which rises a pyramid, with its feet resting on a crocodile. Some have attributed its overflowing to the pressure of the planet Mercury upon the fountains; some to the prevalence of the Etesian winds2; some to the melting of the snows3; and others conceived the waters to run from the mountains of Ethiopia. Some imagined, that spacious channels of water rolled under the soil; that the sea insinuated its waves through the pores of the earth; or that the river was fed by the exhalations, which were returned to the ocean, through the medium of the Nile.5 The causes are now universally known to be the tropical rains." Grey has a fine description of this river in his Frag 1 For a fine print of this admirable work of art, vide Statue del Museo Pio Clementino, folio, tom. iii. pl. 47; and for a still more characteristic one, tom. i. pl. 88. The water of this river was in such high esteem, that, as Atheneus relates, Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Philadel phus, and wife to Antiochus, king of Syria, would drink no other. 2 Lucret,, lib. vi. p 712.-Aulus Gellius says, the Etesian winds blew from several points of the compass. "Etesia et prodomi appellantur, qui certo tempore anni quam canis oritur, ex aliâ, atque aliâ parte cæli spirant."* 5 The peasantry of Egypt believed the overflowings to be tears, shed by Isis for the loss of Osiris.+ • Eustathius also attributed them to the rains falling in Ethiopia. * Noctes Atticæ, lib. ii. c. 22. + Plut. de Isis et Osiris. ment on Education and Government; and Thomson in his Summer.' Dr. Clarke has observed a curious analogy between the Don and the Nile, in regard to their respective inundations; their aquatic plants; their lapse into the sea by many mouths; their being boundaries to two quarters of the globe; and the variety of their insects. Strabo compares the Po to the Nile, much after the same manner; and Barrow has remarked several coincidences, in regard to latitude, climate, soil, plants, and animals, between the Nile in the north of Africa, and the Orange River in the south.2 The abovementioned were the causes, assigned for the increase and diminution of a river, to discover the fountains of which Sesostris and Cambyses sacrificed innumerable men. What those monarchs, with Alexander,3 Cyrus, Ptolemy Philadelphus, Cæsar, and Germanicus, so long and so ardently desired, was at length accomplished by a single man! After encountering innumerable difficulties and dangers, Bruce stood upon the spot, which had, for thirty centuries, been considered beyond the reach of 1 L. 802. . 2 The Tigris and Euphrates, too, overflow annually; caused by the melting of the snows in Armenia. Also the rivers of Cochin China, and Tonquin and the Menam of Siam (the mother of waters) inundates in March, and fertilizes an extent of country one hundred and twenty miles in circuit. Arrian and Justin attribute his 3 Maximus Tyrius, Dissert. xxv. journey into Africa to other causes. xi. c. 11. Apollonius of Tyana is said to have visited the source of the Nile. Vide Philostratus in vit. Apol!. Tyan. v. c. 37.-But it does not appear, that he proceeded farther than the Cataracts. enterprize. At the source of the most celebrated of rivers, the thoughts of the traveller, by virtue of that association which governs and delights us all, reverted to the the landscapes of his native soil! "I was now," says he, "in possession of what had, for many years, been the principal object of my ambition, and wishes. Indifference, which, from the usual infirmity of human nature, follows, at least for a time, complete enjoyment, had taken place of it. The marsh and the fountains, upon comparison with the rise of many of our rivers, became a trifling object in my sight. I remembered that magnificent scene, in my own country, where the Tweed, Clyde, and Annan rise in one hill:-three rivers I now thought not inferior to the Nile in beauty; preferable to it in the cultivation of those countries, through which they flow; superior, vastly superior to it, in the virtues and qualities of the inhabitants; and in the beauties of its flocks, crowding its pastures in peace, without fear of violence from man or beast. I had seen the rise of the Rhone and the Rhine, and the more magnificent sources of the Soane; and I began, in my sorrow, to treat the enquiry about the source of the Nile, as a violent effort of a distempered fancy'!" Such were the At the source of the Ganges, Frazer seems to have indulged reflections at once natural, and affecting. "It is difficult to convey an idea of the stern and rugged majesty of some scenes; to paint their lonely desertness, or describe the undefinable sensation of reverence and dread, that steals over the mind, while contemplating the death-like calm, that is shed over them.-And when at such a moment we remember our homes, our friends, our fire-sides, and all social intercourse with thoughts and feelings of this enterprizing traveller : feelings, the natural consequence of our organization, and exhibiting, in a striking manner, the vanity of all earthly wishes, and the comparative vanity of all earthly pursuits! And yet was the circumstance of having succeeded in the object of his adventurous journey, the pride, the glory, and elevation of his life. XII. In the bosom of the unfortunate BURNS-that splendid but eccentric meteor!-the love of country burned with a force, equal to that of a Cicero or a Chatham." The appellation of a Scotch bard," says he, in a letter to Mrs. Dunlop, "is by far my highest pride. To continue to deserve it, my most exalted ambition. Scottish scenes and Scottish story are the themes, I should wish to sing. I have no dearer wish, than to have it in my power, unplagued by routine of business, (for which, heaven knows, I am unfit enough), to make leisurely pilgrimages through Caledonia! To sit on the fields of her battles; to wander on the romantic banks of her rivers; and our fellows, and feel our present solitude, and far distance from all these dear ties, how vain is it to strive at description! Surely such a scene is Gungotree. Nor is it, independent of the nature of the surrounding scenery, a spot, which lightly calls forth powerful feelings. We were now in the centre of the stupendous Himala, the loftiest, and, perhaps, most rugged range of mountains in the world. We were at the acknowledged source of that noble river, equally an object of veneration and a source of fertility, plenty, and opulence to Hindostan; and we had now reached the holiest shrine of Hindoo worship, which these holy hills contain."Frazer's Tour through the Snowy Range of the Himala, p. 469, 4to. to muse by the stately towers or venerable ruins, once the honoured abodes of her heroes."-This was denied.-Oh! my Lelius, if you have pleasure in shedding tears over the tombs of the good, the brave, or exalted in intellect, spare a few to the memory of this unfortunate victim to strong, indignant, and energetic feeling. To the memory of a genius, resembling the wild and magnificent landscapes of his native land: a man as much superior to the herd of reptiles, that robbed him of his flashes of merriment, in a little country town; as he was to those more dignified associates, who drew him from his native wilds by their applauses; chained him to their tables in an expensive city; and, having satisfied their love of notoriety, "cast him, like a loathsome weed, away!" Oh! Scotland-Scotlandthe fate of Burns sits heavy on thy conscience !— Never-No! never shalt thou wrong another Burns again! Equally enamoured of Scottish scenery was the unfortunate Michael Bruce, The lake of Loch Leven will be ever dear to our imagination, as being an object of attachment to that amiable poet. This lake abounds in the most lovely scenery. On the side next Kinross, it is bounded by a plain; on the other are mountains; in the centre is the island of St. Serfs, in which formerly stood an ancient priory, dedicated to St. Servanus; and another, on which are the ruins of Douglas Castle. To the impressions, made on the elegant mind of Bruce, by the recollection of these objects, are we indebted |