great dimensions and princely air; while, from every point round Edinburgh, it would afford an inestimable variety to the level surface of the New Town. And if it be objected, that the column would be sunk into insignificance by the mass of St George's rising immediately behind, the recollection of the obelisk in front of St Peter's, which preserves its altitude notwithstanding the colossal dome before which it stands, will immediately occur to the travelled observer. In the fourth place, we understand that the governors of Heriot's Hospital have, with their usual liberality, offered ground for the site of this monument, immediately in front of the New Terrace, about to be constructed on the northern side of the Calton Hill. This situation certainly has many advantages. Independently of being placed in front of what will be by far the handsomest terrace in Edinburgh, and of being surrounded by beautiful public gardens, it will form a most prominent object on the great London road, which is forming on the northern side of the hill, and become a central point in the New Town, which is projected in that quarter. Nor is it perhaps to be entirely forgot ten, that on this point, it would not only be conspicuous from the whole northern side of the town, but would form a leading object from the sea, where the sailors who have so liberally contributed to this work of art, may have an opportunity of contemplating the monument which their exertions have raised. If none of these situations be selected, we conceive the pillar might be placed with great effect in the point where Frederick Street intersects George Street; and perhaps there is no situation in which its effect could be more admirable. To those who recollect how great an improvement the portico of the Assembly Rooms made on the uniform line of this street, it is unnecessary to dwell on the advantages which this superb column would confer. These are a few situations which have occurred to ourselves, as well fitted for the proposed edifice; and we have no doubt, that on some of them the committee would have no difficulty in placing it. Any of them appears to be preferable to that which has been proposed in Melville Street, where it neither could form an ornament to any approach of the city, nor combine with any of its finest features, or most striking scenes. And we most earnestly request the attention of the very distinguished gentlemen who compose the committee to this subject; and from the knowledge which we have of the taste and judgment of many of them, we are sure that if they take it up with a right feeling and in good earnest, they will come to a determination, certainly satisfactory to their fellow-citizens. Since the preceding pages were written, we have heard with mingled grief and astonishment, that the committee have, by a meeting on the 9th current, resolved on erecting the Monument at the end of Melville-street; and that this was done both after the whole objections to its being placed in St Andrews-square were withdrawn by those who had formerly made them, and in spite of a most vigorous and public spirited resistance on the part of many of the leading characters in our city. That the centre of St Andrew-square is out of all doubt the most eligible situation that could be obtained, is too obvious for illustration; and we have mentioned the preceding ones on the supposition of its being irretrievably lost. In common with all persons interested in the improvement of the metropolis, we deplored the narrow motives or utter want of taste which prompted the resistance which was formerly made to its being put in that admirable situation; and in proportion to our former indignation, is our gratitude to the individuals who have now, from a sense of their error, come forward and abandoned it. It is a strong indication of the force of public sentiment, and of the progress which good feeling and right views have made amongst us; for it is not to be forgotten, that to retract an error is a nobler measure than to abstain from it; and that many men who would never have opposed a public improvement, have not sufficient magnanimity, when that opposition has been begun, to abandon it. But in proportion to our gratitude for this public-spirited amende honourable on the part of the St Andrewsquare proprietors, is our grief for the want of taste or momentary predomi nance of splenetic feeling, with which this offer has now been refused. That the members of the naval committee should feel no inclination to promote the ornament of a square, from the proprietors of which they have formerly received such ill treatment, we can easily understand; and we readily and fully enter into their wish, to be guided by their own judgment, in selecting the site of an edifice towards the construction of which they have principally contributed. But we cannot understand, why, in the prosecution of this feeling, they should defeat their own objects, and deliberately sacrifice for ever, the noble Monument, to which they have so essentially contributed, to the gratification of momentary ill-humour. Let them recollect that, while they think they are making others feel the effects of their resentment, they are in fact punishing themselves and the whole contributors, with whose interests they are entrusted; and that centuries after the petty squabbles about St Andrew-square are buried in the