of his dearest companion offering such an insult; who was forward in all the fashionable follies of the time; who disregarded the interests of society, or the good of mankind, if they interfered with his own vici ous selfish pursuits and pleasures. At this period, the daughters of many tradesman consumed their mornings at the toilette, or in strolling from shop, to shop, &c. Many of them would have blushed to have been seen in a market. The cares of the family were devolved upon a housekeeper, and a young lady employed those heavy hours when she was disengaged from public or private amusements in improving her mind from the precious stores of a circulating library; and all, whether they had taste for it or not, were taught music. Such was the danger at this time to which unprotected females were exposed, that the mistresses of boarding-schools found it pecessary to advertise that their young ladies were not permitted to go abroad without proper attend ants. In 1783 the weekly concert began at seven o'clock; but it was not, in general, well attended. The morality of stage plays, or their effects on society, were never thought of, and the most crowded houses were always on Saturday night. The boxes for the Saturday night plays were generally taken for the season, and strangers on that night could seldom procure a place. The galleries never failed to applaud what they for merly would have hissed as improper in sentiment or decorum. The public assemblies met at eight and nine o'clock, and the lady directress some times did not make her appearance, till ten, The young masters and misses, who would have been more tified not to have seen out the ball, thus returned home at three or four in the morning, and yawned, and gaped, and complained of headachs all the next day. In 1783 the accommodation of the inhabitants of Edinburgh was splendid, and the houses in the New Town unrivalled in elegance. The city had extended so much, that it covered twice the extent of ground it formerly did. The stage-coaches to Leith and other parts were tripled, and no less than fifteen every week set out for London, and reached it in sixty hours. The hackney coaches at this time were the handsomest in Britain. Coaches and, chaises were constructed as elegantly in Edinburgh as any where in Europe; and many were annually exported to St. Petersburgh, and the cities on the Baltic. The profession of a haberdasher, which was not known in 1763, was now nearly the most common in town. (This profession includes many trades, the mercer, the milliner, the linen-draper, the hatter, the hosier, the glover, and many others.) Perfumers had now splendid shops in every principal street; and some of them advertised the keeping of bears, to kill occasionally, for greasing ladies and gentlemen's hair, as superior to any other animal fat. Hair-dressers were more than tripled in number, and their busiest day was Sunday. An eminent surgeon, who had occasion to walk a great deal in the course of his business, first used an umbrella in Edinburgh, in the year 1780; and in 1783 they were much used. Maid-servants dressed now as fine as their mistresses did in 1763. Almost every genteel family had a man-servant; and the wages were from ten pounds to twenty pounds a year. In 1783, also, a stranger might have been accommodated not only comfortably, but elegantly, at many public hotels; and the person who, in 1763, was obliged to put up with accommodation little better than that of a wag goner or carrier, may now be lodged like a prince, and command every luxury of life. Such are, according to Mr. Creech, the features of the times in 1783. Less rigid, morose, and affected than those of 1763; an ease of manner seems to have been by this time introduced, which characterises an improvement in manners. Of morals, this period, from the foregoing facts concerning the decay of religious principle, the multiplication of the women of the town, of robberies, and the late hours which fashion had introduced, presents not such a pleasing picture. In no respect,' says Mr. Creech, were the manners of 1763 and 1783 more remarkable, than in the decency, dignity, and delicacy of the one period, compared with the looseness, dissipation, and licentiousness of the other. Many people ceased to blush at what would formerly have been reckoned a crime.'-The behaviour of the last age (says Dr. Gregory) was very reserved and stately. It would now be reckoned still and formal. Whatever it was, it had certainly the effect of making them more respected.' Of the leading traits of the manners since that period, the following is a short sketch. The luxury of the table, and the late hours of dinner and amusements, have much increased since 1783. By the more opulent tradesmen and merchants business is little attended to in the afternoon; and the variety of delicacies at their table is, perhaps, equal to what the first cities had in 1763. The company of the ladies is also, as in 1783, much neglected; and the bottle is preferred to the amusements of the drawing-room. Attendance at church, however, was in 1735 fashionable, and a universal interest was excited with regard to religion. The large building of the Circus, which had been erected in 1788 for equestrian performances, and in 1792 converted into a playhouse, was now occupied as a place of worship; and considerable sums of money were subscribed for sending missionaries to convert the heathen in foreign lands. At this time religious zeal was so universal, that even some of the servants of Satan, the players themselves, be came ministers of the gospel. Sunday, however, was not so rigidly observed as