queen Ann, there were, in 1709, 18 weekly papers publifhed; of which, however, only one was a daily paper, The London Courant. In the reign of George I. in 1724, there were published three daily, fix weekly, and ten evening papers, three times a-week. Thefe publications were however then, and long after, published in the fhape of finall pamphlets; and fo they were called in a tract of one Burton, in 1614: “If any one read now-a-days, it is a playbook or a pamphlet of newes," for fo the word was originally fpelled. From 1588 to 1622, and during the pacific reign of James the First, few of thefe publications appeared; but the thirty In the late reign there were published years war, and the victories of the great of news-papers in London, and in all King Guftavus Adolphus, having exEngland, 7,411,757 cited the curiofity of our countrymen, a 9.464,790 weekly paper, called "The Newes of 14,035,639 the prefent Week," was printed by Na14,794,153 thaniel Butter, in 1622, which was con 15,005,760 tinued afterwards in 1626, under an in 1753 1760 the prefent reign in 1790 1790 1792 other and they were fucceeded by the German Intelligencer in 1630, and the Swedish Intelligencer in 1631; which laft was compiled by William Watts, of Caius College, who was a learned man, and who thus gratified the public curiofity with the exploits of the Swedish hero, in a quarto pamphlet. other title, by Mercurius Britannicus; pofition. Here it deferves to be re marked, that though the gentlemen do fqueeze fub tenants themfelves, yet they do not difcourage, nay, fome of the baser kind of mafters encourage the poor oppreffed creatures to make heavy charges on ftrangers; and I could produce inftances where complaints were juftly lodged againft impofition. To prevent thofe grofs charges, any knowing man will deal his tobacco liberally, and in that event, he is fure of a fpeedy and very cheap paffage, or convoy, through the different ifles. The great rebellion in 1641 was productive of abundance of thofe periodical tracts above-mentioned, as well as of all thofe that have been published fince the first news-paper that appeared in the prefent form, the Public Intelligencer, published by Sir Roger L'Eftrange, Aug. 31. 1661. Mr Chalmers fubjoins to thefe curious researches the account of the first paper printed in Scotland, in February 1699, the Edinburgh Gazette, which was accompanied afterwards, in 1705, by the Edinburgh Courant, and at the period of the Union, Scotland had only three news-papers. The publication of the Caledonian Mercury, by Ruddiman, April 28. 1720, led this curious and entertaining biographer to this minute and laborious inveftigation; from which it appears, that England had, in 1792, 35 town and 7 country papers; Scotland, 14 news-papers, published at Edinburgh and in the country. The men keep their tobacco in leather bags made of feals fkins, called fpleuchans, which keep the tobacco foft and tastely. The old women make use of their tobacco in fnuff made into graddan, the fame with the Irish blackguard, which they generally keep in fea nuts that grow on the large tangles or red fea-ware, and which are fometimes found upon the fhores. This nut is about feven inches in circumference, and one half inch thick, full of kernel, which is carefully digged out through a small round hole made on purpose. Out of this hole the fnuff is fhaken on the palms of their hands, or taken out with a pen made for the purpose.. Thefe thells, or nuts, are very precious, and by the richer people are bound in filver. There are feveral other kinds of Lord Mountmorris' Hift. of the Irife Parl.fea nuts, of different makes, that are GENIUS, CUSTOMS, &c. OF THE WESTERN HEBRIDEANS. BOTH men and women are fond of tobacco; the men commonly chew it, and beg a little from every gentleman; and there is no travelling through thofe countries without a certain quantity of that article in company. The gentlemen fill their noftrils with long quids of it; and thefe, when thrown away, are gathered carefully by the poorer fort, for a fecond turn. Inftances can be prodaced, where a fervant has confumed his whole yearly wages on this fingle article of luxury. In paffing to and from the islands, tobacco is neceffary for a gentleman, if he withes to avoid both delay and im held in high veneration among the vulgar for their fuppofed efficacy on feveral occafions, and they are particularly used about children. The common, as well as better fort of people, court fweet-hearts at nights, over all this country. The unlocked doors yield thofe lovers but too eafy access to their favourites. The natural confequences of their rencounters often occafion fquabbles in kirk courts, in which the minif ter and elders take cognizance of the fornication committed in the parish. This inquifitorial office is generally more agreeable to the elders, than to the minifters; as they are the more ignorant and infignificant, and confequently require more the prop of other people's failings. la cafes, however, in which the the minifters are governed either by a druidical rigour of temper, or by hypocrify, they too exercite great feverity against the incontinent, in various parts of Scotland; as the reader will find in the ingenious Captain Newte's Tour. This feverity, however, is not often productive of the amendment pretended to be defigned. I fay pretended, for in many inftances they, who are at leaft fhrewd ly fufpected of lewdnefs, as well as intemperance themselves, are the feverest and most curious and prying inquifitors into the failings of others. In the part of the country we are defcribing, however, this frailty