Formerly, from its darkfome fituation, this pile was called the caftle of Gloom; and all the names of the adjacent places were fuitable it was feated in the parish of Dolor, was bounded by the glens of Care, and washed by the birns of Sorrow. This caftle, with the whole territory belonging to the family of Argyle, underwent all the calamities of civil war in 1645; for its rival, the Marquis of Montrofe, carried fire and fword through the whole estate. The caftle was ruined; and its magnificent reliques exist, as a monument of the horror of the times. No wonder then that the Marquis experienced fo woeful and ignominious a fate, when he fell into the power of fo exafperated a chieftain,' Before he arrives at Perth, he mentions Ochil hills, whofe fides were covered with a fine verdure, and fed great numbers of cattle and sheep. The country below full of oats, and in a very improving ftate: the houfes of the common people decent, but mostly covered with fods; fome were covered both with ftraw and fod. The inhabitants extremely civil, and never failed offering brandy, or whey, when I ftopt to make enquiries at any of their houses. In the afternoon croffed a branch of the fame hills, which yielded plenty of oats; defcended into Straith-earn, a beautiful vale, about thirty miles in length, full of rich meadows and corn fields, divided by the river Earn, which ferpentines finely through the middle, falling into the Tay, of which there is, a fight at the east end of the vale. It is prettily diversified with groves of trees and gentlemen's houfes; among which, towards the weft end, is Caftle Drummond, the forfeited feat of the Earl of Perth. Castle Duplin; the refidence of the Earl of Kinnoul, feated on the north fide of the vale, on the edge of a steep glen. Only a fingle tower remains of the old caftle, the rest being modernized. The front commands a pleafing view of the vale; behind are plantations, extending feveral miles in length; all flourish greatly, except thofe of afh. I remarked in the woods, fome very large chefnuts, horfe-chefnuts, fpruce and filver firs, cedar and arbor vitæ. Broad-leaved labernum thrives in this country greatly, grows to a great fize, and the wood is used in fineering. Fruits fucceed here very indifferently; even nonpareils require a wall to ripen: grapes, figs, and late peaches, will not ripen the winters begin early and end late, and are attended. with very high winds. I was informed that labour is dear here, notwithstanding it is only eight-pence a-day; the common people not being yet got into a method of working, fo do very little for their wages. Notwithstanding this, improvements are carried on in these parts with great fpirit, both in E 2 planting planting and in agriculture. Lord Kinnoul planted last year not fewer than eighty thousand trees, befides Scotch firs; fo provides future forefts for the benefit of his fucceffors, and the embellishment of his country. In refpect to agriculture, there are difficulties to ftruggle with; for the country is without either coal or lime-ftone; fo that the lime is brought from the eftate of the Earl of Elgin, near Dumferline, who, I was told, drew a confiderable revenue from the kilns.' Our Author gives an account of the paintings at Caftle Duplin; after which, afcending the hill of Moncrief, he gives us from thence a profpect which, from the variety and richness of its fcenery, he ftyles the Glory of Scotland. On the South and Weft, fays he, appear Straith-earn, embellished with the feats of Lord Kinnoul, Lord Rollo, and of feveral other gentlemen, the Carfe, or rich plain of Gowrie, Stormont hills, and the hill of Kinnoul, whofe vaft cliff is remarkable for its beautiful pebbles. The meanders of the Earn, which winds more than any river I at this time had feen, are moft enlivening additions to the fcene. The laft turn it takes forms a fine peninsula prettily planted, and just beyond it joins the Tay, whofe aeftuary lies full in view, the fea clofing the profpect on this side. 6 To the North lies the town of Perth, with a view of part of its magnificent bridge; which, with the fine woods called Perth Parks, the vast plain of Straith-Tay, the winding of that noble river, its iflands, and the grand boundary,_ formed by the diftant highlands, finifh this matchlefs fcene. The inhabi tants of Perth are far from being blind to the beauties of their river; for which fingular pleasure they relate the tradition of the Roman army, when it came in fight of the Tay, bursting into the exclamation of, Ecce