ing away the verbiage, and dissipating the puffy-stuffy of his oration in the Presbytery, we find that they just amount to what every body supposes or expects the Principal of a College has to do. He has "to superintend the whole College!" Wonderful!" To him is committed the superintendence of the general interests of education within the University," the superintendence of the conduct both of Masters and Students," &c.-" to attend on every Sabbath, with the Professors and Students, the house of God,"-" to perform all the duties of a Professor of Divinity," and to keep an eye to the secular and literary interests of the University. Now, we should wish to know what there is in all this to the performance of which Dr M'Farlane is supposed to be incompetent? We are not to be satisfied with swelling and high-sounding generalities, or childish suppositions that he cannot be in two Churches at the same time, and other such puzzling dilemmas as are figured; nor do we think it within the competency of the Presbytery, or Synod of Glasgow, to determine, a priori, what a man of healthy mind and body can accomplish, in such a sphere as that contemplated by the union in Dr M'Farlane's case. It may be discovered, after his appointment, if he neglects the duty of either. And if he neglect his duties in the College, the Senatus Academicus may seek redress for their grievances before some competent tribunal,-while the parishioners and Presbytery will have it in their power to keep him to his tackle in his ecclesiastical relation to them. In short, it is indisputably jus tertii to the Presbytery, or any of its members, to interfere in the name and on behalf of the College; and it is an unconstitutional stretch of power in the Presbytery to deny admission to Dr M'Farlane, (whose fitness for the charge is unchallenged,) upon the most fantastical, trashy, and hypothetical suppositions and anticipations, which ever were generated amidst the inconsisLencies of party spirit.

The Charter of the College is referred to, as imposing duties on the

Principal which necessarily disqualify him from being Minister of the Parish of St. Mungo; and it is brought forward as furnishing irresistible evidence of avocations in the College, sufficient to prevent his induction into a parish with the cure of souls. Now let us see what this "Magna Charta" says. After specifying certain acts of superintendence and academical duties, it declares expressly, that, "on the seventh day, he shall be free from his ordinary duties, that he may preach to the people of Govan*" So far, therefore, from proscribing the union of the Principality with the cure of souls, this Charter (1577) specially enjoins and appoints such a conjunction of offices. It was Govan, to be sure, that it appointed the Principal to officiate in; but the principle of plurality, is the same, whether he officiate in Govan, or Gorbals, or St. Mungo's parishes. The reason, temporary as it might be, for this chartered union, is of no earthly importance to the argument. The Charter of the College, ratified in Parliament, sanctions, in pointed and express terms, a union of offices similar to that which is contemplated; and, by the argument of these opponents to the settlement, "obedience ought to be yielded to a Royal Charter and an Act of Parliament +!" This answer is conclusive against them. But we say that the Presbytery, in this case, have no right to inquire, and no business to know, and no title to plead on, the Charter of the University. It is in the Charter chests of the College. It was not on the table of the Presbytery; and that Court has no jurisdiction of an inquisitorial kind, which can warrant them to drag it forth from the archives of the College, and transmit it, as matter of debate, through the several church judicatories. In short, the Members of Presbytery, as such, have no sort of concern with it; nor, in judging of the case, ought the Superior Courts to listen for an instant to any balderdash of speechifying, about documents which are not, and cannot be before them, in any legitimate shape. The only point, therefore, which is open for decision,

+ Dr M'Gill's Speech, &c.

is, whether or not (putting the College, and all its concerns, out of view) Dr M'Farlane be, in point of literature, theological attainments, and morals, an unexceptionable presentee to St. Mungo's Parish? And as that must inevitably be decided in the affirmative, the Presbytery will be compelled, we have no doubt, by the Assembly, to proceed speedily with his induction to the charge.