ftill prevails with the favourite fair, and her intercourfe is frequently with fo many men, that the unfortunate girl is often at a nonplus where to fix with certainty ; but fhe feldom fails to give up the gentleman, or fingle man, to fave the married man and herself from the fhame of doing penance in a white sheet. The rich man, indeed, finds a fubftitute, by giving a little bribe, and a great many fine promifes, both to the woman and the oftenfible father. As the poor young men cannot pay for fubftitutes, the contending parties muft fubmit the iffue of their caufe to an oath and the affidavit of the fufpected fatisfies the accufer, and the bastard is as much esteemed as the lawfully begotten child. The woman, if the is pregnant by a gentleman, is by no means looked down upon, but is provided in a husband with greater eclat than without forming fuch a connection. Inftead of being defpifed, numberless inftances can be produced, where pregnant women have been difputed for, and even fought for, by the different fuitors. Their daily implements of fifhing are the rod, and the taubh, or net. This laft is a pock-net, bound round a large circular ring of wands or hoops, and that tied to the end of a long pole of eight feet in length. By throwing a little boiled wilks, chewed out of their mouths, over the top of it, when funk below the furface, the cuddies will get in after the meat, and when they are on the bottom, the upper part is elevated above the fea, and fome hundreds are catched, at times, at each dipping. Inftead of iron crooks they ufe a tick of four feet long. full of holes, with a pin to pafs through, to raife or lower their pots when placed above their fires. The pots are fufpended from the roof, in the middle of the houfe, by a rope made of benty grais. They make a kind of coarfe crockery ware, for boiling water and dreffing victuals. They make very neat wooden locks both for their doors and chefts. They are made of the fame materials: and I have feen pieces of wooden workmanship fuch as trunks, chefts, and tobacco-pipes, fo well made, and elegantly engraved, as would not disgrace the moft capital artifts. Gaelic is the common language over all this country: but their intercourse with fifhers and paffengers, to and from other countries, introduces a mixture of words from the English and other nations. This mixture will gradually spoil that nervous expreffive tongue. The poor are totally deftitute of let ters. All the laudable and charitable contributions fent for inftructing them in the knowledge of the Scriptures, have been wantonly perverted by artful, defigning politicians; as will appear when we fpeak of the religious inftitutions establifhed by law *. The men are extremely fond of fpiritous liquors, when they can fall in with them. When they can meet with a cafk they feldom part with it, till it is emptied. The quarrels arifing from drunkennefs are more general than the combats of Englishmen; and more hurtful, as the victors do not fpare the profstrate ene my. In Lewis, the islands of Harris, and the Uifts they make whisky of oats, but not of barley. They have alfo abun dance of rum, brandy, gin, and wines; which are fmuggled into the country: but the charges made in retailing of thefe fpirits become fo extravagant, that the This obfervation, we can affure our readers, does not now apply, that charity being at prefent managed with much care and attention. poor never will become dexterous at farming, that line of life being contrary to the natural bent of their inclinations. poor people cannot cafily touch any. On certain folemn occafions, however, they have recourfe to thofe foreign fpirits. Had Mr Pennant, at thofe times, paffed a few hours among them, he would have found they are not quite confined to the common beverage of whisky. I never faw or heard of the heath, or fuch materials as he mentions, ufed in diftilling fpirits in any of thofe iflands. Nothing is made ufe of but pure malt unmixed; and their spirits are, on these accounts, allowed to be fuperior in quality to any adulterated liquors elsewhere. The lower order of people value themfelves much on their connections with the rich. Connections often arife from the time that a mother, wife, or fifter, gave fack to the gentleman's child; whence they call them coalds, co-foltered, or fosterings. This appellation is This appellation is afed by all the family, as well as by the child whofe mother's milk fackled the great man's child. This familiar epithet is no lefs ufeful to the rich than to the poor man; becaufe, if the rich man countenances the poor, the laft, in return, will think himself interested in protecting the flocks, and other effects of the rich; fo that this tie of friendship being reciprocally ufeful, is continued for genera tions. Most of thofe people are inferior to none in fea-faring. From their infancy they are trained to it. Making of fmall boats, with masts, is the common paftime of the children; and they are delighted with failing in boats when very young; but when they are able to handle the oars and fails, they are truly active; and they feldom return home without fifh, even when scarce on the coaft. They never lofe fight of their object either by day or night. Whether foul or fair weather, they are exercised when the fish is in great plenty, and if they had falt, with the proper implements for thofe purpofes afforded to others, their fuperiority would foon become confpicuous on that element. But their genius is forced to run in an unnatural channel, by tying them down to work like so many negroes, with the whip fmacking along their backs. They