402 
Thou only, aged mountain, dost remain, 
Stern monument amidst the delug'd plain : 
And fruitless the big waves thy bulwarks 
beat ; 
The big waves slow retire, and murmur at 
thy feet.’ 
Rev. W. H. Bowles. 
«« The first of these extracts has reference 
to the popular belief of St. Michael’s mount 
having, in the remote ages of antiquity, been 
situated in a wood ; a circumstance-to which 
its name in the Cornish language gives a 
considerable degree of plausibility. This 
tradition is partly confirmed by the testi- 
mony of Leland, who remarks that « In the 
bave betwixt the mont and Pensants, be 
found necre the lowe water marke, rootes of 
trees yn dyvers places.’ And Borlase, in a 
aper published in the fiftieth volume of the 
hilosophical Transactions, strengthens the 
evidence, by relating the discovery of the 
roots and trunks of trees; some of them 
embeded in the naturat soil, but covered 
with sand, and submerged by twelve feet 
of water every flowing tide. Ptolomy calls 
the mount Ocrinum; but soon after the 
sixth century, it seems to have received its 
Ant. XIf. A Companion and useful Guide to the Beauties in the Western Highlands of 
Scotland, and in the Hebrides: To which is added, a Description of Part of the main 
Land of Scotland, and of the Isles of Mull, Ulva, Staffa, I-Columbkill, Tirii, Coll, Figg, 
By the Honourable Mrs. Murray, of Kensington. 
Skye, Raza, and Scalpa. 
Svo. pp. 436. 
In the year 1799, Mrs. Murray pub- 
lished an octavo volume, as a “ Guide 
to the Scottish Scenery,” &c. That 
having met with some success, and been 
spoken highly of by two or three re- 
viewers, she has extended the work by 
publishing the present volume, which 
refers principally to the scenery and cha- 
racter of the western islands of Scotland. 
These wild and interesting regions had 
previously attracted the curiosity of 
Dr. Johnson, Dr. Garnett, Fanjas. St. 
Fond, &c. each of whom has communi- 
cated his observations to the public. 
The opinions of the first tourist are re- 
plete with prejudice, whilst those of the 
two latter gentlemen, though not so ge- 
nerally known, are much more scientific 
and important. 
The work is humbly entitled, ‘* a Com- 
panion and useful Guide,’’ &c. and the 
first part is simply occupied with direc- 
tions about inns, roads, travelling and 
accommodations; all these are required 
to be known by persons making the tour, 
and a knowledge of them must facilitate 
their progress, and add to their com- 
fort. “ This Guide,” observes Mrs, 
Murray, * points out to the traveller 
BRITISH TOPOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
roti name, from the apparition of St. 
ighael, whose appearance, according to 
the monkish legends, to some hermits on 
this mount, occasioned the foundation of — 
the monastery. The place where the vision © 
sat was a craggy spot, jn a dangerous situa- 
tion, ‘near the upper part of the rock, which 
in the time of Carew, bore the name of S¢. 
Michael's chair; but that appellation has 
since been transferred to a more accessible, — 
but equally dangerous, spot, on the summit 
of one of the angles of the chapel tower. 
Though little credit can be attached to this 
wild tale, yet it is certain that the mount 
became hallowed at a very early period; that 
it was renowned for its sanctity, and was 
for a time an object of frequent pilgrimage. 
The superstition paid to it by the mistakenly 
devout, is alluded to by Spenser in his Shep~ 
herd’s Calendar, and in terms sufficiently 
explicit to mark its fame. é 
© In evil hour thou lenst an hond 
Those holy hills to blame, 
For sacred unto saints they stond 
And of them have their name: 
St. Michael’s mount who does not know, ‘ 
That wardes the western coast ?” 
Vol. If. 
what is worth noticing in his tour, with 
the distances from place to place; men- 
tions the inns on the road, whether good 
or bad; also, what state the roads are 
in; and informs him of those fit for a 
carriage, and those where it cannot go 
with safety. In these respects, the pre- 
sent work differs from any other publi- 
cation ofthe kind; for no writer of tours 
has hitherto taken the trouble of ascere 
taining what may be seen worthy of no- 
tice in the course of a travelling journey ; 
and it very often happens, that he passes 
within a mile or less of very great na- 
tural beauties, without either knowing 
or having heard of them; and the coun- 
try people seldom or ever name to stran- 
gers what they think nothing of, because 
seeing them every day they regard them. 
not as objects of curiosity.” 
These are ‘facts well known, and of= 
ten lamented by the curious traveller, 
who loses the sight of many singular and 
interesting objects, for want of knowing 
their true situation and real character. 
A faithful guide is therefore a valuable 
travelling companion, and such we be- 
lieve is this before us. 
The first part of the volume contains 