oblivion they deserve, the succeeding generations of our country will continue to lament the unfortunate situation in which, from that circumstance, they have buried one of its finest ornaments. Let them recollect, too, that the fame of Lord Melville is destined to survive all momentary or party dissensions; and that they will ill discharge their duty, as the erectors of a Monument to his memory, if they suffer themselves to be guided by any consideration less permanent than those with which posterity will regard his patrio tie services. We cannot anticipate, however, that this hasty and ill-advised resolution of the committee will be adhered to. Between this and the 1st of April, when the foundation of the Monument is to be laid, we ardently hope that the matter will be reconsidered, and an opportunity taken of collecting the opinions of men of taste on the situation which should be adopted. We are induced to trust in this, from the good sense and gentleman-like feeling of the members of this committee, when their cool judgment is permitted to operate. And if they can discover a single person, versed in the fine arts, and alive to the beauties of architecture, unconnected with the squabbles which have occurred in regard to this edifice, who will support the proposed situation, we shall willingly give up our own opinion. Should it however happen, contrary to our hopes and expectations, that this situation is finally adopted, we anticipate one good effect from the measure. When Lord Nelson's fleet was bearing down upon the French, in the bay of Aboukir, the grounding of the Culloden, though it disabled that vessel, with its gallant captain, from bearing a part in that glorious victory, was yet attended with this beneficial effect, that it served as a beacon for the succeeding vessels, to avoid the track which had proved so dangerous. Deplorably, indeed, as all the objects of this Monument will be sacrificed if this situation be adhered to: griev ously as the expectations of all the friends and admirers of Lord Melville will be disappointed, when they discover the obscure site which has been chosen for his Monument; yet this good effect may be anticipated towards our metropolis, that, from the excess of the public regret at this circumstance, we may obtain some security that similar errors in future will not be committed; and that, if monuments to other great men shall ever be erected, they will obtain those conspicuous and prominent situations to one of which he was so fully entitled. And, with a view to the future embellishment of our city, we earnestly hope, that the promoters of all those great and public undertakings which are in contemplation amongst us, will take care, that the persons who are entrusted with their management, are those who are capable of appreciating the merits of architectural design; that they will recollect, that because a man may be a gallant admiral, or a great landholder, it does by no means follow, that he should have the smallest knowledge of subjects of taste; and, that the only means of directing the public spirit of the country to beneficial or splendid purposes, is, to be guided in the choice of situations and designs by persons who have devoted their talents to such subjects, and learned from an acquaintance with foreign countries, the principles on which the embellishment of our own must depend. HORE SCOTICE. No I. The Bondspiell of Closeburn and Lochmaben. THE Seasons have their peculiar and appropriate recommendations, even to boyhood. The bird nests of Spring the fishing excursions of Summer-the nutting holidays of Harvest-and the ice and snow amusements of Winterpresent a continuous play, of four acts, in which boyhood is no idle spectator. How frequently, when the green leaf began to freshen over the saugh, and the hazel, and the goose-berry bush-whilst yet the oak and the ash retained their winter nakednesshave I sallied forth, of a Saturday afternoon, in quest of discoveries-to me as interesting and important as any which a Park or a Humboldt could make; and rushing through thickets, and over briar, and bramble, have detected the very first rudiments of the future nest. How often, when the three or four little blue or spotted eggs, gave all their delightful reality to my view-have I reasoned with as much accuracy, from the effects visible to the cause invisible, as if I had actually caught the parent bird in the attitude of incubation. I have peeped through the separated branches of the hawthorn at the merled neck, and smooth breast of the Maivis, as she continued to eye me steadily, or slipt with noiseless wing from my view, only to linger on an adjoining twig, till my departure. Over the clay-lined nest of the Blackbird, I have watched, till the dam became stupified with staring-suffering me to pass my hand gently along the sooty softness of her back. I have caught the little Wren in its cabin, and felt its impotent, but valorous nibble, as it bumped with its whole littleness against the hollow of my hand. The cleughs, and the cliffs, and the precipices, I have scaled and searched in quest of fiercer natures of the Corbie, the Glede, and the Hawk; and have carried off in my hat, under the curses of parental affection, their screaming and struggling young. The Crow, and the Pyet, could not elude my search, though the one selected the most extreme branch of the loftiest