in 1763, and is still continued by many to be held as a day of relaxation. Whether familyworship was much attended to in the period we are speaking of we have not ascertained, but public prayers were more frequent than before. Religious societies were also formed for propagating the gospel at home; places of worship, called tabernacles, were built; the Scottish capital was inundated with different preachers from England; and from it, as a centre, missionaries were issued to every part of the country. One of the most elegant amusements of the metropolis, the concerts at St. Cecilia's Hall, was at this time given up; and the hall itself was, and is still, occupied as a place of worship. Visiting and catechising their parishioners is by the clergy at this time (1805) almost entirely given up, excepting among the dissenters; and these, too, do not officially visit so often as formerly. People of fashion' do not frequent the church as often as a few years ago. The wages of journeymen, since 1793, has been much increased, and nearly doubled since that time. Housebreakings and robberies at present are rate; Vide Edinburgh Missionary Maga-" zine, Vol. I. and the execution of criminals seldom occurs in Edinburgh. If the terror of ecclesiastical punishments, the repenting stool, and public satisfuction to the kirk, did not preci-, pitate unfortunate women into the unnatural crime of child-murder, perhaps a series of years might be mentioned in which there was no capital offence committed in Scotland. Public cock-fighting matches are now nearly given up in the city; and this barbarous amusement, it is hoped, will soon be laid aside for ever. Of the fine fellow of 1805, it is difficult to strike the peculiar likeness. Less accomplished than those of 1763, and without many of the vices of those of 1783, the fine fellow of the present day is rather an object of laughter than censure, of pity rather than approbation. He can drive a coach full of ladies equal to the most experienced coachman, does not often overturn the carriage, and very seldom rides down old people or children. As a genealogist he equals the Highlander or Welshman; can trace the pedigree of Goldfinder through a hundred de scents, and enumerate all the dams, grand-dams, and great-grand-dams, with the most fluent accuracy. He is a skilful physiognomist; can tell the good or bad qualities of a horse at first sight; and in the refined employments of the stable can vie with the most expert groom or stable-boy. With regard to religion, unless he acquires it in the Racers' Kalendar, or Taplin's Farriery, he has no opportunity of knowing any thing about it. But in other parts of education he is not deficient: he excels in those tropes or figures of speech which the vulgar call swearing; and his method of arguing is much more simple and convincing than the analytic or synthetic modes of the schools. By this mode (bet ting) he could argue with a philosopher, and come off victorious, unless the philosopher, were richer than he. As for the fair sex, the elegant society of the stable is preferable, in his estimation, to that of the drawing-room; and the lounge among brother fine fellows in the coffeehouse, or tavern, is superior to the company of the ladies, in whose conversation his accomplishments do not enable him to bear a part. He pays his debts of honour much in the same manner as the fine fellow of 1783, can drink three bottles of wine, can kick the waiter, and knock down watchmen with a good grace. In short, the fine fellow of the present day is neither calculated to add much to virtue by his good qualities, nor to increase vice by his bad ones. Balls and concerts are conducted much in the same manner as in 1783, except that, perhaps, later hours become more fashionable. In the theatre, though loose expressions may still be applauded by the upper gallery, yet by the other parts of the audience they are always reprobated. Of the present manners of the female sex, the improvement is certainly striking. Though the young ladies are seldom to be seen at market, or, perhaps, do not interest themselves much in the management of household affairs, yet we may pronounce them superior to those of 1763, or 1783. Music, dancing, and a grammatical knowledge of their own, and of the French and Italian languages, are essential parts of modern female education; and though the making of pastry, jellies, and gooseberry wine, are not held of so much importance as they appear to have been in the first of these periods, yet they are not even now totally neglected. As domestic conveniences, the ladies of 1805 may possibly be inferior to those of 1763; but as accomplished companions they are certainly far their superiors. The accommodation, in every respect, is better now than at any former period. The Edinburgh inns and hotels equal those of any city in elegance and ready service; and if the manners of the people are not so perfect as might be wished, they are at least as good as could be expected in a city where wealth and luxury give so many temptations to corruption and vice. The gentleman of 1753 seems to have been so much under the re him straint of rules, which regulated all his periods of amusement, as to leave little exercise of thought, very or allow him little liberty of consulting his own ease. In 1783 this stiffness was thrown off, ease and familiarity occupied its place, but vice and folly seem to have predomito have predominated. In 1805 this ease and freedom of manner continues; but, to the honour of the times, vice is not so prevalent as it is related to have been in 1783. The ladies have also much changed since 