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the choicest fruits" of the Augustan age; they will say that the time spent in learning the dead languages, would be better employed in acquiring knowledge of more immediate utili ty-But it would not be prudent to reason with a Scotchman on a subject about which he has made up his mind; if you tread upon the hem of that garment of importance in which he envelops his ignorance, you will make him your enemy for ever. It is indeed too provoking for ordinary patience, to hear a money-making hard-featured Goth, presuming to talk with contempt of those studies which have been cultivated by the most distinguished genuises of every age, and to quote to you the misfortunes of those excellent men who have dedicated themselves to learning, without reaping any pecuniary rewards. If merit is suffered to pine in want and obscurity, whose fault is it, but that of the monopolizers of wealth?

Talents, perhaps, are not so rare as is generally supposed; the flower may exist in many souls, and if touched by the beam of a happy fortune, might more frequently emerge from its bed of obscurity, and gladden the day with its rich, though unexpected luxuriance. On the other hand, for want of this enlivening ray, how often is the most promising genius "nipt i' the bud?" Thus Chatterton and Gilbert were driven to despair and suicide, and Henry Kirke White suffered to struggle through difficulties, till his over-exertions brought him to an untimely end.

"Hard is the scholar's lot, condemned to sail
Unpatronized 'midst life's tempestuous wave;
Clouds blind his sight, nor blows a friendly gale
To waft him to one port,-except the grave.'

PENROSE.

I would enlarge on this interesting subject, it it is treated with such eloquence in "Per's Letters," which I send you, that I will efer any further remarks till I write our iend Dr. Caldwell on the state of the Uniersity of Edinburgh.

According to your desire, I will make a few servations on the marriages in Scotland. here is very little ceremony observed on ese occasions; indeed, I have been assured at, among the lower classes, the sanction of e church is not required to unite the sexes! man has only to own before witnesses that ich a woman is his wife, to have her declared such before the world-and a person who as got children by illicit commerce, can have nem all legitimated, and his mistress into the argain, if he only publicly avow that the said bonnie lassy" is his true and lawful wife.

* Swift wrote the following very powerful lines on the misfor-
nes to which the votary of the Muses seems predestined:
"Not beggar's brat on bulk begot;
Not bastard of a pedlar Scot;

Not boy bro'ght up to cleaning shoes,
The spawn of Bridewell or the stews;
Not infants dropp'd, the spurious pledges
Of gypsies littering under hedges;-
Are so disqualified by fate

To rise in church, or law, or state,
As he whom Phoebus in his ire

Has blasted with poetic fire!"

Gretna Green is famous in the pages of ro mance, as the sanctuary of stolen matches; every little Miss at her boarding school knows the destination of this hymeneal work-shop, although, perhaps, she is not certain on what part of the globe it is situated; so instructive a source of amusement are our modern novels! Mr. Edgeworth has written the following humorous verses on Scotch marriages and di

vorces:

"To ready Scotland boys and girls are carried,
Before their time impatient to be married;
Soon wiser grown, the self-same road they run,
With equal haste, to get the knot undone;
Th' indulgent Scot, when English law too nice is,
Sanctions our follies first, and then our vices."

When a marriage in the fashionable circles, or in the respectable middling classes, takes place, the nuptial benediction is pronounced in the house of the bride; with persons in low circumstances, the parties adjourn to the minister's residence. The first thing done is to pray for the blessing of heaven; then the minister discourses to the couple on the duties of marriage. Now he tells them to join hands, and puts the following question to the bride" Will you take the woman, whom you hold by the hand, to be your wedded wife, and promise in the presence of the Almighty, and before the present witnesses, to be a loving and a faithful husband?" The bridegroom of course answers yes. Then the same question is put to the bride, only adding the word obedient.

groom:

Afterwards he solemnly declares them married persons, and concludes with a short prayer. immediately after the ceremony, the newnade husband kisses his wife-the minister ollows his example, and the blushing bride presents her cheek to every one present.

The dinner at large parties in Edinburgh is usually announced by a bell. The ladies then proceed to the dining room, and the mistress of the house seats herself at the head of the table. The gentlemen then walk into the room; but no escorting of the ladies to their seats! no taking their hands and leading them to the dining room, as in France! After the soup and fish, the silly custom of "Madam, shall I have the pleasure of a glass of wine with you?" commences, and continues during dinner; as if one could do any good to other people's health, by injuring one's own!-As soon as the desert is finished, the ladies retire, to prepare coffee and talk scandal; and the gentlemen "drink potations pottle deep," till they get flustered. A certain recipient, which shall be nameless, is ready in a corner, to receive what the diuretic powers of the wine have produced (credite posteri!) and then the Messieurs "talk parrot" till they are summoned to the coffeeroom! By the way, I have not drank a cup good coffee since I left Paris; the slop made under that name in the British kitchens, cannot be compared to the delicious French coffee, concerning which Delille exclaimed with enthusiasm,

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of

"Je bois dans chaque goutte un rayon du soleil!"

The washing of our after dinner cups, (says Espriella,) would make a mixture as good as their coffee; the infusion is just strong enough to make the water brown and bitter. This is not occasioned by economy, though coffee is enormously dear: they know no better; and if you tell them how it ought to be made, they reply, that it must be very disagreeable, and even that if they could drink it so strong, it would prevent them from sleeping. There is besides an act of Parliament to prevent the English from drinking good coffee! they are not permitted to roast it themselves, and of course all the fresh and finer flavour evaporates in the warehouse.

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LETTER VIII.

A tous les cœurs bien nés que la patrie est chère!

VOLT. Tancrède.

Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of Ameri can, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exact the just pride of Patriotism. WASHINGTON.

Edinburgh, February 23d, 1819.

YESTERDAY evening, the Americans at Edinburgh celebrated the birth-day of our great

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