Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE

[blocks in formation]

NOTICE TO THE NEW EDITION OF THE
SCHOOLMASTER.

THIS little Periodical, the object of which is explained be-
low, has now been in course of publication for above two
months. Without puffing, fudgifying, or effort of any
kind, it has been received throughout Scotland as a wel-
come, well-timed, cheap publication. Through friendly ad-
vice, and repeated invitation, the SCHOOLMASTER is now
induced to make his appearance across the Border. Though
his lucubrations are printed in Edinburgh, it will be seen
that his objects are as extensive as British society, or as hu-
manity itself. For their encouragement and furtherance, we

venture to solicit the kindness of all liberal and intelligent Englishmen and Irishmen; and it is confidently hoped that the favour and protection of his own countrymen, abroad as at home, will not be withheld from the SCHOOLMASTER While he shall continue to deserve their countenance. For his honesty of purpose and earnest endeavour, we can undertake, and that thus far at least he will not disgrace their kindness.

ST. JAMES'S SQUARE,
ОСТОВЕН 12, 1832.

PRICE THREE-HALFPENCE

the failure of the late generous attempt made by MR. BULWER, leads me to despair of it ever being effected till the measure is wrung from the legislature by the increase of the unstamped periodicals. I have long had the present Miscellany in contemplation, and have spoken of it from time to time; but as a periodical of this kind can never be of equal value with a newspaper, nor at all supply its place, I still hoped that a change in the law would permit those alterations, and that reduction in price, which is all that is wanted to make newspapers sweep away all other kinds of cheap publications. To the month of April of the present year I looked forward as the era of reduced prices and improved form; and on the 14th January I noticed this BULWER's recent defeat, however, settles a question expectation in the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle. Mr. which, I fear, the state of the revenue-if that be the only real obstacle-will for a long time prevent being agitated with any hope of a successful terminaalmost under the sanction of Ministers, indicates tion. The appearance of the Penny Magazine, the course to be pursued with the newspapers, and also the sort of reading which even a liberal go vernment approves for the people. It is evidently thought better that they should read of the growth of the tea-plant, than watch the progress of legislation, or inquire into rights of industry; and learn of the ostrich and the giraffe, than jealously scrutinize the conduct of their rulers. Both kinds of

This work is published in Weekly Numbers, price Three-Halfpence; and in Monthly Parts, stitched in a neat wrapper, with JOHNSTONE'S MONTHLY REGISTER OF PUBLIC EVENTS AND SCOTTISH LISTS, price Sevenpence when consisting of four numbers, and Nine-reading are good; but the knowledge which teaches pence when consisting of five numbers, with an enlarged Register. For the convenience of those who take the Weekly Numbers, the Register and Cover may be had separately, price One Penny.

ADDRESS.

men how they may increase the comforts of their home and hearth is immeasurably the most im· portant. It is, therefore, the avowed purpose of this publication to be political, in so far as the science of politics is connected with social wellbeing-in short, to be as political as the existing laws permit, and to approach, as closely as is pos THIS little periodical publication owes its exist-sible, to the character of what I conceive a really ence to the non-removal of the Taxes on Knowledge. In January, 1831, I, in common with every one connected with the newspaper press, exulted in the prospect of an immediate and large reduction of the duty on newspapers as among the first fruits of a liberal Administration. This hope, delayed for a time to be renewed in the present year, has been at length completely frustrated; and

useful newspaper. We must not tell what passes in Parliament, nor at public meetings; but, if restricted in details, the fundamental principles of all good government are surely open to discussion; and the complicated phenomena of social life present endless subjects for speculation and popular disquisition. What must not be attempted by a relation of facts, may be accomplished by illustra

2

THE SCHOOLMASTER,

tions; and we have high authority for shadowing forth in parable that which a Pharisaîcal jealousy of the freedom of discussion does not permit to ppear in the direct form of naked truth. As an exemplification of the principle, I refer to the Tale, and the Observations given in the present week on a subject which at present occupies much of the public attention-Military Flogging. THE SCHOOLMASTER, therefore, besides being as political as the laws allow, will embrace as wide a range of intelligence, scientific and literary, as is permitted to the Weekly Reviews and Literary Journals. It will require a few more statutes to define the exact limits which the unstamped publications may not trespass; and it may soon be found wiser to abrogate a pernicious law, which there is uch strong temptation to evade, than by farther pains and penalties to struggle to maintain what is unworthy of longer protection.

diately popular than pitching our tone in a lower key, we shall still deem it more wise, as well as more respectful, to endeavour to raise all our audience to the level, which, for a great part of it, may still be found too humble. The price at which THE SCHOOLMASTER is sold is so low as only to be afforded on the expectation of considerable sales. It is such as could scarcely be lessened by any reduction of taxation, and only by improvements in the manual operations of printing which are not at present anticipated. It has not been undertaken without due consideration, nor without securing the means, by the assistance of practised writers, to make it worthy of the patronage which is solicited for it. It is for time and chance to determine the degree in which it may deserve encouragement. Though late in the field, the boundaries are every day extending :-there is room for all.

