lence of every kind; the learned, Be it, that here thy partial fmile approv'd the elegant, the polite, all that were eminent for their worth, or diftinguished by their genius. From fuch connections, his mind, rich in its own ftore, received an acceffion of moft extensive knowledge, and an inexhauftible treasure for converfation. He was rich in obfervation, anecdote, and intelligence. "I know no man," faid Dr Johnfon, "who has paffed through life with more obfervation than Sir Joshua Reynolds," In the year 1759 he wrote three letters, and prelented them to Dr Johnson, to be inferted in his Idler. They treat on the cant of criticism, on Michael Angelo, and on the practice of the Italian and Dutch painters. They do not difgrace that valuable work. His veneration for Michael Angelo appears in one of thefe letters; and, this veneration may be traced through the whole feries of his difcourfes to the Academy. Whenever his pen touches on the learning and conceptions of Michael Angelo, he difcovers an enthusiasm of intellectual energy. In the year 1782, the Rev. Mr Mafon (the author of that celebrated work The English Garden) publifhed in quarto, a tranflation of Du Fref noy's Art of Painting; and Sir Jofhua's friendship for Mr Mason induced him to enrich this edition with annotations. They are valuable both to the student and connoiffeur; they are a happy display of that nice dif. crimination which peculiarly marks the pen of Sir Joshua Reynolds. To this edition is prefixed an epiftle from Mr Mafon to Sir Joshua, which concludes in these lines: Be it that here his tuneful toil has dreft The pains he lavifh'd on the art he lov'd." To Sir Joshua Reynolds (both in converfation and in writing) Shakefpeare is indebted for many a beautiful elucidation. Some of them enrich the later editions of this poet.— The difcourfes which Sir Joshua Reynolds delivered to the ftudents of the Royal Academy, in the month of December in each year, from its inftitution, are the works which chiefly beftow on him the character of an estimable writer. Thefe difcouries (which were meant to animate and to guide the ftudents in their future attempts) have been regularly printed; and Sir Jofhua's profound knowledge in the art he profefied, his cladical attainments, his polic ed mind, all appear confpicuous in thofe difcourfes. They are treaftres of information to the ftudent, and to the proficient; and the elegance and chality of language which pervades them has very feldom been equalled by the most eminent of our writers. In 1790, Sir Joshua poffeffed a very anxious defire to procure the vacant profefforfhip of Perfpective in the academy for Mr Boromi, an Italian architect; and as Mr Boncmi had not yet been elected an affociate, and of courfe was not an academician, it became a neceflary step to raite him to thofe fituations, in order to qualify him for being a profeffor. The election proceeded, and Mr Gilpin was a competitor for the affociatefhip with the Italian architect. The numbers on the ballot proved equal; and the prefident gave the cafting vote for his friend Mr Bonomi, who was thereby advanced fo far towards the profefforfhip. On the vacancy of an academic feat by the death of Mr Meyers, Sir Joshua obtain it for Mr Bonomi; but a spiReynolds exerted all his influence to Taught the clofe folds to take an eafier_rit of refiftance appeared; (owing, I Low; D believe, believe, to fome mifconception, or to fome informality on the part of Sir Joshua in producing fome drawings of Bonomi's,) and Mr Fufeli (certainly an artist of original genius) was elected an academician by a majority of two to one. The Prefident then quitted the chair with great diffatisfaction; and, on the following day (the 12th of February,) Sir Jo. fhua Reynolds, who for 21 years had filled the chair of the Royal Academy with honour to himself and his country, fent his letter of refignation to Mr Richards, the fecretary of the academy. He was foon, however, perfuaded to return to the chair. About a year and a half after the above event, Sir Joshua Reynolds, finding that calamity increafe upon him which is fo feelingly adverted to in fome lines fent to him by Mr Jerningham, and daily expecting the total lofs of fight, wrote a letter to the academy, intimating his intention to refign the office of prefident on account of bodily infirmities, which difabled him from executing the duties of it to his own fatisfaction. A meeting of the royal academicians was held about the 15th of November 1791, for the purpofe of electing affociates, when Mr Weft, who prefided for Sir Joshua, read the letter from him, intimating his intention. The company received this intelligence with the refpectful concern due to the talents and virtues of Sir Joshua, and either then did enter, or defigned to enter, into a refolution, honourable to all parties, namely, that a deputation from the whole body of the academy fhould wait upon him, and inform him of their wish, that the authority and privileges of the office of prefident might be his during his life; declaring their willingness to permit the perform ance of any of its duties, which might be irkfome to him, by a deputy. From this period Sir Joshua never painted more-his laft portrait was that of the Hon. Charles James Fox (now in the hand of the engraver ;) and this laft effort of this great artift's pencil is a full proof that his fancy, his imagination, and his other great powers in the art he profesfed, remained unabated to the last : when the lait touches were given to this picture. "The hand of Reynolds fell to rise no "more." For fome time before his death, his illnels produced a melancholy, which was the more diftreffing to his friends, as it was