INSECTS. Hemiptera. In ponds. Mole cricket. Gryllotalpa, Lin. I had one brought me alive, which was found on the farm of Trevean, in the parish of St. Kevern. LEPIDOPTEROUS.-Sphinx. The Sphinx Atropos, is the most remarkable of this genus; the upper wings are of a blackish brown, waved irregularly above and below with a lighter hue; the under wings and the abdomen are of a fine yellow, variegated with transverse bands of black. The most remarkable part of this animal is the representation of a Death's-head upon the apper part of the thorax. The Sphinx Atropos, when hurt or teased, will utter a cry like that of a mouse. I had one of the above described animals brought to me alive, the only one I ever saw. " The clustering pine-tree scatters many a cone." Polwbele's 'Ib.ocritus, quarto edit. pp. 54, 55. This passage, it must be owned, is far from unpicturesque; but there is such an inimitable charm in the original-such a murmus, and so delightful a cadence, expressive (to my ear at least) of the buz of bees, the fall of fountains, and the singing of birds, as the happiest translation cannot possibly communicate to the sense of inere English readers: to melodies of this sort, the Doric dialect is more peculiarly adapted. In the sixth idyllium, we are presented with a very lively picture :-a dog P. baying his shadow on the water, and a girl bathing close by. The lightness of her figure, as she emerges from the waves, her soft limbs instantly becoming dry in the sun, and her sportive airiness, are compared to the down of the thistle floating on the breeze; with a felicity to me more striking, than that of any other simile to be found in the ancient poets. The similes of the Greek and Latin poets are not, in general, appropriate in all their parts; they are little indistinct descriptions, rather than similes: but the following is not only picturesque as a description, but exact as a com parison: He, on the lucid wave, his form surveys; Call, call him, lest he rush upon the fair, When summer dries the thistle's silver hair, The seventh idyllium, entitled the "Harvest-Feast," or the Vernal Vovage, may be said to consist of little portraits, or pictures. It is certainly rich in rural imagery. There is a great variety of description Shall dry the dews that gem the thorn, p. 125 In "Castor and Pollux," (idyllium twenty-second :) "Behold the loosen'd tempests swell the tide, "There, in kind courtesy, our host had Lash the high helm, and bulge each bursting spread Of vine and lentisk the refreshing bed; Their breezy coolness elms and poplars gave, Its soft repose.Alas! the southern storm 1 Yon mount, where, cropping arbutus, they Every where, in short, Theocritus has the art of bringing the fine scenery, where his shepherds and other characters converse, directly before our eyes. In the Hylas, (idyllium thirteenth,) are many descriptive lines: "Straight, in the bosom of a lowly dell, green, And vervain; while amid the wat'ry scene << E'en as the lion, if, far off, a fawn p. 106. side, And pour into the poop the mountain surge, Whilst the rent vessel reels upon the verge Clouds big with hail the midnight heavens And the broad ocean thunders to the storm. While the drear winds in whispering mur- And each mild star that marks the tranquil "The pebbles sparkled to the light, And pensive poplars wav'd a paler shade; Of spring, the little bee's ambrosia, blows." "On his strong brawny arms the muscles stood, Like rocks, that, rounded by the torrent flood, Thro' the clear wave their shelving ridges One smooth and polish'd prominence below." The fourth Epigram of Theocritus, Thro' bowering laurel, myrtles, and the shrub Of odour'd cypress; where the clustering vine Diffuses many a tendril. In these shades. The The vernal blackbird warbles his clear note p. 219. On the whole, I think these specimens (taken merely ad aperturam libri) must be sufficient to convince any unpreju. diced person, of the too common error in judging of Theocritus as a mere whining pastoral poet; whilst, in reality, the Idyllia are miscellanies, the predominent features of which are Natural Sentiment, and Rural Picture. CRITO. A TOUR through some of the most unfrequented GLENS and ISLES of SCOTLAND, in 1803. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, THE HE following extracts are selected from a great number of letters, written to me by a friend, on his return from a tour through some of the most unfrequented districts and islands of Scotland, in the summer of 1803. I presume that the simple and animated account which is there given of scenery, manners, and customs, will not fail of being acceptable to your readers: of manners and customs, to which the greater part of the inhabitants of both South and North Britain are utter strangers; nor could they once suspect that such lingered on the shores of their own island. The letters are the production of James Hogg, better known to the literary world, by the appeilation of "The Ettrick Shepherd;" author of the Mountain Bard, The Shepherd's Guide, &c. I shall begin with him at Loch Mari, a romantic lake in the west of Ross-shire; and follow him over mountains, channels, and isles, and by a track on which no tourist has yet ventured. I have now conducted you in idea, (says he) as far as