1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



465 



together with descriptions of two or three 

 remarkable spots, as the Mall of Galloway, 

 and Colonel M'Dowall's fish-pond commu- 

 nicating with the sea, and filled with tame 

 fishes, seems to have suggested the general 

 title, " for want of a better." Mr. M'Di- 

 armid is, we believe, a printer at Dumfries, 

 and editor of a paper in the same town ; 

 and has had occasion professionally to fur- 

 nish obituary tributes to several persons of 

 local reputation, some of which are here re- 

 printed. Captain Clapperton was born in 

 the neighbourhood, and claimed a similar 

 tribute his is a very animated sketch. In- 

 deed, every part of the volume gives proof 

 of cultivation and intelligence the author 

 is a very clever person, and his volume of 

 scraps a very readable one. 



Weeds and Wild/lowers, ly the late 

 Alex. Balfour; 1830 Mr. Balfour's name 

 and some occasional pieces of his, were not 

 unknown to us, but his story was wholly so 

 it is one of some interest, and told by 

 the editor of these relics in a very sensible 

 manner. The son of parents in a very 

 humble station, he was brought up a weaver, 

 but early smitten with the love of books, at 

 the termination of his apprenticeship he 

 took to school-keeping in his native village. 

 After a few years he removed to Arbroath, 

 as clerk to a merchant and manufacturer. 

 His employer dying, he entered into part- 

 nership with the widow, and on her retiring, 

 in 1800, extended his business, in con- 

 junction with others, by government con. 

 tracts for ship-canvas. His success was 

 considerable, till in the year 1815 a year 

 memorable for commercial distresses the 

 firm was involved in the bankruptcy of a 

 London house, and he was suddenly thrown 

 from comparative affluence into a state of 

 dependence. His resource was the superin- 

 tendence of a house of business for two or 

 three years, till he was struck with paraly- 

 sis, and rendered incapable of locomotion 

 for the rest of his days he died a few 

 months since. From a very early period he 

 had dabbled in literature, and was, with few 

 interruptions, in frequent communication 

 with the provincial periodicals. Long prac- 

 tice gave facility of composition, and the 

 last painful years of his life were soothed, 

 and his family chiefly supported, by his lite- 

 rary efforts. Besides his constant contribu- 

 tions to Constable's Magazine, and two 

 other Scotch periodicals, he was the author 

 of three or four novels, " Campbell," " The 

 Probationer," and The Highland Maid," 

 the latter of which the editor describes as 

 a tale of interest, and one which, under 

 more favourable bibliopolic auspices, would 

 have certainly worked its way to popularity. 

 Of his poetry, the most remarkable is 

 " Characters omitted in Crabbe's Register," 

 in which he has most successfully caught 

 the spirit and tone of Crabbe. The volume 

 before us has another specimen or two of 

 the same kind, which it would be difficult 



M.M. New Series. -VoL.IX. No. 52. 



to characterise justly, otherwise than by 

 saying they are wholly Crabbe. The tales 

 are simply and agreeably told one descrip- 

 tive of some German dreams, and another 

 of the equivoques and embarrassments pro- 

 duced by the close resemblance not only of 

 two sisters, but a brother alsonot at all 

 Germanish, but scarcely less improbable. 



Field Sports of the North, by L. Lloyd y 

 Esq., 2 vols. 8vo. Be the subject what it 

 may, any book written not for writing's 

 sake, but because the writer has something 

 to tell, and really knows what he is writing 

 about, must fix an intelligent reader's at- 

 tention. The prominent topic of these 

 volumes is bear-shooting, and the author's 

 shooting grounds were the wide provinces 

 of Wermeland and Dalecarlia. He has 

 spent some years in Sweden, and knows the 

 country thoroughly ; but the present work 

 is limited merely to a description of his 

 sporting tours in the years 1827-8. Nothing 

 shootable came amiss wolves, foxes, elks, 

 capercalis (cogs de bois), but the bear was 

 the prime object of pursuit; and of that 

 animal he has furnished a great deal of 

 minute information no naturalist ever 

 probably had his personal experience, and 

 no one certainly has conveyed particulars so 

 numerous of the bear's habits and pecu- 

 liarities. 



Bears are not so abundant in Sweden as 

 to be found with facility. In the south- 

 ern parts, cultivation, which is spreading on 

 every side, has fairly expelled them ; and 

 even in the less populated districts of Wer- 

 meland and Dalecarlia, the appearance of a 

 bear is a signal for the neighbourhood to 

 assemble for its destruction. This is done 

 on a very large scale 1,500 men some- 

 times co-operate it is a sort of parochial 

 levy, and every parish contributes a certain 

 quota for the chase. The turn out is called 

 a scall, or battu the party will enclose a 

 space of fifty miles, which takes one man 

 for every fifty and sixty yards ; and then 

 advancing, gradually narrow . the circle. 

 The game is thus, of course, enclosed, and 

 driven to one spot, when the sportsmen, 

 placed in what is called the shooting line, 

 await the arrival, and make the best use 

 they can of their opportunity. Engaging 

 such numbers of people, the hunt is, of 

 course, quite an event ; its approach is an- 

 nounced from the pulpit; the government 

 give a bounty, and the bear itself, valuable 

 for its flesh and its fur, affords an addi- 

 tional prize. 



The author's facilities enabled him to 

 settle a variety of questions relative to the 

 habits of this formidable animal. Some 

 doubts have been entertained as to the period 

 of gestation, and the condition of the young 

 at their birth. No bears, it has been said, 

 have been found with cubs in their wombs ; 

 but Mr. Lloyd had ocular proof in one of 

 his own killing. She carries her young six 

 months, and brings them forth in January 



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