fir-tree, and the other nestled amidst a munition of thorns. Over the heathy-fell I have coursed, in pursuit of the Whaup and the Pease weep, foolishly imagining, that whilst the latter dashed down upon me with sidelong wing, and the other made use of her feet "right nimbly,” in eluding my search, the discovery I was aiming at, would soon be made. The young of the Partridge, too, I have started, whilst the shell yet adhered to their extremities, and have pur. sued, in much simplicity, the seeming ly broken winged and limping mother. In Summer, I have fished, as you already know, up Glenwhargan-in Harvest, I have gathered nuts from the scrogs of Tynron-and in winter, have played, as I did only a few days ago, at " Curling." I Into this train of feeling I have been insensibly led, by the late rapid transition, from all the severe magnificence of a winter storm, to the freshness and exhilarating promise of a relenting, and almost reviving atmos phere. I do not remember any occa sion, on which the powerful influence of a thaw wind was more marked. On the evening immediately preceding the change, the frost continued un usually severe, and the wind which, towards dusk, began to set in westerly, brought along with it, over mount. ain and plain, a penetrating and even suffocating yird-drift. A rich, and as yet unstained drapery, hung suspended from the rock, and the ever-shifting wreath fashioned itself under the shel ter, into varying edgings and ridges. The new moon was descending in silent dimness, looking down mildly and chastely upon the departing sun. There was not as yet the slightest approximation to thaw. During the night, however, it suddenly freshened, and blewin fits and gusts, a perfect hurricane, and on the following morning, the melted snow came down in torrents,the icebergs sounding like discharges of ar tillery; the vale which had but yesterday acknowledged the broom and the cheer of the Curler, now presented one scene of noisy devastation. On the day following the pale and sickly wheat peeped forth under the softening air,-the half famished sheep began to seek, in painful alacrity, the green pasture,-whilst the weather-side of every little eminence looked fresh and inviting. In fact, the revolution of two suns, had conveyed us from the depths of winter, to the very threshold of spring, to call those elastic feelings which precede, as well as accompany this endearing season. But The become jaded with inanity. triumph, too, over his victim, is not of the most manly description possible, as it is founded in cunning, and ac complished in deceit,-a triumph over “Claudite jam rivos pueri sat prata bibe- a victim equally incapable of resistance, runt" I am in danger of overlooking in these beatitudes, my original purpose of giving you some account of a match at Curling. And where can one, after all, find a scene so impressive to a mind open to the suggestions of nature, as that with which the Curler is, of necessity, conversant. Whether he lift his eye to the mountain over which a mantle of snow reposes in folds of marble, and from the brow and over the ravines of which it edges forth into festoons of the most perfect gracefulness, whether he survey the vale around him, crisped by the frost, and sprinkled all over with diamonds,-whether the trees of the neighbourhood attract his notice, presenting their tasselated fringes under the aspect of laburnums in blossom; under all and each of these suppositions, the Curler is placed in circumstances the most favour able to strong emotions to that swell and buoyancy of spirit with which nature, in her more striking at titudes, is sure to visit her worshippers. Fishing is, indeed, a most bewitching amusement, and it would be something approaching to sacrilege in me to under-rate its claims,-but Curling is, undoubtedly, the more manly, and by far the more social of the two. In the former case, one must be alone to enjoy the sport in perfection. There must not be a fishing-rod within sight, behind or in advance, to accelerate or to retard. The Angler must converse with still life-with the streams and the pools, with his lines and his hooks; while his soul sinks into the quietness of thoughtlessness, or whilst it palpitates under anticipated or realized success, the Ox will graze, the Ewe nibble, and the Raven croak unobserved around him. Even "Thought" itself will not unfrequently become teazing, and he will fall insensibly into the entanglements of some meaningless Catch, which will be repeated again and again, till his very soul VOL. VI. and in muirland streams at least, unconscious of danger. In the case of Curling, man is leagued with and opposed to man. It is most essentially social. And whilst it calls into action strength and muscular exertion→→→ whilst it presupposes skill and address, it invigorates the body and braces the mind. What has been beautifully, because justly said of a more serious predicament, is exhibited literally on a Rink. "There the rich and the poor meet together, and the servant is free from his master." This is indeed the Saturnalia of Scotland. There is no amusement, perhaps, more strictly Scottish, as it tends directly to foster that proud reliance on self-which, whilst it aims to secure success in a game, ensures national independence, and ennobles, and protects the throne itself. To govern Slaves is a miserable boast-the Dey of Algiers may