indulged in filence. For fome weeks before he paid the great debt, his fpirits were fo low, that he was unable to bear even the confolations of friendship. The numerous attendances of many of our nobility and men of fcience during his illness, are the best testimony of the value fet upon him, and of the regret with which they contemplated his illness, and prophefied his diffolution. "His illness," fays Mr Burke, "was long, but borne with a mild and cheerful fortitude, without the least mixture of any thing irritable or querulous, agreeable to the placid and even tenour of his whole life. He had, from the beginning of his malady, a distinct view of his diffolution, which he contem plated with that entire composure, that nothing but the innocence, integrity, and usefulness of his life, and an unaffected fubmiffion to the will of Providence, could bestow." On Thursday night, 23d of Feb. 1792. this great artist and accomplished character paid the last awful debt to nature, in the 69th year of his age. ACCOUNT ACCOUNT OF THE SCAILAGS, OR PREDIAL SLAVES, IN THE THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND. FROM BUCHANAN'S TRAVELS IN THE WESTERN HEBRIDES. HEdifiance ofthat part of the Hebrides called the Long Iland, comprehending Lewis, Harris, both the Uifts, Barry, and other small Isles, and the dangers of a voyage among islands, advanced to the distance of 70 miles from the main land of Scotland in a tempeftuous ocean, account for the general ignorance of the manners, customs, characters, and political fituation of thofe wild and diftant regions; which have of late been brought under the public eye, chiefly by the misfortunes of the inhabitants. Though feveral travellers have vifited Skye, Mull, Ifla, Jura, and other islands of smaller extent, skirting the western fhores of the main land, we have never yet had any written accounts of the Long Ifland, or rather chain of iflands; or, at leaft, any accounts relating to the domeftic and political fituation of the inhabitants. This, indeed, is at prefent moft deplorable: the relief of emigration, offered to fome, being denied to the far greater number by extreme poverty; and a petty tyranny, arifing from immemorial ufages established in times of feudal oppreffion, and their fingular and remote fituation, which fecludes the miserable natives of the Western Hebrides from the benign influence of the British laws and government. A right avails nothing without a remedy. The poor Hebridean, as well as the Highland cottager in the more fequeftered parts of North-Britain, would find it impoffible to effect, if he had courage to attempt, emancipation and independence on the tackfmen, and petty lairds or landholders, who keep them in fubjection. I fay petty lairds and tacksmen, for with regard to the great proprietors of land and fea-coaft in thofe parts, Lord Macdonald, Mr. Humberstone Mackenzie, Captain Macleod of Harris, Mr Macdonald of Boifdale, and a few other gentlemen of large eftates, they have given undoubted proofs of a difpofition to protect the great body of the poor people against their immediate superiors and oppreffors; by encouraging general induftry, which cannot exift without liberty, or, in other words, without juftice. But it too often, and indeed for the most part happens, that non-refidence, and various avocations, on the part of the great landholders, afford opportunities to the tacksmen, among whom their eftates are divided, by leafehold, in large lots, or rather districts, to conceal the real ftate of affairs from the diftant chief, and to enter into fuch combinations, as at once, in fact, fruftrate the good intentions of those chiefs, and defy the free genius of the British Conftitution. The land is parcelled out in fmall portions, by the tackfmen, among the immediate cultivators of the foil, who pay their rent in kind, and in personal fervices. Though the tackfmen, for the most part, enjoy their leafes of whole diftricts on liberal terms, their exactions from the fubtenants are in general moft fevere. They grant them their poffeffions only from year to year: and, left they fhonld forget their dependent condition, they are every year, at a certain term, with the most regular formality, warned to quit their tenements, and to go out of the bounds of the leafehold eftate. The fubtenant, by what prefents he can command, or by humble fupplications, endeavours to work on the mind of the tacksman, and, on any condition he pleases to impofe, to retain a home for himself, his wife, and children; for he has no other refource. And here I am to difclofe to the Englith nation, as well, I hope, as the greater part of the Scotch, and to the whole world, a matter of fact, which cannot fail to excite a very general fympathy and concern for a fober, harmlefs, and much-injured people. It is an invariable cuftom, and eftablished by a kind of tacit compact a mong the tacksmen and inferior lairds, to refufe, with the most invincible obduracy, an afylum, on their ground, to any fubtenant without the recommendation of his landlord; or, as he is very properly called in thofe parts, his Mafter. The wretched out-caft, therefore, has no alternative, but to fink down into the fituation and rank of an unfortunate and numerous class of men known under the name of Scaliags. This Scaling, whether male or female, is a poor being, who, for mere fubfiftence, becomes a predial flave to another, whether a fubtenant, a tackfman, or a laird. The Scailag builds his own hut with fods and boughs of trees; and if he is fent from one part of the country to another, he moves off his sticks, and, by means of thefe, forms a new hut in another place. He is, however, in moft places, encouraged