Tiberim. On approaching the town are fome pretty walks handfomely planted, and at a fmall diftance, the remains of fome works of Cromwell, called Oliver's Mount. Perth is large, and in general well built; two of the streets are remarkably fine; in fome of the lefler are yet a few wooden houfes in the old ftyle; but as they decay, the magiftrates prohibit the rebuilding them in the old way. There is but one parish, which has two churches, befides meetings for feparatifts, who are very numerous. One church, which belonged to a monaftery, is very ancient: not a veftige of the laft is now to be feen; for the difciples of that rough apoftle Knox made a general defolation of every edifice that had given shelter to the worshippers of the church of Rome; it being one of his maxims, to pull down the nefts, and the rooks would fly away. The flourishing state of Perth is owing to two accidents: the first, that of numbers of Cromwell's wounded officers and foldiers chufing to refide here, after he left the kingdom, who introduced introduced a spirit of industry among the people: the other caufe was the long continuance of the Earl of Mar's army here in 1715, which occafioned vaft fums of money being spent in the place: but this town, as well as all Scotland, dates its profperity from the year 1745, the government of this part of Great Britain having never been fettled till a little after that time. The rebellion was a diforder violent in its operation, but falutary in its effects. The trade of Perth is confiderable: it exports annually one hundred and fifty thousand pounds worth of linen, ten thousand of wheat and barley, and about the fame in cured falmon. That fish is taken there in vaft abundance; three thousand have been caught in one morning, weighing, one fb with another, fixteen pounds; the whole capture, forty-eight 48000 thousand pounds. The fifhery begins at St. Andrew's day, and catched. ends August 26th, old ftyle. The rents of the fisheries amount to three thousand pounds per annum. I was informed that fmelts come up this river in May and June. There has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearl, got out of the fresh-water muscles. From the year 1761 to 1764, 10,000l. worth were fent to London, and fold from 10 s. to 1 l. 16 s. per ounce. I was told that a pearl has been taken there that weighed 33 grains; but this fifhery is at prefent exhaufted, from the avarice of the undertakers.' [To be continued.] ART. IX. Letters of the Marchionefs of Pompadour, from 1753 to 1762, inclufive. Small 8vo. 2 Vols. 5 s. fewed. Owen, &c. 1771. TH HE Editor, who is alfo the Tranflator of thefe Letters, publishes them as genuine; declaring that he purchased the authenticated copies of them, of the executor to the Marchionefs's fecretary, who died lately at Amfterdam, and who, for whatever reafons of delicacy, had forborn their publication *.'-We have our fufpicions, however, although we are unable to prove the negative of this afferted authenticity; but the Tranflator's affirmative, too, wants proof. He appeals to no witness, he mentions no authority (befide that of a nameless executor of a nameless fecretary) nor does he even give us the fanction of his own name. Does he refer us to internal evidence? There is not a fufficiency of it to convince the infidel Reviewers, as they are fometimes fagaciously and candidly ftyled. We had, on the contrary, among other questionable paliages, remarked the fufpicious anecdote in one of thefe Let *The originals, in French, were published at the fame time with the English. E 3 ters, Mor at Pe ters, of a jolly travelling Duchefs, by whom her Grace of N. feems to be meant, and whofe travels, as a Duchefs, did not commence till after Madame de P.'s decease: but we were anticipated in regard to this circumstance, by a critic* in a public paper; to whom, and to his anfwerer, we refer the final adjustment of this myfterious particular. We grant, however, that if thefe Letters are forged, they are wrought by the hand of an artift; that the workmanship is rare; and that if it be not the manufacture of the perfon whofe name is stamped upon it, it may, perchance, be fomething better. But, it will be faid, that "excellence is not here the point, nor any of the requifites of perfection in epiftolary writing; that we have no idea of Madame de Pompadour in a literary capacity but as a ftatefwoman (pardon the expreffion, ye who guide the helms of empires and kingdoms !) as the mistress, even in the fuperior fenfe of the word, of a mighty monarch, and