With this explanation of motives and purposes, and without farther preface or profession, I leave this undertaking to speak henceforth for itself. All that can be claimed for it, or that ought to be desired, is a fair field and no favour, with a trial deliberate enough to enable the judges to make a sound and true deliverance.

JOHN JOHNSTONE.

Such being the origin and purpose of THE SCHOOLMASTER, I have now briefly to detail its exact plan. The main object will be the cheap and universal diffusion of really useful information of every kind,-of such snatches and foretastes of all kinds of knowledge, as may stimulate to more extended inquiries, and supply ELEMENTS OF THOUGHT in all departments of mind. Mechanical Inventions, and the progress of discoCHEAP PERIODICALS very in the physical sciences, but above all in what are truly called the Useful Arts, will, so far as CHEAP PERIODICALS are in Britain of rather space permits, be attended to with the degree of ancient, and of most respectable lineage. They interest due to their importance, as the chief in- are older, by half, than two-thirds of the House struments, under the guidance of a gracious Pro- of Peers, and all of them are the descendants of vidence, of all the civilization and improvement great men. The first, The Review, was projected which mark the highest condition of the human by De Foe. It appeared three times a-week. family. The mariner's compass and the steam- The next Penny Paper was the Tatler-project engine have already done more for the world than ed by Steele, and supported by the contributions all the conquerors that ever carried "arts and of Addison and Swift, and the greatest Wits (as arms" into barbarous regions. The printing press they were termed) of that day. It was followed has done more for mankind than all the law-by the Spectator and the Guardian. The Tatler makers that ever lived. What has it still to accomplish!-It shall be the constant, as it is the highest aim of this Miscellany to accelerate its progress and extend its power. To the young, THE SCHOOLMASTER will study to supply, along with useful information and subjects for intellectual exercise, snatches of that graceful and humanizing light literature with which contemporary times abound.

As this small Miscellany is intended for the Many for the great mass of the People-that mighty class from which in every country the greatest men have arisen, from which in our island, and almost in our own day, have sprung a BURNS, a CULLEN, a Cook, a FERGUSON, a WATT, as almost without any exception all great men have arisen from among the people, we shall, in catering for them, address ourselves at once as if to the best order of capacities; and with "milk for babes" that will yet be men, furnish food "for strong men," believing that our world is now old enough to relish the fitting nourishment of masculine intellects. If this plan shall be less imme

Of

sold at a penny; but was not, in 1709, nearly half
the size which the Schoolmaster is, more than a
century later, and was very inferior in appearance.
The effect of these great little works was pro
digious, as may be gathered from contemporary
writers, and especially from Swift's Journal.
the Spectator, 20,000 were occasionally sold; which,
it would be no exaggeration to say, was more for
that time than a half million of penny papers
would be now, when the population of London
has increased so prodigiously, and readers in a
much larger proportion; while steam, and canals,
and coaches have connected with the Metropolis
all those hives of industry in Lancashire, York-
shire, Warwickshire, and the West of Scotland.

After a lapse of thirty years, Johnson, in 1750, commenced the Rambler. It appears to have been sold at twopence, and was published every Mon. day and Saturday for two years. The number sold was only 500! The property belonged to a bookseller, who paid the writer four guineas aweek. To make amends for this tardy success, Johnson lived to see ten editions of the collected

ford, sought our rural or silvan prey throughout all the land of Egypt, extending a traveller's right of conquest over Canaan, meditating spoils in the gardens of Goshen, taking personal possession of all the fair domains of St. Cuthbert, and extending our rambling dominion where the scarlet coat of postman not yet illumines the solitude, and where only the persevering foot of Chronicle deliverer-slow but sure, dilatory, but the more welcome-makes its adventurous way. But from these old familiar places we must stoically turn. We are bound on higher hests; and our very starting post is at the distance of a Sabbath-day's journey of our simpler years.

