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20 Tour of the Austrian Archdukes in Great Britain in 1815-16. [Aug. 1,

panied us to the Castle, where the Governor, and several officers of the staff, live; it is also used as barracks, arsenal, &c. Here they shew the room in which the crown of Scotland was formerly preserved. The Lord Provost and two other persons have the keys to the chamber; which has not been opened for many years, for fear of not meeting with every thing which should be found there. It is believed that the crown has been taken to England, lest the sight of it should make the Scotch repent of their union.* It is supposed that their removal took place in the time of one of the rebellions in the years 1715 or 1745; and this supposition seems pretty well founded, as since that time no more has been said of it.

From a terrace, which is equal to the height of the roof, we enjoyed the panoramic view of Edinburgh; and here the singular situation of the city is very striking. You have a view over the double town united by a bridge. The landscape which the eye commands is very fruitful, and adorned with gardens and country scats. You see to the North the harbour and the town of Leith; to the East the hill which bears the name of Arthur's Seat, has the form of a flattened cone eight hundred feet high; on the South and SE. the prospect is bounded by the unfruitful chain of the Pentland Hills.

On the 4th we began our visits, accompanied by the Lord Provost, at the whisky distillery of Messrs Younger and Co. a remarkable and very extensive manufactory. The motion required in it, is produced by a steam engine made in Edinburgh itself upon Watt's principles. We saw it at work: it is of fifty or sixty horse power. It puts a malt mill in motion, which occupies a building of four stories. The same steam engine raises the sacks to the roof, through square openings which are closed by trap doors: two sacks are raised together and open the trap doors, which close after them; when they reach the top they are taken off, and the ropes let down again.

The grain is ground in six or eight scuttles, and the malt then conveyed with the necessary quantity of water into four great coppers: here it is stirred round with a mash fork, the handle of

It has since been found with the old Regalia of Scotland in the Castle; so that it is curious to observe, that even Princes fall into the same vulgar errors with common travellers.-ED.

which passes through the lid of the copper: from these first coppers the fluid is conveyed by pipes into two others to be boiled, from which it is conducted by a pipe into another copper. In the last pipe there is a kind of sieve, which only admits through it the quite clear liquid, and the malt is afterwards taken out with shovels. Several pumps raise the fluid up to the roof of another building, which is open on one side, where it is received in two large reservoirs, and stirred round with a mash fork. For the purpose of fermentation, the fluid is conveyed into great vats, one of which is an iron one: these vats fill two very large rooms.

The distillation is made in four large retorts, or rather kettles; they are not above three or four inches deep, and have lids, which afford an easy issue to the smoke. The malt which has already fermented is put into the two largest; to prevent its burning, it is kept in constant motion by means of metal chains, which are stirred about at the bottom of the kettle.

Each of these retorts contains from 9 to 10,000 gallons. The instrument to stir the malt is set in motion, like the mills, by the steam engine. The greatest care must be taken that the retort does not remain dry a moment, it is therefore constantly filled up. A great fire is kept up under it. A retort which contains 43 gallons, distils in two minutes and three quarters, without hurting the brandy, which flows in a large and rapid stream. The coolers are of wood; and stand out of the house. The brandy, after being once distilled, is raised by pumps, worked by men, into two other retorts, where it is distilled a second time. The distillery furnishes daily 3000 gallons of rectified brandy. Barley and Spelt are the species of corn used. The brandy is put into large casks, which are gauged by an excise officer, for the levying of the duties. An idea may be formed of the extent of this distillery, when we are told that the duties paid by the proprietors amount to 600,000l. † sterling

species of grain split.—ED. Spelt is not a species of corn, but any

The German editor of the Princes' notes, thinks that the 10,000 gallons mentioned as the contents of a retort or copper should be 1000; and in the sum that a similar addition of a cipher by the transcriber has caused 300,000l. to be mentioned as the duty paid instead of 30,0001. which he thinks more likely.

1818.] Tour of the Austrian Archdukes in Great Britain in 1815-16. 21

per anum. The produce of this distillery is entirely consumed in England. The same distillery is not allowed to work for two kingdoms, but must chuse between them: those which work for England, pay here (in Scotland) but small duties; but on the other hand they bear all the English duties. The Scotch distillers are distinguished for their skilfulness in the rapid boiling and evaporation of the fluid; and they effect this by the use of broad and shallow vessels. In proportion as the government raises the duty on the kettles, they are made of larger dimensions, so that more brandy is distilled without paying a higher duty. This distillery is the property of two brothers, who have employed a very large capital in it.

