more of the airiness and gaiety of Anacreon, than of the ardent and serious sensibility of Tacitus.

THE BEE, vol. iii. p. 326, July 6, 1791.

Of Herodotus, the following pleasing and poetically-drawn character has been given by Mr. Hayley;

-Behold the historic sire!

Ionic roses mark his soft attire ;

Bold in his air, but graceful in his mien
As the fair figure of his favoured queen,*
When her proud galley sham'd the Persian van,
And grateful Xerxes own'd her more than man!
Soft as the stream, whose dimpling waters play,
And wind in lucid lapse their pleasurable way,
His rich, Homeric elocution flows;
For all the Muses modulate his prose:
Though blind credulity his step misleads
Through the dark mist of her Egyptian meads,
Yet when return'd, with patriot passions warm,
He paints the progress of the Persian storm,
In truth's illumin'd field, his labours rear
A trophy worthy of the Spartan spear:
His eager country, in th' Olympic vale,

Throngs with proud joy to catch the martial tale,
Behold! where Valour, resting on his lance,
Drinks the sweet sound in rapture's silent trance,
Then with a grateful shout of fond acclaim,

Hails the just herald of his country's fame !

1

Dionysius affirms of this great Historian, that "he is one of those enchanting writers whom you peruse to the last syllable with pleasure, and still wish for more.”

* Artemisia of Halicarnassus,

On the state of Scotland with regard to Letters.

O Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!

WALTER SCOTT.

As to the state of Scotland with regard to letters, surely no country, either ancient or modern, ever boasted a more brilliant groupe of classical authors than it does at the present period. The works of Robertson, Hume, Dalrymple, Henry, Gillies, Ferguson, Watson, Thomson, Guthrie, Stewart, Pinkerton, in the highest walk of literature, would have done honour to the Augustan age of Rome, or of any other country; and it may be said with truth, that, independent of their superior style of composition, and philosophical view of their subjects, they have made a new epoch in history, by their uncommon attention to authorities, and their research into the archives of Europe, where much important information was reserved for the enlarged views and liberality of the eighteenth century. Possibly, this general remark on the veracity of modern history may suffer an exception in the elegant, philosophic, but sceptic Hume, who had none of those ties

*

upon him which give law to the conscience and veracity of the Christian historian; as he has shewn in his controversy with the respectable and able champion of an unfortunate queen, whom he had too harshly treated. † In the line of ethics, surely, the names of Smith, Hutchison, Ferguson, Reid, Campbell, Blair, Beattie, &c. do equal honour to Caledonia; ‡ nay, it is hard to say what walk of literature has been neglected.

Criticism of late years, and classical learning § in all times, distinguished the north of Tweed; and as to the sciences, the reputation and crowded classics of the Edinburgh university (were there not others in the country) are strong evidences of their flourishing, equal, at least, to any other branch of learning. Even the claim to poetry, to which the genius of the country has been sarcastically supposed not very favourable, is supported by some illus

* William Tyler, esq. of Woodhouselee.

+ Perhaps our ingenious correspondent goes too far here; but every one should judge for himself. EDIT.

‡ In political economy, Smith and Stewart will long occupy a conspicuous place.

Perhaps Scotland is distinguished from other nations, more by the general knowledge of letters among the lower ranks of her people, than by the depth of her classical learning. There is not a person here, among ten thousand, who cannot read, and very few who cannot write and cipher.

trious names. The noble translator of Virgil (Gawen Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld) was unrivalled in the day he wrote; and Buchanan has had no equal since the Augustan age. The Scotch Virgil, too, Thomson, is a phalanx of himself; nor has the modest bard reason to shun competition with his more affluent southern contemporary,* shining in all the splendour of borrowed metaphysics and original caustic wit, whilst poetic imagery, lively description, and painting after nature, shall be held the criterions of that art; nor will I give up our favourite, Allan Ramsay, at the frown of a commercial dictator † (whose censure, by the by, would equally affect Theocritus, the model and father of pastoral); especially as a friend of that truly great man assures us, "that he had neither an ear for music, nor any perception of the sublime and beautiful, in either poetry or prose." Is it possible to pass this subject, without feeling for the hard fate of our great writers, who, after saying so many fine things in their life, are doomed to say so many silly things in their graves. It is a pity Adam

Smith's friend had not extended his remark to another talking spirit, who has filled two quarto

* Pope.

+ Adam Smith, author of the Wealth of Nations.

volumes in his tomb, as it would have accounted for his amazing severity on the northern Homer, Gray, and some other of the most beautiful English poets. Humour, the Scotch have been thought still more destitute of than poetry; but surely no man since the days of the English Cervantes, Hudibras, has been so distinguished for it as Smollet.*

It appears then pretty evident, Mr. Editor, that it is not in letters Scotland is deficient; on the contrary, I have always heard her sister kingdom comment on the general diffusion of learning and morality, in a greater or lesser degree, through all ranks of people; which they attribute to the cheapness of schools, with the constant residence and assiduity of a class of men who do much honour to their cloth and holy mission. I wish we could say as much for the state of commerce, agriculture, and the useful arts in Scotland; † for I am afraid it is

Nor will Arbuthnot be forgotten so long as the Memoirs of Scriblerus shall be read.

My ingenious correspondent will be glad to be told, that in respect to agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, Scotland has advanced more within these last twenty years, than it had done for a century before that; and were those bars removed which impolitic laws have thrown in the way of her industry, this little country bids fair to advance in improvements with a rapidity that has been hitherto equalled, perhaps, in no age or country.