reckoned the key of Scotland, commanding the paffes between the N. and S. of Scotland. The town is inclosed with a wall, the streets are irregular and narrow, except that which leads to the caftle. The Highlanders, in the rebellion of 1715, ftrove to poffefs themfelves of this fortrefs, but were prevented by the duke of Argyle; and in 1745 it held out against all the efforts of the rebels of that day, under general (afterwards lord) Blakeney.

From the top of the castle, is the finest view in Scotland, according to the late traveller Mr. Pennant. To the caft is a vast plain, rich in corn, adorned with woods, and watered with the river Forth, whofe meanders, before it reaches the fea, are fo frequent and large, as to form a multitude of beautiful peninfulas: in many parts the windings approximate fo clofe as to leave only an ifthmus of a few yards. In this plain is an old Abbey, a view of Alloa, Clackmannan, Falkirk, the firth or bay of Forth, and the country as far as Edinburgh, which is 30 miles. On the north, you fee the Ochill hills, and Moor where the battle of Dumblain was fought. To the weft, the ftraith of Menteith, as fertile as the eastern plain, and terminated by the Highland mountains, among which the fummit of Ben Lomond is very confpicuous. The Sylva Caledonia, or Caledonian Foreft, began a little north of Sterling.

Several of the Scottish kings refided in this place. The palace is ftill ftanding, a fquare building, ornamented on three fides with pillars refting on grotefque figures projecting from the wall, and on the top of each pillar is a ftatue, feemingly the work of fancy.

Near it is the old parliament houfe, a large room 120 feet long, very high, with a timbered roof, and formerly had a gallery running round the infide. Below the caftle are the ruins of the palace belonging to the earls of Mar, whose family had once the keeping of this fortrefs., A confiderable manufacture of coarse carpets is now carried on in Sterling.

A mile fouth of Sterling, is St. Ninian, remarkable only for its church having been the powder magazine of the rebels in 1746; who, on their retreat northward, blew it up in fuch hafte as to deftroy fome of their own people, and about 15 innocent fpe&tators.

Five miles eaft of Sterling is Alloa, a fmall town, but hath a handfome caftic, and a good harbour in the firth of Forth, and feveral coal mines near to it.

The

Eight miles fouth of Sterling, is another town, which though ill built, is worthy of notice, Falkirk. Near this place, anno 1298, the English, under Edward I. defeated the Scots, and January 17, 1746, there was another battle as difgraceful to the English, as the other was fatal to the Scots. firft was a well difputed combat, the laft a panic on both fides; for part of each army flew, the one weft, the other caft; cach carrying the news of their feveral defeats, while the deftruction of our forces, under general Hawley, was prevented by a gallant officer, who with two regiments faced those rebels that kept the field, and prevented any further advantages. Falkirk is fupported by the great fairs for black cattle from the Highlands: about 24,000 arc annually fold there.

350

HA

RECREATION I.

The Card of Divination. AVE a pack, in which there is a longer card than the reft; open the pack at that part where the long card is, and prefent the pack to a perfon in fuch a manner that he will naturally draw that card. He is then to put it into any part of the pack, and fhuffle the Cards. You take the pack and offer the fame card in like manner to a fecond or third perfon; obferving, however, that they do not ftand near enough to obferve the ́card each other draws. You then draw feveral cards yourself, among which is the long card; and afk each of the parties if his card be among thofe cards, and he will naturally fay yes, as they have all drawn the fame card. You then fhuffle all the cards together, and, cutting them at the long card, you hold it before the first perfon fo that the others may not fee it, and tell him that is his card. You then put it again in the pack, and, fhuffling them a fecond time, you cut again at the fame card, and hold it in like manner to the second perfon, and fo of the reft.

If the first perfon fhould not draw the long card, each of the parties muft draw different cards; when, cutting the pack at the long card, you put thofe they have drawn over it, and, feeming to fhuffle the cards indifcriminately, you cut them again at the long card, and fhew one of them his card. You then fhuffle and cut again in the fame manner, and fhew another perfon his card, and so on; remembering that the card drawn by the laft perfon is the first next the long card; and fo of the others.

This recreation may be perform

4

ed without the long card in the following manner: let a, person draw any card whatever, and replace it in the pack; you then make the pafs, and bring that card to the top of the pack, and fhuffle them without lofing fight of that card. You then offer that card to a fecond perfon, that he may draw it, and put it in the middle of the pack. You make the pafs, and fhuffle the cards a fecond time, in the fame manner; and offer the card to a third person, and so again to a fourth or fifth.

RECREATION II.

The Four Confederate Cards.. You let a perfon draw any four cards from the pack, and tell him to think on one of them. When he returns you the four cards, you dextroufly place two of them under the pack, and two on the top. Under thofe at the bottom you place four cards of any fort, and then, taking eight or ten from the bottom cards, you spread them on the table, and afk the person if the card he fixed on be among them. If he fay no, you are fure it is one of the two cards on the top. You then pafs thofe two cards to the bottom, and, drawing off the lowest of them, you afk if that is not his card. If he again fay no, you take that card up, and bid him draw his card from the bottom of the pack. If the perfon fays his card is among those you firft drew from the bottom, you must dextroufly take up the four cards that you put under them, and, placing thofe on the top, let the other two be the bottom cards of the pack, which you are to draw in the manner before defcribed.

Defcription

ON

N the fpot where thefe elegant buildings are erected was antiently a manfion belonging to the bishop of Durham, which was afterwards converted into buildings and wharfs, and called by the name of Durham-Yard. But the whole place having become in a very ruinous condition, three brothers of the name of Adam agreed with the duke of St. Alban's for the ground, and converted it into one of the most elegant pile of buildings within the metropolis. The great descent to the river that ran down Durham-Yard is removed, by these building being raised on strong lofty arches, whereby a street is formed at the eastend, which runs in a direct line from the Strand to the river. Fronting the Thames is a most beautiful row of houses, between which and the river is a very spacious terrace, fecured by very handfome iron rails. Another ftreet extends between the river and the Strand, parallel to the Terrace, which leads into Yorkbuildings; and in this ftreet is a very handfome edifice used by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Com

merce. At the western extremity of this ftreet is another that leads to the west-end of the Terrace. The end and centre houses are particularly handsome, and are diftinguifhed by being ornamented with pilafters and cornices of artificial tone. The vaults under the houses are so exceeding extensive, that they are converted into ranges of warehouses, coach-houfes, and ftables, with proper fubterraneous communications referved between, enlightened by wells in the back yards between the houses above. From the old entrance to DurhamYard is a wide arch-way for carriages under the houses down to the warehouses, and to a spacious wharf below the Terrace: and there is another entrance that opens to the street on the fide next YorkBuildings. The fummits of the arches fronting the river are adapted as counting-houses for the warehouses below; or as kitchens to the oppofite houses above. From the Terrace is a beautiful view of the river between the bridges at Black-Friars and Westminster; as also a very extenfive profpect of the adjacent fields in the county of Surrey.

Ο

UR learned and celebrated phyfician was defcended from a diftinguished family in Buckinghamshire, and born at Stepney, August 2, 1673. His father, Mr. Matthew Mead, was held in great esteem as a divine among the prefbyterians, and was poffeffed, during their ufurped power, of the

living of Stepney; from whence he was ejected the second year after the restoration of king Charles II. Neverthelefs, though he had fifteen. children, of whom our Richard was the feventh, he found means with a moderete fortune, to give them a complete education. To this purpofe he kept a tutor in his

2 Y 2

house