ART. III.-Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland, with Descriptive Illustrations. By Sir Walter SCOTT, Bart. London and Edinburgh. 2 vols. 4to. 1826.

THIS is a beautiful book, got up in the first style of art, and greatly enhanced in value by the name of Sir Walter Scott, the contributor of the descriptive text. Of the interest which this name alone would give to their undertaking, the publishers were no doubt well aware. Nor could they have applied to a more proper person for their purpose in every respect; for there is not, it is probable, in all Scotland, one better versed than he in its history and antiquities. And while he was the best qualified and most popular man for such a task, he could also despatch it on the shortest notice; for it must have been a mere pastime for his wonderful and versatile genius, and an employment only for the loose scraps of his time, to furnish the letter press for these splendid quartos. The materials were all, doubtless, in his memory, or under his eye, or within his immediate reach.

The power of Sir Walter of conferring interest on any subject which he takes up, is pleasantly exemplified in the work before us, the descriptive, historical, and genealogical details of which are wonderfully relieved by the anecdotes and pithy digressions which he liberally scatters over its pages. One or two instances in point may give entertainment to our readers.

In describing Merchiston Tower, the seat of the ancient family of Napier, which is situated about a mile and a half from Edinburgh, he gives the following notices of the most distinguished member of that family. After a short sketch of the feuds and bloody skirmishes of which Merchiston Tower had been the witness in elder times, he thus continues ;—

'We have touched on these sad times, to illustrate the history of the country. But it is not from the petty incidents of a cruel civil war that Merchiston derives its renown, but as having been the residence of genius and of science. The celebrated John Napier of Merchiston was born in this weather beaten tower, according to the best accounts, about the year 1550; and a small room in the summit of the building is pointed out as the study in which he secluded himself while engaged in the mathematical researches which led to his great discovery.

'To the inventor of the Logarithms, (called from him Napier's

bones,) by which process the power of calculation is so much increased, David Hume, no granter of propositions, declares the title of a great man is more justly due, than to any other whom his country ever produced. Yet the sublime genius which marked, by the logarithmic canon, the correspondence betwixt arithmetical and geometrical progression, had his weak points.'

'Neither was the great Napier above the superstition of his age, but believed in the connexion betwixt the mathematical and what were called the occult sciences. At least, all we know of his character inclines us rather to believe that Napier was a dupe to his own imagination, than that he desired to impose upon the opposite party, in a celebrated and very curious contract made in July 1594, betwixt him and the noted John Logan of Restalrig. This person, renowned for his turbid ambition and dark cupidity, by which he was finally involved in Gowrie's strange and mysterious conspiracy, sets forth, that from all reports and appearances, there was treasure concealed in his old ruinous fortress of Fast Castle, on the verge of the German Ocean, near St Abbs-Head; and stipulates that "John Napier should do his utmost diligence to search and seek out, and by all craft and engine to find out the same, and by the grace of God shall either find out the same, or make it sure that no such thing is there." For his reward he was to have the exact third of what was found, and to be safely guarded by Logan back to Edinburgh, with the same. And in case he should find nothing, after all trial and diligence taken, he refers the satisfaction of his travel and pains to the discretion of Logan.'

Vol. I. pp. 93, 95.

In another place, our author tells us that the fate of this investigation is unknown. "The contract,' he adds, 'evinces much credulity on the part of the great Napier; but the bounds of knowledge were then so indistinctly fixed, that there lay a waste of terra incognita between physical science and mystical doctrines, in which the wisest philosophers often are found to have bewildered themselves.'

There are some remarks on church architecture, in Sir Walter's account of Edinburgh, which are completely applicable to many churches that we know of, on this side of the

water.

"The West Church, or Saint Cuthbert's, is another clumsy structure, but fortunately stands much out of sight. A circumstance happened with respect to this church, and to more than one besides, which singularly illustrates the proverb, that Scots

men are ever wise behind the hand. When the heritors had chosen the cheapest, or at least the ugliest plan which was laid before them, had seen it executed, and were at leisure to contemplate the ground cumbered with a great heavy oblong barn, with huge disproportioned windows, they repented of the enormity which they had sanctioned, and endeavoured to repair their error by building a steeple, in a style of ornamented and florid architecture; as if the absurd finery of such an appendage could relieve the heaviness of the principal building, which is only rendered more deformed by the contrast. It may be hoped, that the number of excellent architects who have lately arisen in this country will introduce a better taste among their patrons; and it would be especially desirable to convince those concerned, that beauty or elegance in architecture depends not upon ornament, but upon symmetry; and that in truth a handsome and tasteful plan may often be executed at less expense than one which shall, so long as the building stands, entail disgrace on all who have had to do with it.' Vol. II. p. 115.

