SCOTTISH 
for that would be outstepping the mo- 
desty of personification, but two Scotch 
mountains so called; thence he goes on 
making stepping-stones of Ben Gloe, and 
high Ben More, and great Ben Lawrs, 
and Lomond, and Shihallion, and Cairn- 
gorm, there he stands and drains run- 
ning stream, and standing flood, and the 
fresh supplies of the Atlantic, till having 
drank his fill the Diuretic Demon puts 
poor Tyne-Drum to a viler purpose than 
is made of Moab in the Psaims, 
Lastly.. We shall exhibit the poet in 
his prophetical character, for who knows 
not the double import of Vates? In 
speaking of his hero and heroine, he says, 
«« Low sleep strong Malmor and [moina fair, 
Their oe lives, the story of their loves, 
_ Their hopes and fears, and happiness forgot.” 
Having thus exemplified the poetical 
beauties of this author, we proceed to 
consider him as a philosopher. We have 
reason to believe that, with Mr. Parks, 
the Anti-Newtonian Lecturer, he has 
his doubts concerning the Copernican 
System, as in the following notes he calls 
our attention to an hypothesis which 
likens the universe to an onion. 
«© Another philosopher of the new world, 
has revived an old hypothesis of a vast con- 
caveorb, encompassing numberless systems, 
and reflecting the light of all, that it may not 
diverge for ever,and be lost in unlimited space. 
He thinks that the luminous appearance of 
_ ‘the galaxy or milky way is occasioned by the 
_teHexion from that orb, rather than from the 
blended light of telescopic stars; and that 
‘the several dark spots, or nebule, as they 
have been called, in which stars appear, are 
openings, through which are discovered 
some of the scenes of various systems that 
tevolve beyond it, within still more capa- 
cious orbs of a similar structure and design, 
He thinks that Saturn’s belt is a part of our 
system, somewhat analogous to this great orb, 
that bounds our view of the heavens; and that 
itis to this orb we owe that concave sapphire 
appearance which we denominate the sky.” 
This Dr. Cririe gives us as the system 
of another philosopher, but his solution 
of the popular superstition concerning 
_ fairies is entirely his own. 
__ * Most of the traditional stories respecting 
fairies, especially such as represented them 
as embodied spirits, might perhaps be ac- 
counted for, upon supposing that the Druids, 
or rather some conquered aborigines, had 
_ fled from their enemies, and taken up their 
residence in those subterraneous dwellings 
80 frequently discovered in digging in van- 
gus pasts of Scotland, and in some places 
SCENERY. 
called Picts houses. Covered with artificial 
mounts, they were generally green hills. 
When the country came to be inhabited 
around them, a regard for their own safety 
would induce them to lie hid by day, and to 
come abroad ecnly in the night: it would be 
of consequence, 1f at any time their occa- 
sions should force them abroad in day-light, 
that their clothing should be as like the 
ground as possible; hence they were always 
dressed in green. Their narrow dwellings 
kept them much confined by day ; hence ttie 
exercise of dancing by moonlight must have 
been to them most delightful, and frequently 
repeated in remote glens and sequestered 
places. Hence also their music by night, in 
the open air; by day, in their dwellings, it 
must have betrayed them. Hence also, in 
dark nights, those my of light which 
were necessary to find their way to water, or 
any thing else they might need. Their stock 
of provisions might at times run short; 
hence their females, appearing in green 
gowns, borrowing oatmeal and repaying it. 
Their families, in that confined state of [ife, 
from putrid or infectious diseases, might be- 
come thin, or wear away; and hence their 
carrying off women and children to re- 
cruit their stock: heace also the return of 
those carried off, being permitted to depart, 
after several years of absence from their own 
families, under’a promise of keeping their 
secret. Difficulties may be started; bur 
such a supposition, or that of a diminutive 
lunar race, serves to account for stories that 
passed current with people, who, though 
superstitious, and apt to be imposed upon 
by their own imagination, were not indiffer- 
ent with regard to what they thought to be 
truth, more than people of the present age. 
It may also be proper to aoe that the 
fairy tales of this country were widely dif- 
ferent from those we generally find in 
books.” 
Al] 
We need not dilate upon the great 
probability of this solution; the idea is 
certainly novel—-Dancing druids, and 
all in Lincoln Green. 
Let us now display him asthe moralist : 
to the end of his poem are appended these 
reflections. 
«¢ Singular situations eall forth unusual 
exertions: nature operates with .equal force 
in all ages; and the means of subsistence 
may,.be procured, where those who are ac- 
customed to the refinements of polished life, 
would least expect them. Industry and 
contentment work wonders; but a change 
of manners is commonly hostile to happi- 
ness. In every situation of society, the 
thief and the rote but especially the mur- 
derer, ought to be exterminated.” 
This is the corollary of the poem, the 
condensed philosophy of the author. 
