for ease, or want of curiofity, they appear to have an averfion for travelling, even in their own country. A Portuguese can steer a fhip to Brazil with lefs difficulty than he can guide his horfe from Lisbon to Oporto. People, thus eftranged from the neighbouring nations, are naturally averfe from the influx of mere theoretical doctrines, which tend to difturb the tranquillity of eftablished opinions. They exclude at once the fources of modern luxuries and refinements, modern vices and improvements. Hence their wants, comparatively fpeaking, are but few, and thefe are eafily fatisfied; their love of eafe exempts them from many paffions to which other nations are fubject; grofs offences are rarely known among them, but when once offended they are not eafily appeafed; paffions that are feldom roufed, act with the greater violence when agitated; under this impreffion individuals have fometimes been hurried to violent acts of revenge; but now, the vigilance of the magiftrates, and the growth of civilization, have blunted the point of the dagger. The temperance of the people, and their exemption from hard labour; the fragrance of the air, and the number of mineral fprings with which the country abounds, are circumftances fo favourable to the human conftitution, that we should naturally expect to find the Portuguese live to a great age, yet there are not many remarkable inftances of longevity among them; but there are fewer cut off by natural caufes before the age of threefcore, than among an equal number, perhaps, in any other part of Europe. One rarely meets a Portuguese, however aged, crippled with the gout, or bowed with infirmity. The handsomest persons of both fex es, are found in the province of Eftramadura; that fcourge of beauty, the fmallpox, does not rage here with the fame violence as in cold climates. The inhabitants neglect one thing, which, in a country like this, would tend to expand the human frame to its full per fection, I mean bathing; neither do they take exercise enough for the prefervation of health. The lower clafs are endowed with many excellent qualities; they are religious, honeft, and fober, affectionate to their parents, and refpectful to their fuperiors. We muft not, however, expect to find them poffeffed of these qualities on the verge of feaport towns, as their manners are there corrupted by mingling with refugee adventurers from various nations. Strangers, therefore, are often misled, who form the character of the people through this adulterated medium. It is in the country only they can be found, uninfluenced by foreign manners or foreign customs, in their true national state; and there we behold them honeft, obliging, affable, and mannerly. A Portuguese peasant will not walk with a fuperior, an aged perfon, or a ftranger, without giving him the right-hand fide, as a mark of refpcct. He never paffes by a human being without taking off his hat, and faluting him in thefe words: "the Lord. preferve you for many years." fpeaking of an abfent friend, he fays, In morro com faudades de o ver: I die with impatience to fee him.” Of a morning, when he meets the companions of his toil in the field, he falutes them in a complaifant manner, and enquires after their little families. His day's work is computed from the rifing of the fun to its fetting; out of which he is allowed half an hour for breakfast, and two hours for dinner, in order to refresh himself with a nap during the meridian heat. If he labour in the vineyard, he is allowed a good portion of wine. When his day's work is over he fings vefpers, and on Sunday he attunes his guitar, or joins in a fandango dance. His male children are educated in the neighbouring convent, whence he alfo receives fuftenance for himself and family, if diftreffed or unable to work. They all imagine their country is the bleffed elyfium, and that Lisbon is the greatest city in the world. In their proverbial language, they fay," He who who has not feen Lisbon, has feen nothing." Indeed they have proverbs for almost every thing, which, being founded on long experience, are generally true, though the above is a striking intance to the contrary. Of the countries which, like their own, do not produce corn, wine, and oil, they enter tain but a mean opinion. They picture to themselves the mifery of the inhabitants of northern climates, who fhudder in the midst of frost and snow, while they themselves are basking in their green felds. Thefe circumstances, and the afeffionate attachment they have for their king, endear them to their native foil. They centre a great portion of their happiness in the fine climate with SIR, which nature