Among other irrelevant topics which have been introduced into this controversy, it has been urged, as a good reason for not admitting Dr M'Farlane to the parish for which he has produced a valid presentation, that the emoluments of that charge are good, and that the emoluments of the Principality, too, are good, and that, with both to gether, Dr M'Farlane's income would be too good, and might support two persons instead of one. This is all sad stuff,-" perilous stuff!" With the emoluments of the Principality of Glasgow College the Presbytery have no concern, in judging of Dr M'Farlane's admissibility as Minister of St. Mungo. It is their duty to see that every presentee to a Church shall, before admission, be insured in a sufficient stipend in that Church; that he be legally presented, and be duly qualified for the work of the Ministry; but they have no right, legal or moral, to inquire concerning the state of his private fortune, or of his income derivable from other sources. We have already taken what we consider an impregnable position, that, quoad the College of Glasgow and its interests, the Presbytery are completely debarred, in point of strict legal form and substantial justice, from taking it at all into their consideration in this case; and it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the emoluments of any of the College Members are also shut out from their legal vision. Whether the salary of Principal may be augmented or not is no concern of theirs. It is fortunate for the Principal that it is so: and if the teinds for augmenting the Stipend of the Minister in St. Mungo's parish be ample, that, also, is a fortunate circumstance for Dr M'Farlane, who, after his induction, will exercise his own discretion in seeking an augmentation,-not through

the Presbytery, but from the Teind Court.

In the views which we have thus taken of this case, we have proceeded on the supposition that the Church, in its several judicatories, possesses a competent and inherent power of deciding on the validity of the pretexts which have been conjured up as obstructions to Dr M'Farlane's induction,—that the presentation given by the Patron by no means denudes the Church of that power,and that it makes no earthly difference whether the Patron be the King or a cobler. The right of induction belongs as unquestionably to the Presbytery, as the right of presentation to the Patron; and on this part of the subject it is quite idle to impute to the Presbytery any disrepect to the Crown by their opposition. The General Assembly will doubtless assert the privileges of the Church; but it will most probably also instruct the Inferior Courts in this case, that they have exercised that power most unwarrantably, and even illegally, on the merits of the case.

This brings us to consider the effect of the Act of Assembly 1817. And really, with all due reverence and humility, we think Dr M'Farlane's opponents have wasted a great deal of valuable breath, and paper, and print. Anterior to the passing of that Act in a constitutional manner, with the sanction of the Presbyteries of the Church, an abuse had crept in to a slight degree, which we readily allow was inconsistent with the genius and the laws of our Church. Parochial Clergymen were sometimes appointed to Professorships in Universities, situated at such a distance from their parishes, that non-residence in their pastoral charges necessarily followed. This was an abuse utterly repugnant to the prin ciples of our establishment, even from its earliest days. It tended to strip our Clergy of one of their most beneficial qualities, and to bereave our people of that constant and daily intercourse with their spiritual instructor and friend, which we know from experience must be regarded as a blessed attribute of our establishment. The Act 1817, therefore, was passed, not to shut out all Clergymen from holding Professorial chairs

along with their parochial cure of souls, but to prevent any Clergyman from holding a Professorship in a College which was not in the same parish or city within which he was bound, as a paramount point of clerical duty, to reside constantly. This is accordingly the whole import and effect of the Act 1817. It struck at non-residence,—and at non-residence exclusively. It did not go beyond that point. It was not imperative on Presbyteries to admit or reject, in all supposable cases, Ministers to hold Professorships in Universities, even when the College and Church might be in the same parish. It left the laws and powers of the Church on all points, except as to non-residence, precisely where they previously stood; and it only sanctioned the union of Clerical and Professorial charges in the same individuals, in as much as it did not declare (what some persons desired) the union to be in all cases absolutely incompatible. That this is the fair construction of the Act will be allowed by every candid and impartial judge, who attends to its letter and to its spirit: so that the effect of it, in the case of Dr M'Farlane, amounts merely to this, that it furnishes no positive bar in the way of the Doctor's admission, merely on the abstract doctrine, that such a union is inexpedient, as his opponents would have it believed. That doctrine is quite open for controversy and legislation; and the great error of the Presbytery is, that the majority argue their case as if they were legislating on the subject, or were judging of a case of incompatibility in the circumstances, regularly brought before them, and fully substantiated by evidence, which is not the fact.

