in the hofpitable reception he gave to the Geometer of Gresham College, Henry Briggs, who, it is faid, addreffed him on their first meeting in the following words: "My Lord, I have undertaken "this long journey purposely to see your person, and to know by what engine of wit or ingenuity you came firft to think of "this moft excellent help unto aftronomy, viz. the Logarythms: but, my Lord, being by you found out, I wonder nobody else "found it out before, when now being known it appears fo "eafy." It is a matter of doubt among the learned, whether the venerable Profeffor of Gresham College himself had not some pretenfions to the discovery of the geometrical series known by the name of Logarythms *. By his letter to archbishop Ufher, dated 10th March 1615, it should seem, however, that he rather applied himself to the ftudy and improvement of them; his words being, " Napier Lord Markinston hath set my head and "hands at work with his new and admirable logarythms. I "hope to fee him next fummer, if it please God; for I never "faw a book which pleafed me better, and made me more won"der." A few miles to the weft of Merchifton, the Skenes, (father and fon,) and Craig the feudalift, cotemporaries of Baron Napier, had their paternal inheritance; as alfo, the venerable and accomplished antiquarian, the late Sir James Foulis of Collington. As we pursue our journey, we can diftinctly trace the windings of the river left but a little way behind, on the pleafant banks of which fo many celebrated men were wont to • See Hutton's Hiftory of Logarythms, p. 37. retire to the fweets of folitude and domeftic enjoyment, or to rural occupations. Dalmahoy and Hatton, the feats of gloomy Morton and the intriguing Lauderdale, are within view; as are alfo Ormifton Hill, recently the property of Cullen, the venerable father of our medical school; and the farms but lately cultivated by Ferguson, our amiable and accomplished profeffor of ethics, the science of the human mind, which he, with fo much dignified fimplicity and unaffected, impreffive, and perfuafive eloquence, taught in our univerfity. Here he spends the evening of his life in peaceful retirement on the banks of the Tweed; being fucceeded in his chair by one, no lefs fitted to fulfil the important duties in fo effential a department of fcience as the elements of politics and ethics, and the more abstract branches of moral philofophy *. Somewhat beyond the third mile-ftone, appears the village of Corstorphine. The church, which is in very tolerable prefervation, is one of the oldeft extant; it was erected into a collegiate eftablishment fo early as the year 1429, by Sir John Forefter, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, whofe memory is preserved on a monumental record in the church t. *The profeffor alluded to is Mr. Dugald Stewart, under whom the writer of these pages ftudied the philosophy of the human mind. + See Hope's Min. Pract. Appen. p. 520.-The remains of Cullen lie in the Churchyard of Kirknewton, the parish in which his eftate lay.-Vide vol. 9. Stat. Acc. His univerfal genius led him to the kindred ftudy of Medicine, Agriculture: "In the year 1758, (fays the author of the Stat. Acc.) .the Doctor (Cullen), after finishing his "courfe of chemistry, delivered to.a number of his particular friends and favourites nine "lectures on the fubject of agriculture. In thefe few lectures he, for the first time, "laid open the true principles concerning the nature of foils, and the operations of ma"nure."-See Stat. Acc. vol. 9. p. 416. About a quarter of a mile further on, the road takes a fudden turn to the right; and again, nearly at right angles, to the left; when it proceeds ftraight forward in the direction of N. W. The line from which the firft turn is made, is the new line of road by Bathgate to Glafgow; in all refpects preferable to the old one, which leads by Livingfton, Whiteburn, &c. On gaining the height, a little beyond the fourth mile-stone, a neat box is feen to the right, very pleasantly fituated, and commanding an extenfive profpect, particularly to the north and north-weft. The name of the farm on which this house stands is Eaftcraigs. Still ascending, the horizon becomes more ample and interesting at every step. As we approach the fifth mileftone, the fertile plains of Weft-Lothian open to