fhrub, and the embellished walk, are alien ideas; yet many E'er dares to tread, 'tis with unfandal'd foot, No funk fence or nettled barrier fhould reftrain the flock. Let them browze within the very precincts of the ruin. It is a habitation forfaken of men, and refumed by nature; and though nature do not require a flovenly path to walk in, yet she always wishes for one with fome degree of rudeness about it. If the manfion-house fland near the ruins you wish to adorn, the ruins themfelves will then become only appendages. Neatness in part must be introduced. Yet ftill, even in this cafe, one fhould wish to have the ruins in a fequeftered place, lefs adorned than the environs of a mantion ought to be.' We must now pafs haftily on, and fhall ftop first at Loch Leven. I fhall never forget the fweet compofure of an evening walk along the margin of the lake; fhrouded on the right by an irregular fcreen of Mr. Bruce's pines, and open to the water on the left. A foothing ftillnefs ran through the fcene. It was one of those mild, foft evenings, when not a breath disturbs the air. About fun-fet, a light grey mift, arifing from the lake, began to spread over the landscape. Creeping firft along the furface of the water, it rofe by degrees up the hills; blending both together in that pleating ambiguity, through which we can but just diftinguish the limits of cach. I do not call this the most beautiful mode of vifion; but it certainly exhibits in great perfection a graduating tint; which is among the most pleafing fources of beauty. The mit becoming thinner as it afcended the mountain, the ground of courfe appeared gradually ftronger as it emerged from it. Our view was till improved by picturefque figures upon the foreground. Some fifhermen were dragging a net to the fore, which had been carried into the lake by a boat. We waited till the contents of the net were discharged, among which were fome very fine trout. We faw them again at fupper, and found afterwards that this fpecies of fifh, which is more red than falmon, falmon, is peculiar to this lake; and though a critic in eating would travel many miles to talie this delicate food in perfection, we were informed it fold at the price of three farthings a pound. The castle, which appeared floating on the lake, was a happy circumftance in the fcene, pointing the view from every part. It was important in itself, and ftill more fo by an affociation of ideas, through its connection with that unfortunate princefs, Mary queen of Scots, whofe beauty and guilt have united pity and deteftation through every part of her history. In this cale the was confined by the confederate lords, after the murder of the king, and her marriage with Bothwell.' Our travellers proceed to the Tay, and having viewed that fide of the river where the house is placed, they croffed it again to fee the hermitage, a name given to fome improvements made on the bran. Thefe our author thinks are too artificial to combine with the other features of the spot. 6 But having paffed through this elaborate parterre, half inclined to turn back at every step, we came unexpectedly to an aftonishing scene. The two rocky cheeks of the river almoft uniting compress the ftream into a very narrow compafs; and the channel, which defcends abruptly, taking alfo a fudden turn, the water fuffers more than common violence from the double refiftance it receives from compretion and obliquity. Its efforts to difengage itself, have, in a courfe of ages, undermined, disjointed, and fractured the rock in a thoufand different forms; and have filled the whole channel of the defcent with fragments of uncommon magnitude, which are the more easily established, one upon the broken edges of another, as the fall is rather inclined than perpendicular. Down this abrupt channel the whole ftream in foaming violence forcing its way through the peculiar and happy fituation of the fragments which oppofe its courfe, forms one of the grandest and most beautiful cafcades we had ever feen. At the bottom it has worn an abyfs, in which the wheeling waters fuffer a new agitation, though of a different kind. 6 This whole fcene and its accompaniments are not only grand, but picturefquely beautiful in the highest degree. The compofition is perfect; but yet the parts are fo intricate, fo various, and fo complicated, that I never found any piece of nature lefs obvious to imitation. It would coit the readieft pencil a fummer day to bring off a good refemblance. My poor tool was fo totally disheartened, that I could not bring it even to make an attempt. The broad features of a mountain, the fhape of a country, or the line of a lake, are matters of eafy execution. A trifling error efcapes notice. But thefe high finished pieces of nature's more complicated workmanship, in which the beauty, in a great degree, confifts in the finishing; and in which every touch is expreffive, efpecially the fpirit, Nn 3 activity activity, clearnefs, and variety of agitated water, are among the most difficult efforts of the pencil. When the cascade falls in a pure, unbroken fheet, it is an object of less beauty indeed, but of much easier imitation.' From Blair to Tay-mouth, our travellers chofe the road to the north, by Dona Cardoc, where the various mountains draw from our author a very fingular opinion. And here I cannot help difclofing what appears to me a truth, though fo bold a one, that it ought only perhaps to be opened to the initiated. In the exhibition of distant mountains on paper or canvas, unless you make them exceed their real or proportional fize, they have no effect. It is inconceivable how objects leffen by distance. Examine any distance, closed by mountains, in a camera, and you will eafily fee what a poor diminutive appearance the mountains make. By the power of perfpective they are leflened to nothing. Should you represent them in your landscape in fo diminutive a form, all dignity and grandeur of idea would be loft. The cafe is, a fcrap of canvas compared with the vastnefs of nature's fcale, mifleads the eye; and if the exact proportion of the mountain be obferved, it is fo trifling, that we cannot easily perfuade ourselves it is the reprefentative of fo vast and enormous a mass.' Even in nature the eye is apt to make frequent mistakes; and often misjudges with regard both to bulk and distance, notwithstanding it is able to form comparisons from the various objects that