Change 'heritors' into 'building committee,' and the above observations might be inserted, almost entire, into a Picture of Boston. Church after church has been erected in our city with the same 'behind the hand' wisdom so neatly commented upon by Scott. Our fine granite is disgraced, and even bricks are ill treated, by the forms in which they are often piled. If we cannot originate tasteful plans, we have at least some models of a former day among us, which we could wholly or partially imitate. For instance, there is the Episcopal Church at Cambridge. Its symmetry is a proverb; and its simplicity equals its symmetry. Why can it not be copied? It is built of wood, and therefore cannot last very long itself, even with steady repair. Why cannot its proportions be perpetuated in some more durable material? The eye of any one may tell him, that stone, or brick and mortar, could not be more cheaply put together than in its chaste and simple forms. But no. Instead of copying this beauty of Cambridge Common, we must be original. Plans are spread out before the committee; the ugliest, if not cheapest one is selected; and the result is 'a great heavy oblong barn.' Then comes the ornament—perhaps a tall steeple, which would be very well, if we could see nothing else; or a belfry, which would look very suitably on a schoolhouse; and there is generally a plenty of stucco work inside, with a profusion of crimson damask about the pulpit window. By the time all this is completed, the committee

commonly find, that if there is nothing else handsome about their church, it has cost them quite a handsome sum; and this, with a few gratifying exceptions, is our way of building

churches.

Our country is a new one. We possess not a single object like those glorious ruins which are represented in the work before us. We ought then to take more than common care that the buildings which we raise for ourselves and posterity, may be such that they may be contemplated with complacency, if not delight, instead of being passed by with indifference, derision, or disgust.

ART. IV.—1. Pelham, or Adventures of a Gentleman. 2 vols. 12mo. New York. J. & J. Harper. 1829.

2. The Disowned. By the AUTHOR OF PELHAM. 2 vols. 12mo. New York. J. & J. Harper. 1829.

lux

We shall not enter very largely into the question as to the effect of novel reading, but we are tempted to say, that this question is in general too broadly stated. Doubtless the habit of novel reading is injurious, for in its ordinary acceptation, it means an exclusive reading of works of mere amusement without judgment or selection; and it is sufficiently clear, that this constant excitement of the mind, this living upon uries, would soon destroy the vigor of the intellect and feelings, even if novels were, which no one pretends, books to which we should go to borrow correct views of life and duty. But it is quite too much to say that it is injurious to read them under all circumstances, and at all times. To this broad maxim Rasselas and the Vicar of Wakefield, have long been a standing reply. The practical question, therefore, must be cut down to this; Are the novels which have taken their place in English literature, and those which the press is now sending out with such unrelenting liberality, works calculated to benefit or injure those who read them as works of amusement should be read? The answer is in many respects humbling, and the two works before us add nothing to our pride.

Some, we know, are disposed to find fault with these works because they are fictions. An unfortunate association with that harmless word, makes them treat all fiction as false

hood. But there can be no very criminal deception in works which profess to be inventions merely, not pretending to be true to fact, but claiming the praise of being true to nature. Rousseau, according to his usual practice of straining at the gnat, as a sort of apology for making others swallow the camel, makes the same objection to fables. But the worst result we can imagine from the use of them, is, that a child might address one of the fourfooted or feathered tribe, and be disappointed of a reply. This objection would strike at the root of all poetry. It would condemn the bold figures and personifications of scripture; the parables would come under the same censure, and all the most striking and convenient forms in which instruction has been conveyed from mind to mind and from generation to generation, would be pronounced violations of that truth which it was their whole object to impress. We are not aware that this habit of invention makes men indifferent to truth. Johnson was remarkable for his strict veracity, though the author of some tolerably romantic fictions. We never have heard that Scott was noted for turning his invention to account in the intercourse of life; and Milton, who raised on a very slender basis of truth, as large a fabric of invention as the world ever saw, spoke the truth to those who had no delight in hearing it, with a boldness and power, which have been regarded as little better than crimes from his own age up to this.

Some are opposed to these fictions because they give false views of human life. The censure is somewhat indefinite; but we suppose, it often means that they represent beauty and other personal attractions as the only things worth living for. We have been edified at hearing this objection made by considerate parents, with the view of impressing on their children that the great object of existence is to be rich, and its greatest misery to be poor. We strongly doubt whether the children would learn the true purpose of existence from either. The truth is, that there must be illusion in all these descriptions, however exact they may be. The parent who takes his child to a hill to show him a path through the plain, cannot convince him that the region he is to traverse is not smoother than the ground he stands upon. Every such view is liable to mistake, like that of the officer of the customs, who believed that Marseilles was next door to Malta, because on the map he could span from one to the other. These works may occa