has bleffed them, and the abundance of delicious fruit the foil yields with little labour. Under every misfortune they are fure to find confolation in religion; and next to thefe divine favours, mufic is the greatest folace of their lives: it diffipates the forrows of the poor man, and refines the fentiments of the rich; life glides on agreeably amid fuch endearing fcenes. It would be vain to perfuade a Portuguese, that he could enjoy fuch happinefs in any other quarter of the globe: he is nurtured in this opinion, and if chance or misfortune fhould impel him into a foreign land, he pines as if in a state of captivity. (To be continued.) NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE SCOTS. SINCE the union effected between the two kingdoms of Scotland and England, the Scotch have formed fo confi derable and diftinguished a part of fociety in this country, that it may not be, perhaps, an useless or unimportant task, to delineate their national character, as it may contribute to rescue merit from the detraction of calumpy, on the one hand, and to circumfcribe within the bounds of truth, the praife which is at tributed to it in the other. In confidering them with a view to their intellectual faculties, we mult acknowledge, that they poffefs a quick nefs of comprehenfion, a clearness of conception, a penetrating fagacity, and a folid judgment; but they are diftinguished rather for a ftrength of underflanding, than a fublimity of genius, or a brilliancy of imagination. Their minds are a rich foil, which is always fertile in proportion to its cultivation; poffeffed of faculties rather inVOL. LVIII. tellectual than creative, they owe their attainments more to the powers of ratioExcited by the natural activity of their cination than the intuition of genius. tinual exercife, laborious, fteady, and minds, which are strengthened by conperfevering, they feldom fail to attain the object of their pursuits. In their tempers they are naturally choleric, petulant, and pertinacious, impatient of contradiction, and indignant at reproof; but their natural habits are often times fubdued by prudence, corrected by difcretion, and foftened by the influence of polite intercourse. In their manners they are originally unpolished, but they afterwards become nicely adapted to their situations in the world: Strangers to that equality of refinement which is produced by the general diffufion of affluence in a wealthy ftate, and accustomed to the established gradations of fuperiority, their manners are originally ftamped with the impreffion of their particular station, and afterwards conform themfelves only to the exigency of temporary circumstances. To their inferiors they are haughty, to their equals fevere, and to their fuperiors fubmiffive; but their haughtiness is not always accompanied with contumely, their feverity with morofenefs, or their fubmiflion with meannefs. In the qua E lities of the mind, we find them impreffed with the ftamp of education: imbibing, in their earliest age, the facred principles of religion, their conviction commonly remains for ever imprinted on their minds, and they are therefore generally fincere in its profeffion, even though they may not be exactly obfervant of its precepts: rarely becoming profligate, though they may have ceafed to be virtuous, and retaining a fenfe of piety, although they may have difregarded the dictates of morality. lities of their heart, as in the faculties tion by the acquirement of power; but governed by the precepts of that frugal prudence which is a part of their education in an inaffluent ftate, or biaffed by the confiderations which fuggest thenfelves to the mind employed in the purfuit of wealth, they poffefs not, in a very eminent degree, the more generous affections of the human breaft. Careful only to obey the compulfory mandates of duty, if they fatisfy its demands, they feldom exceed its limits; and, contracting the expanse of human charity, they too often circumfcribe the extent of their beneficence within the circle of national philanthropy. Influenced by these principles, they commonly act with integrity, unlefs corrupted by affluence, or excited to ambi CUSTOMS AND DIVERSIONS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. THE cuftoms introduced by the Normans to England, were, in general, praife-worthy and gentleman-like, when compared to thofe of the Anglo-Saxons. Knighthood, which neceffarily comprehended a brave and liberal heart, a firm demeanor, and a graceful performance of manlike exercifes, flourished under their protection. The knight, after having ferved a kind of apprenticeship, during feven or eight years as an efquire, bound himfelf, by a folemn oath, to be loyal to his king, to protect the virtuous part of the fair fex, and to refcue widows and orphans from oppreffion, at the hazard of his life. The tilts and tournaments (which were pompous feftivals, where the skill and agility of the knight were feverely tried,) afforded perpetual incentives to excelJence in military fcience; and the picturefque duty annexed to chivalry, of chufing a fupreme lady, in defence of whofe beauty and virtue, her knight was always ready to combat, hid its own abfurdity under a veil of elegance.