Letterewe, on the banks of Loch Mari; and given you some bints of improvements, commenced there by the farmer, which are only rendered remarkable by our reflecting on the situation of the place.It is situated on the northeast bank of Loch Mari, by which there is access, in boats, from all corners of the lake; but it is every where else sur rounded by shaggy cliffs, and bold projecting promontorics, washed around the bottom by the lake, and rising to the height of from one to four hundred yards in an almost perpendicular direction. It is thus rendered inaccessible by the most expert foot-passenger, without a guide; and entirely so by horses, unless some passage that I never saw is explored over the mountains. I purposed going to Ardlair, the next day; but was detained by the importunities of Mackintire, until the morning of the third day, who showed me every thing in the neighbourhood worth seeing; amongst which was a quarry, contamning some veins of the fairest marble, which he digged and burnt for me. The lume, which he burnt with peats and wood, was remarkably fine, resembling flour. There was another traveller of a dif ferent description, wind-bound here. This was a Miss Downie, sister to Mr. Downie, of Ardhill, whose house I had lately left; who, from her father's house at the Manse of Urray, in the vicinity of Dingwall, was on a journey to the island of Lewis, to visit some relations. Being daughter to a respectable clergyman, she had received a genteel edu cation, a circumstance to which the greatest attention is paid by all families of rank in the north. To this she added an extensive knowledge of the world, of which she had seen a considerable proportion for one of her age and sex; for, besides her acquaintance with both the Highlands and Lowlands, she had visited London, and resided some years at St. Petersburgh, with a sister who was there distinguished by royal favour and protection. It was this young lady who first inspired me with the resolution of visiting the remote country of Lewis, by describing it to me as the scene of the most striking original and hereditary modes and customs that were any where to be met with in the British dominions; and I repented a hundred times that ĺ did not keep in company with her straight to Sternaway. On Wednesday, the 9th of June, we breakfasted early, and set out for Ardlair, in Mackmatire's boat; who still insisted on our longer stay, assuring us that we should find difficulty in our passage, if it were at all practicable, the wind blowing so strong ahead. We had not proceeded far, when we found this ve ritied: and though our crew rowed stoutly for about an hour, in which time we did not advance above a mile, they were forced to put the boat to land, and declared it impossible to proceed. We were now much worse off than if we had set out on foot at first; however, taking two men with us for guides, we set a stout heart to a straight hill, and explored explored a crooked way amongst the rocks. Our guides led us over precipices, on which, at first, I thought a goat could not have kept its feet; and if the stones had not been of a rough crusty nature, we could not have effected our escape, especially on such a day. I felt the much distress on account of the lady; wind, which had grown extremely rough, exerted such power on her clothes, that I was really apprehensive it would carry her away; and looked back several times with terror, for fear I should have seen her flying headlong toward the lake like a swan. it was however a scene worthy of these regions: a young lady, of a most delicate form, and elegantly dressed, in such a situation, climbing over the dizzy precipices in a retrograde direction; and after fixing one foot, holding with both hands till she could What find a small hold for the other. would most of the ladies about that great town of yours have done in such a situation, sir? I believe, if the wind had not changed, they would have been staying with little Mackintire still. Her raiment was much torn and abused; and the wind carried off her kerchief altogether. For upwards of a mile, we were obliged to scramble in this direction, making use of all-fours; and in one place I was so giddy, that I durst not turn my eyes to the loch, so far below my feet. We arrived at Ardlair at one o'clock, having been five hours on our passage, which would not have measured above three miles; and were welcomed by the Messrs. M'Kenzies, with great politeness and attention. The weather grow ing moderate toward the evening, we made a most agreeable excursion round several of the principal islands of LochMari, in a handsome boat, with a sail. These islands have a much more bare appearance than they exhibited some years since; the ancient woods with which they were covered, being either entirely cut down and removed, or most miserably thinned. We landed on several of them, and carried off numbers of eggs from the nests of the sea-gulls, thousands of which were hovering and screaming around us. I was truly delighted with the view from these islands, although it consisted much more of the sublime than the beautiful. The old high house of Ardlair faced us, from a romantic little elevated plain, bounded on the north by a long ridge of perpendicular rock, of a