work printed and sold. Had the Rambler been | charms-proudly drew the minnow, and named it allowed to go by post, at a small charge, at least trout, from Braid's Burn; rifled, monster-like, the ten times the number must have been sold then. linnet's nest, on the "uncultured breast" of BlackTwo years after its decease, Johnson undertook the Idler, which also existed two years; the natural limit, it would seem, of the cheap periodicals of those days. Franklin is to be enrolled among the ancestors of the cheap periodicals. His Poor Richard's Almanack was, in its own land and day, among the most valuable of these publications. Upwards of fifty years ago, the Mirror was begun in this city. The principal papers were contributed by Henry Mackenzie, the Man of Feeling. It had some sale in England; but no very great success anyway, in point of numbers. It has, however, often been reprinted. The Mirror was followed by the Lounger, which was supported by the same writers. The Bee, a utilitarian small pe riodical, was conducted by Dr. Anderson, in Edinburgh, and contained many good papers. About twenty years ago, Mr. James Hogg projected the Spy, and has humorously recorded its fortune. Within the last seven years, many little periodicals have risen and flourished for a time, and then been forgotten. But good they must have done, even the humblest of them; and their effects, though they may never become visible or tangible, are no doubt beneficially felt in some quarter or other. The cause of failure, generally speaking, has been the want of some presiding mind to give the little work tone and consistency of purpose. They were generally some third or fourth-rate bookseller's temporary speculation, who employed some poor literary wight, who cut with the scissors, right and left, without either judgment or discrimination, as long as any one would buy.

HOLYDAY RAMBLES ROUND EDINBURGH.

BY ZACHARY ZIGZAG, ESQ.

No. I.-THE RAIL-WAY.

It is not without reason we choose the Rail-way Waggon. We like the quiet unexpensive pleasures which "after no repenting draws." As we propose being the guide of as many of the SCHOOLMASTER'S pupils as will put themselves under our care in this excursion, we recommend them to breakfast with what appetite they may; and, "according to their several circumstances," make preparation for the creature-comforts of the day, whether in huntingpouch, fishing-basket, or the neat willowy reticule borne by more delicate fingers. And now we stride off, all through Lady Nicolson's Park, and down the Cross-Causey :-the Castle of Clouts' towers in sight, Gibbet Toll, "that was," in the distance. There are many things here to awaken boyish reminiscences. There were bickers in those days! Under the auspices of St. Catherine of Sienna, the patroness of skirmishing, how often has our side beat them back from the sacred precincts named for her, which stocking-weavers call the Sciennes, and march-of-intellect men, not quiet perfect in their orthography, Science Street.But these glories are all past: their memory we leave in charge of J S of local antiquaries-the modest, unknown Ashmole of Edina; and the new streets and feus to the care of Mr. Grubb and the Improvements' Commission; for we are now at the Depot, in the midst of coal cabinets, coal bings, coal carters, black, grey, and red, and waggons of every form and hue,-where, some five years back, we could sit under trees, or in hop-vine bowers, sucking honey

best

No city like to thee, our own dear and venerable Mother! whether in variety, beauty, or scope of scenery. Youth, gaiety, and fashion are promenading in thy most princely Prince's Street-love and romance strolling in thy parks and gardens bravery and hoar tradition are enthroned on all thy encircling hills! What picturesque outstepping, -round the fringed, breezy brow of thy Corstor-blobs, and green Gascoignes; another sense regaled phine, looking smiling down on the blue smoke of quiet Craigcruik!-round the coroneted front of thy stately Salisbury, or the crest of thy couchant Lion, thy peerless, noble Arthur! Well do we know all thy beauties; and fondly and reverently could we expatiate on them, and the delights they have yielded us, since at four we could just toddle over the stiles, and tumble our short length into the daisied lap thou spreadest for thy children in thy King's Park

Speering no bold Baron's leave--

till the bold Saturday school-boy ventures, of reckless twelve, explored thy remoter and more hidden

all the while by the profuse fragrance of Mr. Ba-
chelor,-gentlest name, of gentlest culler of simples
for the maidens and matrons of Edinburgh. But
here comes the Waggon; and as the eyes of th
world are on us, we must now act, if possible, lik
a rational creature. We are snugly dove-taile..,
about sixteen Christian souls in the space allotted
to ten bodies; but good-humour is a first-rate
bundler:-so off we go!-The rolling down the
Tunnel is not quite the MOUNTAINS at Paris ; but
it is a much finer thing in its way. Still finer is it to

any part of the Whig administration in the Tunnel, and
* Mr. Fox, we understand, denies the breaking down of
we must believe what we wish true.

sible-looking person of fifty, or, by're lady, inclining to threescore. The swell of his breastpocket shews a well-stuffed pocketbook, under the broad-skirted pepper-and-salt coat, and bodes corn exchanges in the market-place of Dalkeith, before the dinner hour, with the farmers of Ford, Crichton, Borthwick, Temple, or Newbattle parishes. He is a middle-man, between the granaries of the Lothians and the devouring maw of the manufactories of the West. He is a stanch Radical, I find, on every point save the Corn Laws; of that only he is "not clear." This may account for his observations to my inquiring neighbour the matron, as, waving his umbrella-staff abroad, like a magician's wand-paying his way, and careless of who hears, he cries:-" Ay, all that good cornland, every rig, from his gate in the high street of Dalkeith, down to Inveresk Kirk—the manors o' Smeaton and Castlesteads—or were they baronies ? locked into his park; and two running waters keppt