From the manufactory of Messrs. Younger and Co. we went to the building called Heriot's Hospital; which however in fact is not an hospital, but an establishment for the education of the sons of poor citizens, where the children are maintained, clothed and taught. This establishment was founded in the reign of James the Sixth, by a goldsmith, who bequeathed his whole property, amounting to 23,6251. sterling for the purpose. This capital, which then brought in 10 per cent, increased in twenty years to 70,5851. and has greatly augmented since that time.

The building is of considerable extent and resembles an old castle: a hundred and seventy boys are educated in it; who are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and latin. Those who are to prosecute their studies at the University receive 101. a year for four years, and those who learn a business receive 301. when they leave the house. They are received from the age of seven to that of ten years, and they remain on the establishment till their fourteenth year. The children look cheerful and healthy; and their rooms are kept clean and in good order.

Opposite to this establishment stands a similar one, founded by George Watson, for the sons of merchants and tradesmen. The city contains also two establishments of the same kind for girls, besides many hospitable and benevolent institutions. In one of these, patients whose cases do not require them to be admitted into the hospital, can receive advice and medicines gratis four times a week.

The New College, in which is the University, lies in the Old Town. The old building being too small, they are

erecting a new one, which will be very handsome and extensive, and for which Parliament has granted the annual sum of 12,000l. sterling for six years.

This University was founded in the reign of James the Sixth, in the year 1581. At the beginning, the number of professors was small; but the city magistrates took great pains to procure distinguished men, and the flourishing state of the University was the happy result of their exertions. In the year 1789, the number of the students amounted to 1100; it has since annually increased and at the time of our visit it was 1708. Doctors Black, Cullen, Blair, and Robertson, have done honour to this University. At present it has among its professors of the mathematics Mr. Leslie, celebrated for his fine experiment on the freezing of water, by evaporation in a vacuum; Mr. Jameson, professor of natural philosophy, is a pupil of our celebrated Werner; Mr. Hope, professor of chemistry, has always between five and six hundred hearers. Mr. Dugald Stewart, the professor of philosophy, was in the country: we heard a great deal in praise of him, and also of Mr. Coventry, the professor of agriculture.

A house was building for the Academical Museum, of which the collections are indeed crowded into too small a space. There is in this museum a fine mammoth's head, and a remarkable collection of Scotch birds. The mineralogical collection is unusually rich, and possesses, among other things, a fine series of the volcanic products of Vesuvius, presented to the University by Professor Thomson.

The medical lecture room is very handsome, and is lighted from above. In an adjoining cabinet there is an uncommonly fine stuffed hippopotamus; it is in perfect preservation, and about nine feet long: the animal is said to have been very young,

The University Library is a year older than the University itself. It was founded in 1580 by Clement Little, and has been greatly augmented by donations. It contains many rare and curious articles: among others, the original of the marriage contract between Mary Stuart and the Dauphin: the original protest, signed and sealed by five hundred Bohemian and Moravian noblemen, against the Council of Constance, and the condemnation of John Huss, in the year 1417. It possesses likewise some Oriental MSS.

22

A Story about Nothing.

We next went to Holyrood House, the ancient palace of the Kings of Scotland. It is situated on the East side of the Old Town, and forms a large square. At present it is inhabited by some of the nobility, the Marquis of Douglas, Lord Dunmore, &c. A great hall, adorned with the portraits of the Kings of Scotland, is used for the election of Peers to serve in Parliament. A particular interest is excited by the apartments formerly inhabited by Queen Mary Stuart, in which all the furniture has remained unchanged ever since. There are two rooms, each with a closet adjoining. The red damask curtains, bordered with green fringe, have suffered by time and are much damaged: the Queen's arm-chair, harpsichord and toilet, on the other hand, are in good preservation. Next to her room is the cabinet in which she was at supper in the company of the Countess of Argyle, and of Rizzio, when Lord Darnley entered at the head of the conspirators, and dragged the unhappy favourite into the bed-chamber, where he was murdered. In this room they shew a trap-door leading to the private staircase, by which the murderers entered. On the floor they pointed out some drops of blood, which, as we heard, are fresh painted every year. In one of the rooms there is a picture of Lord Darnley; and in a closet a glove is preserved, which is said to have belonged to him. They also shew a small oil painting of the Queen. Near the palace there is a chapel in the Gothic style, but in a very ruinous state. It contains some monuments: a very old one of white marble, made in Italy, is shewn in the tower, and considered as a curiosity, from its having escaped destruction in the numerous civil wars. We were told of a singular privilege of this palace, in which debtors who cannot satisfy their creditors, find an asylum from prosecution by them.

(To be continued.)