-St Palaye fur la Chevaleria. the hufbandman. "By thefe purfuits," fays John of Salisbury," they lofe their humanity, and become monsters like the favage animals they chafe; shepherds and their flocks are driven from their pastures, that wild beafts may range in them at large; fhould one of thefe potent noblemen approach your dwelling, haften to bring out every refrefhment which you have in your houfe, or which you can beg or borrow of your neighbours, left you fhould find the fatal confequence of your negle&t; and, perhaps, be accufed of treason." Befides the tournament, a diverfion only allotted to perfons of rank, the favourite fports of the principal Normans, were hunting and hawking; thefe the king's prelates, and noblemen, pursued with an incredible eagerness, and without the fmalleft regard to the labours of The game of chefs, and fill more the various chances of the dice, conftituted domeftic amufements for the great. That they carried these to excefs we may judge from many circumftances. Even the horrors of civil war could not damp the fpirit of gaming ; for M. Paris complains of the barous, affociated to refift the tyranny of John, for fpending their time in luxury, and playing with dice, when their appearance was wanted in the field. Exceffive gaming at fea was reftrained by the fecond of thofe laws, which the united kings of England and France drew up in 1190, for the government of the force fitted out against the Saracens. There it is enacted that knights and clerks fhall be restrained to the lofs of twenty fhillings (nearly what fifteen pounds pounds would be in the 18th century,) in a day; but that foldiers or failors, if detected in playing for money, fhall be fined at will, or whipped, or ducked.-Brompton. Benedic. Abbas. Theatrical entertainments were not wholly unknown. The miracles of faints and the fufferings of martyrs were the fubjects of dramatic reprefentations, in London, as Fitz-Stephens writes; and we find, by M. Paris, that Geoffrey, 20 abbot of St Albans, was the author of a play of St Katharine; and that he borrowed from the facriftan, the holy veitments of the abbey, to adorn the ators. The more grofs amusements of the Norman nobility, in the pantomime ftyle, have been mentioned in a former note from John of Salisbury, who, though a fevere, was a tolerably candid critic on the times he lived in. The common people were not without their diverfions. Bull-baiting, cock fighting, and horfe-racing, were known to the men of London: the fports on the Thames, the fkaiting, and the various exercifes and entertainments of the twelfth century, are accurately, and even elegantly, painted by Fitz-Stephens in his defcription of London. The Normans were sober, and rather delicate at their meals, when they first invaded England. It was not long, however, before they equalled their predeceffors in feasting, and even added coitly epicurifim to brutal gluttony. Yet two meals each day fupplied the place of the Anglo-Saxons' four, and Robert de Mellent, prime-minifter and favourite of Henry Beauclerc, ftrove hard to reduce thefe two to one.-W. Mal Various kinds of bread were in ufc. The panis piperatus was a fort of gingerbread. Waitel cakes and fimnel cakes, as they were part of the royal allowance. of the king of Scots, when in England, were, probably, made of the finest meal. Rym. Fad. There was great inconfiftency in the general and national character of the Anglo-Normans. They were at the fame time acutely difcerning, and grofsly credulous; honourably brave and atrociously cruel; refpectful to the fair fex, even to adoration, yet brutally licentious in their conduct to individuals; effeminate in their drefs and manners, yet patient of almoft intolerable fatigues. During more than an hundred years, the Normans in England fhaved their faces. W. de Percy (who accompanied Duke Robert, in 1097, to Paleftine,) was ftyled, on account of fingularity as to this point, "William Aifgernons," or" William with the whiskers." The drefs of the Anglo-Normans was, in the eleventh century, fimple if not