emerge from its gloom, with the glant iron Ribs of Sampson, two hundred feet almost sheer overhead, and neighbouring them the fretted rock-work of the breechless western hip of Arthur. The scene nere is indeed striking. The beautiful grounds of Prestonfield, or Priestfield, on the right, and on the other hand, the upward magnificent sweep of Arthur's Seat, leading on by the little placid Loch, to the romantic village church of Duddingstone, and the plantations of Lord Abercorn. We might pause here, but could not get beyond the city of the bonebridges of antiquity, and of the "roaring curlers" of modern times, for this week, were the temptation not manfully resisted :—so turn we to willowy Pepper or Peffer Mill, with its cool cattle-pool and natural meadows, finer to our thinking than any young upstart villa of its acquaintance. The Railway here is most enviously shut up by high dead | stone walls. The same spirit has been at work, which has demolished the stiles, and shut up the old pleasant path leading across the meadows to Dud-in't for his pleasure. What a sight o' mills and dingstone. Say, ye Road Trustees, whither has it vanished?—that sweet path "traversed so oft in life's morning march." With the recollection of its delicious freshness the veteran L had cooled himself in the burning plains of India. When he returned three years ago, and found this haunt of boyhood for ever gone, the echoes of Arthur prolonged the Soldier's malison,-which we must not repeat, lest Mr Thomson, who, from yon distant upper window of the Manse, is doubtless making a sketch of the Waggon, might overhear the somewhat profane denunciation of all heartless, fanciless, brainless Road Trustees. The sketch, which we shall perhaps see in the Exhibition next spring, if" nobody buys" before then, comprehends Our Waggon, sweeping through the thick foliageCraigmillar Castle in the distance-Priestfield in the middle distance, and here and there, a chancebedropt tree;-storied Craigmillar, where “beauteous Mary" bathed in wine, saith tradition, and became more beautiful even in the cruel languish.. ment of her imprisonment!

engines that stretch o' ground might support! what a bee-hive of industry, and nest of comfortable homes for hundreds on hundreds o' puir bodies, and their bits o' bairns!"

"What a quantity of oatmeal they would consume!" cried a somewhat waggish youth on my right, whose japanned case boded botanical research, though a small copy of Grahame's Birds of Scotland starting from the waistcoat pocket, spoke of something else on an idling holyday.

[ocr errors]

Ay, just sae," said the man of meal-the champion of productive industry-quite satisfied with this ironical crowning of his climax; but my matron neighbour put in a woman's word for " the Duke." She had seen "the Park in auld Deuke Henry's time, and in the time o' the auld Duchess; and a beautifu' sight it was,—with the hairy man, [orang-outang,] the hermitage, and the creatures o' deers-hundreds o' them, like sheep."

"And would five hundred, or, as John Storie has calculated, nearer five thousand, men, wives, and bairns, with their bits o' snug cot-houses and

bushes, grozerts, and apple-renzie, as ye see in the West; and may-be a pig and a bees' skep or twano been as bonny a sight, think ye, gudewife, whether taking their stoup o' wholesome ale, after their labours were over on a Saturday night, or praising their Maker in the Kirk on a Sabbath?” said my friend, who, spite of his comfortable contours, and good cleeding, I now suspected of inye

It is only now that we find time to look roundkail-yards about the banks and holms; their roseon our travelling companions. A respectable young shopkeeper, his wife, and three children; Peggy, the lass, too, her hands full enough with the baby and the basket. There is a younger sister also, and a young man, likely enough, if things go well, by the diligent culture of five years, to ripen into a sober lover. It is a family holyday. That old lady in the dark shawl, her smile of quiet excitement only now taking place of the rigid hor-terate radicalism. rors of the tunnel, goes but as far as Lugton-Path, to see an old neighbour, and obtain change of air for her grandchild, the sickly, pale little girl who leans on her. She has not been this way since her daughter ("the lassie's mother") married; but "this is so reasonable ;" and she speaks of the Rail-sae-sae muckle o't?-can ye tell me that?" way Waggon affectionately as of an obliging living female creature, and the "power of good she would do the bairns."

Opposite me is a sturdy, square-set, 'spon

[ocr errors]

"That's the sight I ne'er saw there," replied the matron meekly; SO I cannot say. But the auld Duchess was a kind woman to beast and body. And what this man has is his own, surely?”

"Ay, so it is, mistress; but how came it to be

"From his forbears, I daur-to-say; and I hope. he remembers who is the Giver of all, and is a kind man to the poor, and to his tenantry."

"And where got they the forbears, I mean

« PreviousContinue »