brown colour: and the low MONTHLY MAG. No. 197. R islands on which we stood, were finely Next morning, Mr. John Mackenzie, But though I write thus lightly to you on the subject, I acknowledge that I felt a kind of awe on my mind, while wandering over the burying-ground and ruins of the Virgin's chapel, held in such high veneration by the devout, though illiterate, fathers of the present generation. This I mentioned to Mr. M'Kenzie, who assured me, that had I visited it before the wood was cut down, such was the effect produced by the groves of ancient and massy oaks, firs, &c. that it was impossible even for the most com→ Oh, private emo mon observer not to be struck deeply with a religious awe. lument, what hast thou done, what mighty things hast thou accomplished, from the day when Jacob peeled the wands, and stuck them into the gutters, unto this day, September 4, 1803! Day unto day uttereth speech of thee; and night unto night teacheth thee knowledge: there is no speech nor language where thy voice is not heard. Thou hast pulled down one, and set up another. Thou hast explored the utmost limits of the habitable globe, and digged the ore from its bowels. Thou art the great promoter of trade and commerce, and the most liberal encourager of the arts and sciences. Thou hast also, on various pretences, 2 F cut cut down and destroyed thousands, nay millions, of the human race; and in one of thy trivial freaks, thou hast cut down and destroyed the lofty and solemn groves of St. Mary's Isle, where the ancient and warlike Caledonians assembled in crowds for their devotion; where they wept over the dust of their departed friends, and viewed, with glistening eyes, and a melancholy pleasure, the sacred oaks under which themselves were one day to repose in the dust, f.ee from the cares and hardships of that barren region. Well, well, thou great mover of all our actions; thou great source of confusion, villainy, and destruction, go on and prosper. Heaven grant that thou art not at this very time secretly inciting a humble tourist to multiply words with out wisdom. SIR, MR R. JONES, in a communication to your magazine for last month, on the damp in coal-mines, appears to have confounded the choak with the fire-damp, both very common in those mines. The first arises from carbonic acid, and has the effect of extinguishing the lights, and rendering respiration difficult: in this case, slaking Line in the mine would be undoubtedly serviceable by absorbing, not " producing," carbonic acid. The other is produced by bydrogen gas, which is by no means un frequent, especially if the miner chance to break into an old working; and which may possibly be generated by the decomposition of the water, by the pyrites which are almost invariably found with the coal. The hydrogen is innoxious, (at least in the state of mixture with atmospheric air, in which it occurs in mines,) unless it come in contact with any tame; when an immediate explosion is the inevitable consequence. Canton's phosphorus, enclosed between plates of glass, has been proposed by a chemist of eminence, as a substitute for candles or lamps; of its success there can be little doubt, considering the small quantity of light required in a mine. The French have employed a wheel, armed with flints, which revolves against pieces of steel, and the light from the sparks has been found sufficient: buc Canton's phosphorus is certainly preferable, from its portability, and much greater cheap ness. London, Nov. 4, 1809. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR. HOUGH, in his strictures on Mr. Dr. Tilall's plan for banding down to posterity the way in which the modern languages are pronounced, your corrcspondent 2, in your numbers for July 1803, and last month, seems to possess the power of combining; yet he evidently wants that quality, no less necessary, the power of discriminating ideas, and throwing out nothing but what bears on the point in hand. It is easy to huddle together a number of ludicrous ideas against any plan or proposal whatever, however useful and important. Jones, who seems to possess the power of discriminating, as well as combining, ideas, Las, in my opinion, taken up the matter on more rational ground; and shewn, in your number for August last, that, though they differ in many respects from those of man, yet, on the whole, the cries of the inferior animals seem adequate to represent all the sounds, necessarily arising from the various combination of the letters of the alphabet. When the dog barks, when he snarls, when he rejoices at the return of his master, when he cries on being confined; when the cock crows, when he calls his wives; when the hen clucks, when she calls her young, when she warns them of danger; when the cat news; when the horse neighs; when the bull roars; when the duck quacks; when the pigeon coos; and the thrush sings: these, and a thousand other sounds, produced by the inferior animals, evidently show, that there are sounds to be found in every country, at all times the same, which, on being applied to words and syllables, seem calculated to fix the manner in which these words or syllables are pronounced. Had the Romans, who in a great mea sure adopted the laws, customs, phraseology, and even many of the words |