elegant. The great wore a long and clofe gown, which reached down to their heels, and had its bottom frequently embroidered with gold. Over this hung an equally long cloak which was generally buckled over the breast. When riding or walking abroad, a hood always hung behind the cloak. The clofe gown was put over the head like a fhirt, and faftened round the wailt by a girdle, which was often embroidered and fet with precious ftones.Strutt from Ant. Paintings. They wore breaches and stockings, made of fine cloth, and fometimes very coftly. The abfurd long-toed fhoes came in with William Rufus. The queen and the women of fashion, wore loofe gowns, trailing on the ground, and girt round the waift. The married women had an additional robe over the gown, hanging down before, not unlike a facerdotal garment. To the girdle a large purfe or pouch was fufpended. The men wore their hair long, except E 2 fome fometimes when fuddenly wrought on by fanaticifm. In the approaching centuries we shall find ftrange variations from this fimplicity of habit. The crufades, indeed, feem to have introduced to Northern Europe, among other vices, luxury and effeminacy in drefs to a degree which a modern man of fashion would blush to imitate. The umbrella was in ufe as early as the reign of king Stephen.-Struct. From Andrew's Hiflory of Great Britain. OBSERVATIONS ON OUR INTERCOURSE WITH THE THE end of our existence was evidently intended, not for the benefit of ourselves alone, but that of our fellowcreatures. More noble employments do not engage the mind of man, than when he is bufy in unfolding his latent powers towards the benefit and inftruction of his fellow-creatures. As we are not all endowed with an equal share of reafon, as we do not all poffefs the fame forefight, or the fame feelings, the love of our friends, the love of our country, the love of fame, naturally call aloud for a communication of the fuperior knowledge we may enjoy. It is not to my purpose to enter into the various methods each man will take to diffuse his knowledge, or the reafons which may induce him to counterfeit the real language of his heart, and mislead his fellow-creatures. It is enough to fhew, that we are all eager to convey instruction, and unwilling to let our intellectual faculties lie dormant. From this it evidently appears, that the ufe of our reason, as well as the fine emotions of the heart, were intended for the benefit of others, as well as ourfelves. Let us next confider the advantages of thus communicating ourfelves to the world. The tyranny and defpotifm Rome experienced under its laft Emperors, promoted the total extinction of every fpark of literature, art, and science, which it originally boafted; and, at length, plunged the whole of Europe into a ftate of Gothic barbarity. The fpirit of improvement being thus extinguifhed, and its benefits deftroyed, there remained no incentive to awake the mind, till that happy change in liberty took place, and the flame of ge nius was again rekindled under the reigns of Charlemagne, and our renowned Alfred. And although the feudal fyftem tended to the production of another age of darkness, there still remained fome whofe minds were not wholly unacquainted with literature, or infenfible to its utility. In this ftate of ignorance we might have remained to this day, had these expofitors of literature, thefe projectors of art and science, fuffered their different improvements to have been buried in their own breasts, or confined to the knowledge of a few; but we happily find the bright fun of literature fet in our western hemifphere, but to fhine in redoubled fplendour. Let us purfue it farther, by confidering the information we derive from the intercourse there exifts between one nation and another. Not fatisfied with a knowledge of the various productions his own country afford, the enterprizing fpirit will dare to explore the customs and manners, the arts and inventions other countries enjoy. Engaged in fuch an undertaking, an honeft enthufiafm infufes a fpirit of discovery within him, fupports him in the midst of dangers, buoys him up with the advantages his fellow-citizens will receive; and when his refolutions begin to fail, when his fpirits begin to droop, a greater name than patriots can boaft, or conquerors afpire to, will again infpire him with fresh vigour in his undertaking, and in the end will crown him with laurels, fuch as the lovers of mankind richly deserve. Nor can I believe that Columbus, in profecuting his difcovery of America, was actuated by any other motive than the benefits of his country, or that any thing fhort of this laudable and noble |