appear in the extent of landscape around, which may alfit the judgment. But in painting the eye has not this affiftance; it has only the objects of a very circumfcribed spot to compare by, and cannot, therefore, deduce the real fize of the mountain for want of objects of comparison. We muft, therefore, enlarge the fcale a little beyond nature, to make nature look like herfelf. If, indeed, the picture and nature fhould be brought together, the deception will be apparent: otherwife the deception appears the reality.' The height of mountains is indeed often mistaken in nature, and even in good prints; their diminutive appearance makes the pompous and fublime defcriptions of the traveller ridiculous, or leads us to doubt of the accuracy of the drawer or the narrator. Mr. Gilpin has, we believe, pointed out the origin of this mistake, to which must be added often the effects of furrounding objects in nature, or a defect of proportion in the picture. We remember, in a print of a very high mountain in Scotland, a man is reprefented as hanging by a cord from the fummit, and the man is very nearly one-third of the height of the mountain.-From the defcription of Loch Tay we shall felect only an account of one very beautiful view : The view of the lake from the rifing grounds near the church is capital. On the right a lofty mountain falls into the water, and forms a grand promontory. Its lines at the bafe are finely broken by a wooded ifland. Another promontory projects from the oppofite fhore, and both together form the water into a fpacious bay. Between the two promontories the distant mountains recede in peripective; and the lake goes off in the form of another bay. We feldom meet with a grander piece of lakefcenery.' At Loch Lomond we expected that our author's enthusiasm would have carried him into bold and animated defcriptions; but the account is broken into fragments, and we fufpect that he was not always highly pleased. We shall extract another paffage. At Lufs we got into a boat and rowed to the middle of the lake, where we lay upon our oars to take a view of the scenery around us. To the north we looked far up the narrow channel of the lake, which we had juft feen from the fhore. We were now more in the centre of the view; but the scene was now fhifted: it was more a vista. The mountains fhelved beautifully into the water on both fides, and the bottom of the lake was OCcupied by Ben-vorlie, which filled its ftation with great diftinction. On the right, Ben-lomond, the fecond hill in Scotland, raised its refpectable head: while the waters at their base were dark, like a black tranfparent mirror. But in this point of view, the form of Ben-lomond was rather injured by the regularity of its line, which confifts of three ftages of afcent. In general, however, this mountain appears finely floped, and its furface beautifully broken. Ben-lomond meafures in height between three and four thoufand feet from the surface of the lake, extending its skirts far and wide into the country. Its lofty fides are fubject to various climates; and maintain various inhabitants. The ptarmigan and other heath-fowls frequent its upper regions: its lower are fought as a favourite haunt by the roe-buck: while the many irriguous vallies and fheltered paftures at its base tempt the peasants of the country to fettle among them.' The general remarks on the fcenery in Scotland near the end of the work, are peculiarly just and appropriated. Their length only prevents us from tranfcribing them: to abridge them would be impolitic, and probably ufelefs. We must not, however, leave thefe volumes without expreffing our gratitude for the great entertainment we have received, and recommending the perufal to obfervers of refined tafte, and to travellers, who would learn to difcriminate in their observations, or to defcribe what they have feen with diftin&tnefs and propriety. Nn4 A View A l'iew of the Reign of Frederick II. of Pruffia; with a Parall between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon. By John Gillies, LL. D. F.R. S. and S. A. 8vo. 6s. in Boards. Cadell. IF we estimate the importance of any fubject by its influence on a kingdom, the changes it produces on the fyftem of empires, or in the views of a continent greater in extent than that which the Romans governed, when they boafted of the empire of the world, it will not be surprising that Frederick has attained a great share of our attention, that we have repeatedly furveyed the events of his life, and endeavoured fo often to catch the features of the man, diftinct from thofe of the monarch. He was a phænomenon in the political world; a meteor, whose appearance was accompanied with war and devastation, but which at last diffufed peace and comfort over dominions which were once fo much harraffed and fo nearly ruined. It may be added too, that Frederick was an author; and that, in our humble fphere, we must follow those who lead the way, and be fatellites to fuperior planets.. Dr. Gillies, who again brings us back to Frederick, has given an accurate and comprehenfive view of the more active fcenes of the king's life, from his own accounts, and frequently in his own words. To thofe who wish for information within a fhort compass, enforced by energetic defcription and animated language, though not quite free from the affectation which we reprehended in the History of Greece, or occafionally from Scotticifms + and Gallicifms, will read with pleafure the work before us. Where Frederick's Pofthumous Works did not affift, our author has stepped haftily on, except in the latter part, where baron Hertzberg's Difcourfes have fupplied what the monarch had not told. Indeed, to fulfil his plan, which was only a View of the Reign of the King of Pruffia,' it was not neceffary to notice any part of his life, previous to his acceffion. t Though we may praife Dr. Gillies' work as a correct and judicious abridgment of what Frederick has.done; yet from the title we fhould have expected fomething more than flattering encomiums, and undifcriminating praife. Federick often blames himfelf, and other obfervers have more frequently blamed him. While every cenfurer may not have reafon for his opinions, some parts of his conduct were undoubtedly erroneous: one of these errors was the employment of the French financiers; but this * Crit. Rev. Vel. LXI. pages 169 and 300. break the ice, p. 74. ↑ He cayled proceeding, |