share it--but to reign in the hearts of a free and a high-spirited people is, perhaps, the allotment of only "One Individual" under heaven. No wonder then that this game should prevail so generally in Scotland But" latet dolus in generalibus," it may be as well now to present you with a "Match" denominated a "Bon'spiel" of this description (cujus, pars, quanquam non magna fui,) which was played only a few days ago, in the neighbourhood of Lochmaben. My old and excellent friend, the Bard of Ettrick, having, as was perhaps, somewhat rashly surmised a matrimonial arrangement on hand, accompanied me on my southron tour. The inaccessibles and impassibles of wreath, and glen, and mountain which we surmounted, and the breath we expended, and the nerve and sinew we strained almost to collapse, it would be out of place to circumstantiate here. Consider us then as having advanced two days on our pedestrian march-as having paid our respects to the gill-stoup at Lamington-as having renewed our libations in Leadhills, at the "Hopetoun Arms"—and as having, at last * Probably bond-or bonded spiel.-Vide Jamieson. 4 C gained, from the Lauther heights,* an extensive view of the plain below,-of the far-stretching dale of Nith, and of the "Solway" on the extreme distance. Then you must proceed to fancy the Shepherd, stuck up here all at once in the attitude of delighted amazement, perfectly stiff and motionless, as a pointer dog at a dead set; and after you have gone so far with the eyes, it will be necessary that you make use of the ears of your imagination σε θαλασσα θαλασσα OS as sure as day these are, or at least seem to be, the sounds which, in all the accompaniment of doric accent, and " rotundum" have just escaped from the lips, or rather from the "palate" of our entranced poet. Can it be possible is the age of Balaam restored-or has the spirit of Apostolic inspiration visited our bard-and is he about to woo his "Chloe," in the language of the Greek, the Mede, and the Elemite! I should sooner have expected to meet with dulness in the writings of my friend Morris, or ideality in the cranium of common-place Terrot, than to have heard the exclamation of the "ten thousand" applied by my fellow traveller, to the Solway Frith. Upon further investigation, however, which, in the present excited state of the poet's mind, was no easy task, I discovered, not directly indeed, but by implication, that an Object, not quite so remote nor so formidable as the "Solway," had called forth the exclamation "The Lassie-The Lassie !"+ which my too classic ear had accepted as genuine Greek. Should future ages, as is by no means unlikely, entertain any doubt about the important question of our bard's passion, or respecting the quarter in the compass to which the needle of his affections pointed, I trust the incident I have now faithfully and circumstantially recorded, may be found to throw considerable light upon the subject. When we descended into the vale of Nith, we found our Friends in ‡ Closeburn, girding up their loins, and sounding through all their curling population the note of contest. A challenge, couched in terms which they seemed to consider as somewhat arrogant, had reached them, from the Burgh of Lochmaben. "Old Marjory of the mony Lochs," as the bard of Coila has designed her, had taken it into her head to consider herself as a match for the redoubtable Closeburnians, and had resolved "to take the Lion by the beard." The sons of the Nith, on the other hand, held those of the Annan in no very great estimation, and whispered something rather contemptuously about "bits o' Lochmaben bodies." "Let not him, however, who putteth on, boast himself as he "The who putteth off his armour." propriety of this cautionary adage will be seen in the sequel. It was at last agreed upon, after some hesitation (which, if my surmises be well founded, was not to be wondered at,) on the part of Hogg, that, being old Closeburnians, we should on this occasion take a share in her interests; and accordingly, we cavalcaded off next morning, for the scene of action. Here again we must travel post, in a cart, on horseback, or on § Shank's Nagie," the best way we can, till we reach the stipulated Rendezvous. As we approached the Loch a little before ten o'clock, A. M. we could gather, from manifold impressions traced out by the finger of our already advanced adversary, upon the snow, that we were too late," that we must "push on," and that we must keep our hearts up." We had neither time nor inclination, upon our arrival at the ice, to contemplate the features of the scenery around us ; even the ancient Hall of Bruce, with its accompaniments of broken turret, deep ravine, and venerable forest trees, lay immediately under our eye, unap 66 High hills overlooking, from the North, the dale of Nith. Here those unfortunate individuals who are debarred, on the score of "suicide," from the Cameronian com. munion table, repose, betwixt two counties in peace.-Vide Hogg's Jacobite Relics. Though this may be doubted "Love swells like the Solway, and ebbs like its tide."-BURNS. This parish, in addition to its classical, has long been noted for its curling acquirements. Ed. SN.B. This is not a velocipede, but a two legged movement, such probably as was made use of by the Prophet of Bethel," And he said unto his sons, Saddle MẸ the Ass; and they saddled him." Į Kings xiii. 13, |