A STORY ABOUT NOTHING.
MR. EDITOR,

THE great encouragement which selfbiography has met with of late years, induces me, though hitherto a stranger to your magazine, to solicit the indulgence of a page or two for my strange and eventful history. With regard to ancestry, that most essential and flattering point in all records of this kind, I may presume without vanity to challenge any historian of his own life and times to

compete with me. It would be an end

[Aug. 1,

less labour to set about tracing my origin through all the labyrinths of the dark ages, since even the Chinese and the Bramins, who make a boast of being in possession of indubitable registers of their respective nations extended to millions of years, are obliged to confess that my family is still more ancient. At an early period, and indeed as far back as I can recollect, an inroad was made upon the greatest part of the paternal estate by the fiat of the supreme lord; in conse quence of which a younger brother of mine was put in possession of a very extensive domain, which was cultivated and colonized for him solely at my expense. This you may weil suppose could not but prove extremely mortifying to one of my indolent temper, whose only pleasure has ever been of the negative kind, in the enjoyment of rest and quietness. But this change in affairs put me to the shifts, and having been so long unused to any thing like active life, I was unable to contend with the new colonists, who made continual encroachments upon that part of the old estate which remained in my possession. These vexations were very hard to be borne, but after some time I had the satisfaction to perceive that the restless beings whom I dreaded at first as my greatest enemies were easily to be converted into good friends and even subjects. Of this an evidence soon appeared in their readiness to abide by my decision in most of their disputes; the consequence of which never failed to be a protracted contest till neither party knew the occasion of the quarrel. My influence being thus established soon spread and became paramount in the most important of human concerns. To such a degree was this carried at last, that the people made me an object of their idolatry, under various denominations according to the ingenuity of those who had the address to profit by the general credulity. The most splendid edifices were erected to my honour, and altars smoked with victims at early morn and dewy eve, to propitiate my favour. Nay even the sages who affected to treat me with contempt, who boasted of superior light and made it their business to instruct men in the principles of philosophy, were so much my debtors for the greatest part of their boasted wisdom, as to accuse one another of downright ignorance, or in plain terms with being my most intimate acquaintance. It is not a little remarkable that while these men laid it down for a maxim that ex nihilo nihil fit, they actually should overthrow their

1818.]

A Story about Nothing.

favourite position by ascribing to an ideal point, having neither form nor dimensions, and consequently no existence out of the mind, the generation of all lines by which superficies are measured, and all solids in which substantial matter is contained. In like manner when these profound calculators wanted to discover some unknown quantities in the complexity of numbers, they were under the necessity of calling me to their assistance, by substituting an imaginary sign with which they were enabled to work, as with a real power, whose talismanic operations alone could unfold satisfactorily the recondite mystery. Thus it appears that the most certain of all the sciences depends materially upon my aid, and that without it the most operose investigations could not be effected. But if this be true in regard to the doctrine and practice of mathematical analysis, it is no less so in dialectics and metaphysics. In this airy region, indeed, I may be said to reign without a rival, for though there have never been wanting refractory spirits to contest my legitimacy, none of them ever ventured to call in question my actual existence, being aware that in doing this they would destroy all title to the castles which they have presumed to erect within my dominions. Like the feudal lords these founders of systems became extremely arbitrary, and to say the truth their followers have been no less violent in defending the dignity and principles of their respective chiefs against all who presumed to think for themselves. At one period this intellectual strife was carried to the most extravagant pitch, and universities waged war against each other with the most infuriate animosity, according as the Thomists or the Scotists, the Nominalists or the Realists obtained a footing in these learned societies. Whenever these subtile disputants were hard pressed to explain their meaning they invented new dialects, by which means my authority became more confirmed, and was more widely extended, for as the conflicting parties could not comprehend each other's jargon, this was interpreted into a proof that they who coined the most barbarous phraseology had the advantage in argument, and that the knowledge of their opponents amounted to nothing. As the world is readily disposed to be duped by hard words, which either have no fixed signification, or are of so flexible a description as to be easily converted to opposite purposes, it cannot be wondered that

323

the quirks and quibbles, or to speak more technically, the quidlibets and quodcurrency and passed down from the dark libets of the schools, should have obtained ages to an enlightened era, as it is called, with the stamp of truth. Thus for instance the word PAC, upon which my sagacious disputants of old were wont to ring endless changes, still holds its station in the philosophical vocabulary, surrounded with numerous adjuncts, though the principle remains as undefined and inexplicable as it was in the days of Duns Scotus, or the still more profound Raimund Lully. According to one of the ablest and most exact of modern reasoners, “ and yet the same learned philosopher space is not a substance," immediately afterwards gravely enters into an enumeration of all the sensible and operative qualities of this non-entity, which is precisely the same sort of contradiction as that implied in the celebrated question of the schools: "whether accidents may subsist without a subject?"