VOL. LVI. The tenants repair to the hills all fummer with their cattle, and live in fhealings; that is, in huts, made in the hills for the fummer refidence of those who tend the flocks and herds. There the families live moftly on milk, butter, and checfe, and fifh; and by the time they return to their farms, the grafs about their corn fields becomes excellent, and makes the cows yield plenty of milk. This is the cafe where the tenantry live comfortably under the protection of the proprietors, as they do in Lewis, and in fome inftances in the two Uifts; but cannot be fo much fo in Harris, because all the horfes from the different islands are fent to the king's foreft, where they devour most of the grafs belonging to the back-fettlers, who border on this foreft; infomuch, that thofe people, in addition to their grievances, muft bear with this alfo ; and their own corn, as well as grafs, is frequently deftroyed by numbers of hungry horfes. This is an intolerable grievance to thefe unlucky men; that they are often stript of the fruits of their labours, without redrefs. The poor tenants obferve the holidays about Christmas, and keep them very chearfully. Some of the humane tackĺmen give them treats on one or more of thofe days, and fend for a musician to make their fubtenants happy. But the more modern incumbents drop thofe expenfive feafts, and their tenants may fast while thofe of others are feafting. Notwithstanding all the ill ufage that fome of thofe people fuffer, they bring their mafters the firft fruits of their own potatoes and meal from time to time, and supply their tables also with such fish as they can catch for their own families, beyond the rigorous extortions made upon them by paction. They take every method they can to footh thofe tyrannical people, in order to alleviate their own burthens by their engaging manner towards their masters. By the Rev. John Lane Buchanan. ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE BODY AND MIND, IN OLD AGE. From the Second Volume of Medical Inquiries and Obfervations. MOST of the facts which I fhall deliver upon this fubject are the refult of obfervations made during the last five years, upon perfons of both fexes, who have paffed the eightieth year of their lives. I intended to have given a detail of their names, manner of live, occupations, and other circumftances of each of them; but, upon a review of my notes, I found fo great a famenefs in the hiftory of most of them, that I defpaired, by detailing them, of anfwering the intention which I have proposed in the following effay. I fhall, therefore, only deliver the facts and principles which are the refult of inquiries and obfervations I have made upon this fubject. I. I fhall mention the circumstances which favour the attainment of longevity. II. I fhall mention the phenomena of body and mind which attend it. And, III. I fhall enumerate its peculiar difeafes, and the remedies which are most proper to remove or moderate them. THE Circumftances which favour longevity are, 1. Defcent from Long-lived Anceflors. I have not found a single inftance of a perfon, who has lived to be eighty years old, in whom this was not the cafe. In fome inftances, I found the defcent was only from one, but, in general, it was from both parents. The knowledge of this fact may ferve, not only to aflift in calculating what are called the chances of lives, but it may be made useful to a phyfician. He may learn from it to cherifh hopes of his patients in chronic, and in fome acute difeafes, in proportion to the capacity of life they have derived from their ancestors. 2. Temperance in Eating and Drinking. To this remark I found feveral exceptions met with one of eightyfour years of age, who had been intem perate in eating; and four or five perfons who had been intemperate in drinking ardent fpirits. They had all been day-labourers, or had deferred drinking until they began to feel the languors of old age. I did not meet one who had not, for the laft forty or fifty years of their lives, used tea, coffee, and bread and butter, twice a-day, as part of their diet. I am difpofed to believe, that thofe articles of diet do not materially affect the duration of human life, although they evidently impair the ftrength of the fyftem. The duration of life does not appear to depend so much upon the strength of the body, or upon the quantity of its excitability, as upon exact accommodation of ftimuli to each of them. A watchfpring will last as long as an anchor, provided the forces which are capable of destroying both are in an exact ratio to their strength. The use of tea and coffee in diet feems to be happily fuited to the change which has taken place in the human body, by fedentary occupation; by which means lefs nourishment and ftimulus are required than formerly to fupport animal life. 3. The Moderate Ufe of the Understanding. It has long been an established truth, that literary men (other circumstances being equal) are longer lived than other people. But it is not necessary that the understanding should be employed upon philofophical fubjects, to produce this influence upon human life. Bufinefs, politics, and religion, which are the objects of attention of men of all claffes, impart a vigour to the understanding, which, by being conveyed to every part of the body, tend to produce health and long life. 4. Equanimity of Temper. The violent and irregular action of the paffions tends to wear away the fprings of life. Perfons who live upon annuities in Europe, have been obferved to be longer lived, in equal circumstances, than other people. This is probably occa |