GLASGOW PICTURES-COBBETT ANECDOTE. 287 Titians I have yet seen in England; a Rembrandt, (Lazarus in the tomb), the colouring merely black and white, mellowed with yellow, and his usual glorious outline, of the greatest effect. A good Murillo, and I have not seen a bad one yet. Cobbett's prosecution for a libel being mentioned in a company where I happened to be, and his having pleaded his cause himself, as Mr Perry, another writer in the same predicament, had done before him, but with very different success,-somebody said "Cobbett wanted to be Perry, when he ought to have been mum." As it is not in the nature of puns to be translatable, I shall not undertake to convey the very great merits of this one into French, but merely observe en passant, that the nation pensante is by no means insensible to this species of wit. I was surprised to hear the following anecdote respecting David Hume, so well known in France as a grave philosopher and profound metaphysician, and not at all as a jester. He bequeathed to his friend John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, certain excellent Madeira wine, known to be particularly approved of by him, and certain port wine, which he disliked, on condition, (and all this in the will, as I understand) that his friend Home should not taste the former till he had finished the latter, drank it fairly to the last drop. This is surely a very odd joke between philosophers, and on such an occasion. It may have been done in sincere gaieté de cœur ;-there is nothing too fantastical not to be true in this Isle des Sonnettes of Rabelais. In any other country I should think this a mere affectation of contempt of death. David Hume, a very good man in practice, was, as every man knows, a perfect unbe 288 EDINBURGH-HUME-BURNS. liever. It had been the endeavour of his literary life to undermine and shake those opinions of a future life, which are often the support of virtue,the last hope of the unfortunate, the only counterpoise of absolute evil in this world,—and which furnish the only explanation of which it is susceptible. Children sing when they are frightened; and, towards the close of his life, the philosopher might think it expedient to sing also. Close to Edinburgh, on the slope of Calton Hill, the tomb of Hume is shown, a sort of low tower which he himself built in his lifetime, to receive all that was to remain of his existence. "L'immor talité," says Villeterque, "est le songe du dernier sommeil, on ne se reveille pas pour en jouir." Fallacious as the sentiment of immortality seems to some, they still cling to it in some shape, unwilling to let go what they declare has no reality. To them, thought is matter, but then matter is thought; that is to say, a thing so totally different from any of its sensible properties, that it might as well bear another name, and proud would they be to give it that name, and to proclaim a spirit beyond matter, if they could be the first to do so;-proud to ac knowledge the conscious feeling of unperishable life, if the unanimous voice of mankind had not ac knowledged it before them. Burns addressed to a mouse his plough had turned up these lines, of so melancholy and so profound a sense : Still thou art blest compared to me, And forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear. GLASGOW-TRADE FARMS. 289 Deplorable as the uncertainty of our ideas on futurity is already, that ambition of fame which seeks its gratification in the extinguishment of men's best hopes, is a more effectual curse to them, than the vulgar ambition of conquering fame. I understand there is more of the reforming spirit observable at Glasgow than at Edinburgh. That spirit is scarcely ever found among the people of the country, but only in the large towns, and peculiarly in the manufacturing towns. Their population is exposed to many hard vicissitudes and trials. When trade is prosperous, they earn a great deal, live in luxury, and indulge in excesses; at other times they starve, and are consequently turbulent and discontented. Although there may be desirable reforms in the government, the morals of these reformers themselves are more immediately in need of amendment. The condensed population of trading towns has been the hot-bed of liberty, and gave the signal of emancipation among the lower ranks; but the excess of this condensation now generates license. Scotland is, upon the whole, very loyal; and considering how lately it has lost its former independence, or rather separate sovereignty, and how many things remain to perpetuate the recollection of it, there is some reason to be surprised that the Scots should appear more attached to the British government, more quiet and obedient, than even the English themselves. Why should Ireland present a spectacle so totally different? A gentleman who has a farm near Glasgow, has sold the crop of a field of potatoes at something more than L. 30 sterling an acre, in the ground, and to be taken up by the purchaser. This appears prodigious; and if there is so much advantage in 290 GLASGOW-INCOME-TAX. the cultivation of potatoes, one would suppose it would be soon so extended as to bring the returns of a field of potatoes nearer on a par with that of a field of wheat. The income-tax on lands (one-tenth) is raised on the rent, when the land is let, and when the proprietor is his own farmer, the rent is estimated by the general value of land, and not by the actual proceeds. Such is the prodigious increase of industry here, that such lands as would have let sixty years ago at 2s. an acre, bring now four guineas, (forty-two times), and the rent is paid with more facility, certainty, and regularity than formerly. Scotch farmers are said not to be so blindly attached to old exploded methods, as those of England, and are more disposed to profit by modern discoveries; but the great cause of their success is to be attributed to the frugality, perhaps a little sordid, of these people, and their indefatigable industry. They win the race, as the tortoise did with the hare. Immense supplies of wheat and flour have arrived at Greenock lately, and more is expected, which will arrive too late, for the crop is tolerable, and prices falling. I am assured more corn came from France in the space of a few weeks last spring, than there ever was imported from America in any one year. The great surplus of subsistence which allows such exportations of grain, must arise either from a very flourishing state of agriculture, or from a lessening population. In the United States the population follows so close on the means of subsistence, as never to leave any great surplus for exportation. The inhabitants of this town have raised a monument to the glory of Nelson; an obelisk of 150 feet GLASGOW DRESS-CANAL-HOUSES. 291 high, from a design of Mr Craig's, scarcely finished. It has just been struck with lightning, and the effect is very singular. Several large stones have been nearly torn out near the top, and hold only by one end, like a door turning upon its hinges. The state of the obelisk is so threatening, as to make it a dangerous undertaking even to take it down. August 26-We have taken leave of our Glasgow friends this morning with some regret, and in hopes of meeting again before we leave Scotland. Being Sunday, we saw many women in and near town, walking to church in their best apparel, and really very neatly dressed. White gowns, shawl, black velvet bonnet, gloves, and an umbrella, absolutely walking bare-footed in the mud, very composedly, with their shoes and stockings in their hands. This custom is defended as clean, for they must wash their feet,-as wholesome, for they are sure of having dry shoes and stockings,-and it is certainly saving. Between Glasgow and Dumbarton, we saw the great canal, which comes into the Clyde near the latter place, uniting the east with the west coast; it is 35 miles in length, between the Forth and the Clyde; rising in this interval to a total height of 160 feet, by means of 39 locks. It admits vessels drawing 8 feet of water, 19 feet wide, and 73 long, passing over a number of vallies by means of aqueducts. The principal one is 65 feet high and 420 feet long. This fine canal, finished about twenty years ago, cost only L 200,000. great military canal, which, like this, traverses Scotland from one sea to the other, that is to say, from Inverness to Fort-William, cost three times as much, although its utility is doubted. The Gentlemen's houses appear full as numerous |