All their learning in the laws and usages of the Church-all their reasonings on the abstract question of fitness or unfitness of unions, such as that in question-all their assump. tions and fancies with regard to the

duties of Principal of Glasgow College-and all their splendid visions with regard to the range of a Clergyman's duties, are, therefore, quite out of place, and inapplicable to Dr M'Farlane's Case. It may be admitted, that it is expedient to pass a law which shall prevent any Clergyman from holding at the same time a Professor's chair; but that is not the law at present, and the Act 1817 does allow such unions, if they be locally compatible. If the law ought to be altered, let it be altered in the ordinary way, by an overture to that effect; but while it admits expressly of the union of academical and clerical charges, in certain circumstances, it would be an invidious, harsh, and unchristian exercise of arbitrary power, if the Presbytery, or other Church courts, were to deny, to a worthy and eminent individual, the honours and emoluments accruing from such a junction of officesa junction which has in times past produced no visible injury to the establishments of learning and religion among us, but, on the contrary, has cherished and sustained some of the brightest spirits that ever shed lustre, and conferred benefit on our country. Let Dr M'Gill, and Dr Chalmers, and all the Doctors who think such unions injurious to the interests of the Church, bring forward overtures on the subject as often and as soon as they please; but let not individuals, clothed with vested rights, to a certain extent, at least, (by being in possession of presentations,) be persecuted by an "evangelical" opposition resting solely on theories and dreams, or dragged through all the pleasures of controversy in our Church Courts, or in pamphlets and newspapers. The party can try its strength without annoying individuals.

With regard to the doctrine which Dr M'Gill, and Dr Chalmers, and Mr Burns, and all their partizans, press so eagerly,-(the popular opinion, they say) that a Clergyman ought

not to be permitted to engage in any other avocation whatever, we must demur to it, and that, too, very strongly. We will cheerfully give them up the whole class of factors, and farmers, and horse-coupers-editors of newspapers and of libellous magazines-inspectors of hides and quills -itinerant preachers and speakers at auxiliary societies out of their own parishes-politicians and smugglers -operative tailors, shoemakers, and fiddlers and many other workers on gunlocks and turning-looms: "let the censures of the Kirk strike upon" all such secular operations; but in every thing connected with the education of youth, we fondly cling to that established and most salutary union which has always subsisted since the Reformation in Scotland betwixt our Church and our schools of learning. It is to individuals, who, acting in the double capacity of Ministers of the Church of Scotland, and teachers in her Universities, that Scotland owes more for the establishment and permanence of her academical institutions than to any other class of men; and while she continues true to herself, regardless of the crude projects of wild enthusiasm, and the cant of party politicians, she will not rashly sever those strong and friendly bonds which have long subsisted betwixt the Church of Scotland and her Universities. Few are the honours, and slender, indeed, are the emoluments, (compared to those of other professions and pursuits,) to which her Clergy can aspire; and we shall mourn if ever the day arrive when the Assembly and Presbyteries of this Church shall promulgate as their law, that a Clergyman of our establishment cannot lawfully superadd to his sacred labours and limited income, the honours and the emoluments of an academical appointment. They are indeed almost the only honours and emoluments for personal devotion of time and labour, to which they should be freely admitted, and cordially welcomed.