the left: they are bounded on the fouth by the Pentland hills, whofe verdure appears deepened into ruffet and purple, foftened by gradations into various tints of azure; till, in the distance, remote objects vanish in aërial perfpective, or melt into the sky, where clouds, ever-varying, enrich and harmonize the whole. Turning now to the right, the diftant profpect is fublime. Here we first difcern the Grampians. Ben-ledi, whofe top feems to reach the heavens, is the chief object discoverable. It is, however, but an inconfiderable link in the grand chain of mountains, beyond which the Caledonians retired to their faftneffes; where the Roman eagle, appalled, ftopped fhort and paufed, but ventured not in pursuit of its prey; while, unfubdued and secure, and prefering liberty to fplendid flavery, the hardý inhabitants embraced poverty and independence, far remote, amid the wilds and folitudes of defolated Albion. The Ochil hills, which meet the Grampians beyond Stirling Castle, form a bold feature as they ftretch along the north fide of the Frith of Forth; a glimpse of which is caught as the eye furveys the more diftant objects. The fmall islands of InchGarvey and Inch-Colm, with others ftill fmaller, are feen to confiderable advantage, when a stream of light happens to take the direction of the coaft. While the distance is foftened in aërial tints, and the fore-ground deepened into shade, even a prospect of this magnitude becomes interefting to the lover of landscape; but to one who fees not with the painter's enthu fiafm, and practifed eye, in vain does Nature difplay her enchanting hues and finest forms; he feels not the emotions which these are calculated to call forth; they neither allure nor afford fatisfaction. On Inch-Colm are to be diftinctly feen, at this distance, the ruins of a monaftery founded by Alexander I. about the middle of the twelfth century, in grateful remembrance of his having escaped the perils of fhipwreck. Here, it is faid, the Scottish monarch, while tempeft-bound for three days, experienced the kind attention of a hermit who miniftered in the chapel of this infulated folitude; but, as might be expected, the hermit's bill of fare was but indifferently suited to a royal palate, even in those rude times; a scanty supply of shell-fish, and the milk of one cow, being all that this holy man was able to procure for the entertainment of his guest *. If this ftory be credible, it will readily occur, that in cafe any of the king's fuite had the good fortune to be faved on this ifland, the hermit must have been fadly put * H. Boece (Boethius), lib. xii. p. 263. C 2 to a nonplus how to fupply their wants; perhaps they gathered crabs, oyfters, and other fhell-fifh, while he milked his cow, and dreffed cockles. Be this as it might, the king, fenfible of the fpecial interference of Providence in his preservation, vowed to perpetuate the event, by founding the monaftery of St. Auguftine above mentioned, and dedicating it to St. Colomba* as a free-will offering for his fuppofed interpofition on this critical occafion. On the near ground, on either hand, and indeed in every direction, farm-houfes and gentlemen's feats appear profufely fcattered, many of which feem fnugly fheltered amid inclosures and pleasure-grounds; while others appear expofed to the inclemencies of the weather. The agricultural improvements effected in this district within these few years are truly in a superior ftile. Land, that not ten years ago was fcarcely worth twenty fhillings the acre, is now hardly to be got for fifty fhillings. The high crooked ridges have vanished; a plough with four horses is not to be met with ; quagmires are rarely to be feen; whins have disappeared; and the act of parliament is become obfolete wherein broom is enacted to be fown at ftated periodst. The rural economy is entirely changed, and changed in all refpects for the better. The tenant vies in the comforts, nay, in the luxuries of life, with the land-holder; and, were the farmers lefs ambitious of "Qui, fervitio fancti Colombæ deditus, ad quandam inibi capellulam tenui victu, utpote lace unius vacca & conchis ac pifciculis marinis contentatus, fedulè fe dedi:: de quibus "cibariis Rex, cum fuis, tribus diebus vento compellente, reficitur." Vide Hope's Min. Pract. p. 415. See Regiam Majestatem. the |