by the poffeffion of the walls of a hat, which he covers in the best way he can with his old fticks, ftubble, and fern. Five days in the week he works for his mafter the fixth is allowed to himself, for the cultivation of fome fcrap of land, on the edge of fome mofs or moor: on which he raifes a little kail, or cole-worts, barley, and potatoes. Thefe articles, boiled up together in one mafh, and often with out falt, are his only food; except in thofe feafons and days when he can catch fome fish, which he is obliged not unfrequently to eat without bread or falt. The only bread he taftes is a cake made of the flour of barley. He is allowed coarfe fhoes, with tartan hofe, and a coarfe coat, with a blanket or two, for cloathing. It may occur to an English reader, that as the Scailag works only five days out of feven to his mafter, he has two to provide for himself. But it is to be recollected, that throughout the whole of Scotland and all its appendages, as well as in the oppofite countries of Iceland to the north, and Norway and Denmark to the east, Sunday, or the Sabbath, as it is called in all thofe countries, is celebrated by a total ceflation from all labour, and all amufements too, as well' as by religious exercifes. DOMESTIC CONVENIENCES OF THE SUBTENANTS IN THE WESTERN ISLES. FROM THE SAME. THE huts of the oppreffed tenants are remarkably naked and open; quite deftitute of furniture, except logs of timber collected from the wrecks of the fea, to fit on about the fire, which is placed in the middle of the houfe, or upon feats made of ftraw, like foot haffacks, fluffed with ftraw or fubble. Many of them muft reft fatisfied with large ftones placed around the fire, in order. As all perfons muft have their own blankets to fleep in, they make their beds in whatever corner fuits their fancy, and in the mornings they fold them up into a fimall compafs, with all their gowns, cloaks, coats, and petticoats, that are not in use. The cows, goats, and fheep, with the ducks, hens, and dogs, muft have the common benefit of the fire, and particularly the young and tendereft are admitted next to it. This filthy ftye is never cleaned but once a-year, when they place the dung on the fields as macure for barley crops. Thus from the neceffity of laying litter below thefe cat, tle tle to keep them dry, the dung naturally increases in height almoft midwall high, fo that the men fit low about the fire, while the cattle look down from above upon the company. It is true they are at pains to keep the flye as dry as poffible, by attending on their cows with large vefels to throw out the wash; but fill it must be wet and unwholfome, and no argument can prevail upon them to turn out the dung on a dunghill daily, as they have got the idea impref. fed on their minds, that the air carries off the strength if much expofed. Indeed many of them make little or no use of the unmixed dung that is piled up by heaps about their doors; but fince the masters have taken much of the kelp, which was their ufual manure, from the poor creatures, to burn it for the markets, they are forced to make better ufe of the dung. In the heart of Lewis, where many of the farms are far from the fea, they are neceffitated, not only to ufe all manner of cow dung, but even to ftrip the house of its thatch every fpring, to make an addition to their manure for the lands. TH HAT bird, after the hard toil of the day at fifhing without in termiftion, rifing high in the air to get a full fight of the fish that he marks out for his prey before he pounces upon it, and each time devouring it before he rifes above the furface, becomes fo fatigued at night, that he fleeps quite found, in company with fome hundreds, who mark out fome particular spot in the face of the rocks, to which they repair at night, and think themfelves fecure under the protection of a centinel, who ftands awake to watch their lives, and give the alarm, by bir, bir, in time of danger, to awaken thofe under his guard. The St Kildians watch with great care on what part of the island thefe birds are most likely to light at night: and this they know by marking out on which fide of the island the play of fish are, among which the geefe are at work the whole day; because in that quarter they are ready to betake themfelves to fleep at night. And when they are fairly alighted, the fowlers repair to the place with their panniers, and ropes of thirty fathoms in length, to let them down with profound filence in their neighbourhood-to try their fortunes among the unwary throng. The fowler, thus let down by one or more men, who hold the rope left he should fall over the impending rocks into the fea, with a white towel about his breaft, calmly flides over the face of the rocks till he has a full view of the centinel; then he gently moves along on his hands and feet, creeping very filently to the spot where the centinel flands on guard. If he cries bir, bir, the fign of an alarm, he stands back; but if he cries grog, grog, that of confidence, he advances without fear of giving an alarm, because the goofe takes the fowler for one of the fraggling geefe coming into the camp, and fuffers him to advance. Then the fowler very gently tickles one of his legs, which he lifts and places on the palm of his hand; he then as gently tickles the other, which in like manner is lifted and placed on the hand. He then, no leis artfully than infenfibly, moves the centinel near the first fleeping goofe, which he pushes with his fingers; on which he awakes, and finding the centinel ftanding above, he immediately falls a fighting him for his fuppofed infolence. This alarms the whole camp, and instead of flying off, they all begin to fight through |