The whole of the opposition to Dr M'Farlane's induction rests on a mere chimera. Although the plea set up for the College were competently and regularly before the Church Courts,

which it is not, nothing would be more groundless than the allegation that the Principality of the College is alone sufficient to occupy the whole time of any one man. It certainly is not a sinecure, nor a mere amusement: it is an honorary office, to which are annexed important and useful, but not laborious duties. Besides the general superintendence which is admitted, on all hands, to belong to the office, the Principal receives all applications and letters on the affairs of the College, literary and pecuniary, and conducts the correspondence thence arising. He convenes the Faculty when he finds it necessary, and presides at its meetings. He signs orders for money, authorised by the Faculty to be paid, and examines the Factor's accounts. He presides at meetings for graduation, and two or three meetings of the University annually,-the whole of these duties requiring attendance not oftener than once a-week during the Session of College, and seldom continuing longer than an hour. He gives no lectures,-attends no examinations,-and has no direct or immediate interference with the instruction of the Students, and is not, in any sense, a teaching Professor; and during six months of the year he has scarcely any academical duty to perform. Such is the fact ; and all that we have recently heard about what a Principal of Glasgow College might, could, would, or should do, is a mere Utopian delusion, fit for some other planet in the Chalmerian Solar System, like Mr Kennedy's Bill for abrogating our Poors' Laws. The original Charters of erection, and the rules therein prescribed for the government of the College, have been modified by subsequent changes of circumstances and regulations thence arising; and the usages founded on the constitution of the College, and ratified by consuetude and experience, must, in the estimation of all sober-minded and impartial persons, be deemed better intitled to support and approbation, than the revival of any obsolete, or the introduction of any new projects, which have more the appearance of dreams than of real and grave propositions.

MR EDITOR,

I INTIMATED to you, on a former occasion, my intention of transmitting to you some account of the Royal Burgh of Bookbridge, near which I reside; and this intention, though never abandoned, I have not been able to fulfil until now; such has been the extent of antiquarian research into which I have been led, and so much diligence has been required to clear away the numerous absurd traditions that cleave to such a subject, and to form a clear and connected narrative from a mass of scattered information; and as it is the becoming practice of writers on historical subjects to acknowledge their obligations to keepers of libraries, proprietors of manuscripts, and others, who may have contributed to forward their undertakings; so I have much pleasure in mentioning the names of Madge Spintow, widow of the late miller, Andrew Divot the sexton, and Saunders Crackcrouse, servant to the Rev. Mr Douce, as the persons to whom the readers of this important relation may consider themselves indebted for the information it contains; and I should but imperfectly express my obligations to them, did I not state thus openly the great urbanity and civility with which they attended to my inquiries; declining to accept any remuneration for the trouble I gave them, farther than three ounces of tea which the widow was prevailed upon to take, a small parcel of tobacco to Saunders,-and an occasional dram to the grave-digger, which sometimes made him pass " from grave to gay." From the experienced efficacy of these gratuities, I would recommend the use of them, or of others similar, to all future compilers.

It was once sagaciously remarked, by some one subtle in tracing analogies, that a great resemblance existed between Wales and Macedonia;

VOL. XIV.

because there is a river in Wales, and there is one in Macedonia. A similar correspondence has been pointed out between Bookbridge and Edinburgh, because there is a church in one place, and a church in the other. I am not aware that the resemblance extends to more minute particulars; but this instance, it is presumed, will be sufficient to give those persons who are acquainted with Edinburgh a tolerably correct idea of the town of Bookbridge. This latter contains about five hundred and thirty inhabitants, and sends the sixth part of a representative to Parliament; the remaining five parts being contributed by as many adjoining burghs. By this combination of elective energies, a whole and entire Member is fitted out.

The first thing generally attended to by topographical writers is the etymology of the names of those places which they are describing ; and I now proceed to lay before you what tradition has furnished regarding the name of Bookbridge.

In those golden days, when the wisdom of our ancestors was allowed fully to exert and display itself in all the customs and institutions of the land, unchecked by that pestilent spirit of innovation which hath arisen in these latter degenerate times, when barons and country lairds employed in the destruction of one another (and that without limitation of season, or license from the tax-office) those energies which are now consumed in checking the multiplication of hares and partridges, in those days, (it might be about three hundred, or three thousand years ago, more or less,)—in those days, then, as I say, (the sentence must be finished,) things were much as I have now described them. The large old castle, the ruins of which are still standing in the neighbourhood of Bookbridge, then 4 F