as the arbitrels, in a great meafure, of the fate of Europe, for many years; that the remarks and fentiments of a person thus loftily fituated, would, no doubt, greatly gratify the curiofity of the political world, who will be eager to know what fecrets, what hints, or what anecdotes fhe may have thought proper to communicate to her confidants; that thefe, in whatever terms conveyed, if well authenticated, will, principally, be the objects of attention with the inquifitive public: and that the grand queftion will be, Does the elevated Dame vouchfafe to open the door of the cabinet, or even fhew us but a crevice through which we may gain an infight of what paffes there?"-The queftion is already answered.-As nothing is authenticated, whatever we fee may be all a deceptio vifus, or mere gallantyfhew.-As fuch, therefore, we leave it, for the amufement of the young people in the republic of Letters; who, we doubt not, will readily acquiefce in the Editor's opinion, that in these little volumes we may trace the great character of Madame de Pompadour: Her ardour for her country, her fondness for her friends, her zeal as well as ability to promote merit and patronize genius, to provide for the unprovided, and to protect virtue.' We shall likewife tranfcribe the Editor's fine difplay of the beauties of ftyle and manner difcoverable in thefe Letters; in which there is fome truth, though allowance must be made for the warmth of commendation with which a vender is allowed to fet off the value of the commodity in which he deals : That critic was anfwered by another writer, who does not admit that the identy of the Duchefs mentioned in the letter, is fufficiently pointed out to justify the critic's application of the anecdote. • Thefe Thefe epiftles,-as eafy as ever flowed from human pen, are each perhaps as accurate a little essay as, without shadow of method, ever took the epiftolary form; nor, though visibly unintended for the public eye, are they the lefs impregnated with native wit, or lefs fweetened with delicacy of fentiment. No wonder then if their style be easy as it is natural, and elegant as it is eafy; if each letter be a model in matter and manner, with due allowance to patriot-partiality; nay if the very turn of the original remain with the thought, unviolated in the version.' After fo much encomium, fome fpecimen may be thought neceffary; and we fhall give the well-written letter to Mr. Voltaire, on the famous fubject of the sufferings inflicted by bigotry on the Calas family. "I thank you much for the book you fent me; every thing in it is beautiful, every thing true; and you are always the first man in the world for writing and for thinking. You have great reason to preach toleration; put the ignorant cannot, and the hypocrites will not understand you. When the execution of the unfortunate Calas was mentioned to me, I thought at firft the fcene had paffed among cannibals: but I was told it had just happened among the favages of Toulouse, in a city where the holy inquifition has been founded; and I no longer wondered. I read foine paffages of your work to the king, who was touched with them. He is firmly refolved to avenge and reftore the memory at least of that venerable old man: for my part, I fhould not be forry that his judges were fent to the galleys. The good town of Touloufe is faid to be wondrous devout: God preferve me from ever being devout in fuch manner! To return to you, my dear fir; is it poffible to write on with fo much spirit at your age? Continue to instruct mankind great is the need as for me, I fhall not cease to read and to admire you. Somebody had the infolence t'other day to addrefs to me verfes most injurious to the king and to myself. One perfon would infift that it was you who had written them. I retorted that they could not be yours, because they were bad ones, and because I had never done you any harm: you: thus fee what I think at once of your genius and your justice. I willingly forgive my own enemies, but do not fo easily forgive the enemies of his majefty; nor fhould I greatly grieve, if the author of thofe fame verfes were to spend fome time at Bicêtre, to mourn his fins, his calumnies, and his poetry together. Is it true that you have been dangerously ill, and received the facrament with an exemplary devotion? The former picce of news I learnt with concern, the latter with fatisfaction; because it confirms me in the good opinion I ever entertained of you on the score of religion. Yet do what you will, you never E 4 will |