1753, but that change has been for the better. At that period they were good housewives and nurses, and, perhaps, nothing else; but in 1783 and 1785, if they have lost something of these qualities, they have made it suffi. ciently up by improving themselves in all that can be expected or wished in an interesting agreeable companion. so richly merit, and as we are certain that our fair Readers will ever be stow their admiration, and, in the event of their fall, the tenderest commiseration, on their gallant defenders, we here insert some brief notices of two spirited and able officers, who have lately fallen heroically in the service of their king and country. Colonel Vassall, the gallant hero who so gloriously fell at the assault on Monte Video, leading on the brave thirty-eighth, was one of the younger sons of the late American loyalist of that name, who re ment that he could assist the royal mained in America to the last mo cause.--When a further struggle for his king would have been ineffectual, he sought an asylum in England, supporting an honourable independ which alone remained to him from ence upon a West India property, the revolution. Notwithstanding he had a numerous family, and had sufadherence to the mother country, fered great personal losses by his his high and noble spirit would not permit him to receive any remuneration for the sacrifices which he receiving back from government the had made, contenting himself with advances which he had made for them nestly pressed by lord George Gerwhilst in America. On being ear main to bring back forward his claims, he modestly answered, 'It shall never be said that I emigrated from my own country to become a burthen to this.'-So ardent was his attachment to the best of kings, that COLONEL VASSALL AND CAP. his family motto being of the repub TAIN KENT, OF THE MARINES. AS we would wish to contribute our share of national gratitude, which brave men who nobly sacrifice their lives in the defence of their country lican form, he would never use it. Such was the father, such the bright example of the gallant colonel Vasto the long list of British patriots sall, who has just added another name and died for their country. This and British heroes, who have fought brave officer commenced his milie tary career in the year 1779, at twelve years of age, and served in the fifty-ninth regiment of foot at the siege of Gibraltar. He was singularly unfortunate in not obtaining promotion commensurate to his un, disputed abilities, although he purchased step by step; and it was not until early in 1800 that he obtained a lieutenant-colonelcy, and in 1801 he took the command of the thirty-eighth regiment, and went with it to Ireland, to receive 1000 drafts from the British militia: so active, indefatigable, and zealous was he to render this regiment worthy of himself, that although fresh recruited, in the space of a few months it was ordered by sir William Meadows on Dublin duty. -The general was pleased to declare publicly, that the thirty-eighth was not excelled by any regiment in the service; and from that time to its sailing for the Cape it was considered the Crack Regiment' of Ireland. The soldiers, their wives and children, looked up to colonel Vasall as their father. In return for this affectionate confidence, his highest felicity, next to that of serving his country, was in attending to their wants and adding to their comforts, or in relieving their necessities. Colonel Vassall was in the WestIndies, and on every expedition (Egypt alone excepted) either with his regiment or on the staff, the two last wars. He was field-officer of the night, on the memorable twenty-third of July, in Dublin. His cool determined conduct on that occasion gained him the thanks of the Irish government, and the ap plause of the general officers em ployed. His firmness on that night preserved his life for a short time longer, to bless his family, and do honour to his country. Colonel Vassall had the honour of serving VOL. XXXVMI. under the separate command of several distinguished generals, among whom were the late marquis Cornwallis, sir Ralph Abercrombie, Be resford, &c. &c. who knew and justly appreciated his merits. His private life was adorned with all the virtues, all the charities. His public life was one unbroken series of devotion to his sovereign and his country He loved his family; for he was the best of husbands, the best of parents.-He loved his king, his kindred, his country, and his God. If he had one failing, it was a too great diffidence of his own transcendent abilities. In him the country has lost one of its brightest ornaments, the army one of its choicest flowers. But the loss of his disconsolate widow and the dear pledges of their mutual undivided love is irreparable. CAPTAIN KENT of the MARINES. CAPTAIN Rodolphus Kent, of the royal marines, belonging to his majesty's ship the Canopus, was the son of Sober Kent, esq. late mayor of Cork. From his earliest youth he evinced a brave and enterprising disposition, and when he was about fourteen entered into the corps of marines, in which he served with honour to himself for the space of six-and-twenty years, till he gloriously fell on the evening of the twenty-seventh of February last, in a gallant but unsuccessful attack on the Turks, on the island of Prota, near Constantinople. At the commencement of the former part of the arduous contest in which we have so long been engaged with France, he served on board the Pomona, under sir John Borlase Warren, and was with him on the expedition to Quiberoon. He was afterwards appointed adjutant to the. Portsmouth division of marines, in Nn |