Of a like kind, and to an equal purport, made use of in respect to those actions are the terms Volition and Necessity that depend upon the determination of the human mind. That such actions by all disputants, but whether the will are necessary per se, is readily allowed of man is at liberty to perform them or not, of its own pleasure, is the knotty point which, after all the contentions it has occasioned, remains undecided. To such a pitch, however, has the spirit of disputation been carried on this and combatants have not scrupled to charge other kindred subjects, that the angry each other with heresy, licentiousness, and even atheism, though neither side could explain their own doctrine without making use of the language and principles of their opponents. The rage for hypothesis in things which are inexplicable rarely fails to seize men of lively fancy when they once approach my territory, where, if they chance to settle for any time, the disorder becomes incurable, and the persons so afflicted with it. presume to set up as world-makers, and reformers of all the irregularities which, in their estimation, deform the present state of the moral and physical system. The earth, according to one philosopher, is nothing more than a spent comet, which, after wandering like an idle vagrant for many ages, became steady at last, and an orderly member of the planetary family. more fertile genius has improved upon Another theorist of a

24

New Systems of Education.

this idea by knocking off a piece of the
sun, with his philsophical hammer, and
sending it through infinite space till the
centrifugal force being exhausted, and
the ignited mass pretty well cooled, it
took a rotatory motion, and in the course
of time became a very comfortable dwell-
ing for innumerable animals that have
been hatched by the heat, like the eggs
of the crocodile in the mud of the Nile,
or those of the ostrich in the sands of
the Desert. Whence originated the germ
of all vegetation and the principle of ani-
mated nature would appear to be a ques-
tion very hard to solve; but your sturdy
theorist is not to be daunted by difficulties
which impede the progress of more patient
enquirers. He can take the universe to
pieces and put it together again with as
much ease and accuracy as the artist
does a chronometer. But this is not all,
for having once framed his scheme, it
becomes an infallible rule by which the
most intricate and perplexing problems
may be easily solved. As a proof of this,
I shall close the present lucubration with
a passage from an enlightened enquirer
of the present day, who has excogitated
a complete, and, to me at least, a very
satisfactory definition of vitality. These
are his words :-
:-

"Could the human eye be rendered sufficiently microscopic to pry distinctly into the minutest integrant particles of animal organization, analogy, derived from the more evolved structure, warrants the conclusion, that every organ would be found essentially different in the disposition, form, number, and proportion of its radical and constituent principles; hence it is fair to infer that the vital power manifested by the property of excitability partakes of the nature and quality of such diversity, and consequently it is allowable to affirm, that the excitability of the brain is modified by the peculiar structure of that organ; the same may be said of all the thoracic and abdominal viscera, likewise of the muscular, nervous, vascular, cuticular, cellular, membranous, ligamentous, and ossific arrangements of animal matter."-" But," continues this most perspicuous physiologist, "although the property of excitability in these dissimilar parts varies, as effects proceeding from different causes, yet similarity in general principle and design, joins and associates every variety in a species of indivisible union, for the purpose of constituting and preserving the integrity of the system, and maintaining the vital and salutary relations of its various organs; hence

[Aug 1,

similar general laws, modified by diversity of structure, govern and consolidate the animal frame, as a compound whole."

According to this mode of accounting for the varieties of animated forms that exist on the globe, it appears that every individual being lay wrapped up in its atomic state till the plastic agency of excitability came with vital power to hatch it into activity. But should any one unluckily demand a precise definition of this principle of excitability, the answer I much fear will be, NOTHING.

NEW SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION.
MR. EDITOR,

In

YOUR Correspondent "D-t," has styled the new school system "that of Lancaster and Bell." This association of names is extremely erroneous; for the new System of Education, or that of Madras, was invented by Dr. Bell only. That venerable character, anxiously engaged, far from his native shores, in superintending an Orphan Asylum, first, and alone, discovered, and reduced to practice that principle by which "a school teaches itself." From 1789 to 1796, Dr. Bell experienced at Madras, the utility of that power of the mind, there originally exerted. An account of his novel experiment, extracted from the records of the Institution, and corroborated by the highest existing authorities in India, was published soon after the arrival of the Dr. in London, in the year 1797. this publication was first developed the principle of the new system, and from hence sprung its name and its qualities. It was not until 1801, after Mr. Watts, in London, and Dr. Briggs, in Kendal, had adopted the system solely from Dr. Bell's little book, that Mr. J. Lancaster opened his school in the Borough. In 1803, Mr. Lancaster published, not a new experiment in education, not a new organ of the human mind for the acquisition and communication of knowledge, but what he modestly terms "Improvements in Education," and without announcing any claim to originality of principle, or detailing any regular code of scholastic administration in conformity to a new principle, he rests contented, with his exposure of what he calls "dunce schools, and drunken schoolmasters," and recommending a scheme of rewards and punishments for children. What he assumed afterwards,

New Monthly Mag. Vol. IX. p. 396

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