I 



1792. letter frojn Arcticus. 317 



manners, and taste, the ordinary topics of the pe- 

 riodical papers which have hitherto existed ; so that 

 it appears, at least to a man at my distance, that a. 

 cheap vehicle to convey useful information to the 

 hufbandman and artist, is the great desideratum of 

 Scotland in its present state ; and that such a publi- 

 cation promises to be more useful than half a dozen 

 Spectators, Ramblers, and Mirrors, to remark, col- 

 lect, and reflect, the moral and physical state of man in 

 all his modifications, habits, eleganciea, and oddities. 

 However, as it is but fair that all clafses of readers 

 fliould be pleased, I give you credit for the large space 

 you have left, and uncommon encouragement you 

 have offered for the species of writing so mucli de- 

 sired by the gayer part of your subscribers ; and 

 that you may fill both, to the instruction and amuse- 

 ment of the public, is the hearty wifli of 



Impend cadet coijis in St Peterjhurg, A.RCTICUS. 



Ncv. 14. 1 79 1. 



p. S. I have read with much pleasure the pa- 

 triotic exertions of my Peterfburg acquaintances, Sir 

 John Sinclair, and the earl of Hopeton, (for the 

 range of their inquiry has taken in even this distant 

 part of Europe) to meliorate the Britifli wool. In- 

 deed the list of j-our society, in its full extent, dis- 

 tinguiflied the patriotic exertions of the Britifla aris- 

 tocracy, (to use a fafliionable exprefsion,) from that 

 of all other countries of the globe. These are the 

 arms to combat the wild fanaticism of modern level- 

 lers, whom Johnson wittily remarks, are all eager to 

 level every one down to themselves, but not to raise 

 themselves up to the level of others, as he demon- 

 strated by his humurous experiment in the famous 

 republican historian. 



