SCOTLAND. 285 



his literary career of glory with the history of his own country. This 

 was followed by that of all Europe, in the reign of the emperor 

 Charles V. The captivating account of the discovery of America was 

 next presented to the world ; and an historical disquisition concerning 

 India was the last production of this philosophical historian. To Dr. 

 Henry his country and the world are indebted for a history of Great 

 Britain, on a plan entirely new, in which he has brought within one 

 glance of the eye every thing interesting in the civil history, constitu- 

 tion, learning, arts, commerce, and manners of the people, from the 

 earliest authenticity. The investigations of Dr. Adam Smith on the 

 subject of national wealth and politics, have perhaps never been equal- 

 led ; and the moral philosophy of Hutcheson will be allowed, even by 

 its opponents, to be ingenious, and plausibly supported. 



In medicine the names Pitcairn, Arbuthnot, Monro, Smellie, Whytt, 

 Cullen, Brown, and Gregory, hold a distinguished place. Nor have the 

 Scots been unsuccessful in cultivating the belles lettres. Foreigners 

 who inhabit warmer climates, and conceive the northern nations incapa- 

 ble of tenderness and feeling, are astonished at the poetic genius and 

 delicate sensibility of Thompson, and the various powers of Armstrong, 

 Beattie, and Burns. 



Universities.. .The universities of Scotland are four : that of St. 

 Andrews, founded by bishop Wardlaw, in 1411; it consists of three col- 

 leges, two of which are united, and in which, some years ago, the 

 number of students was said to be only 100; that of Glasgow, founded 

 by bishop Turnbull, in 1453, containing between five and six hundred 

 students ; that of Aberdeen, consisting of two colleges, in the old town, 

 founded by bishop Elphinstone, in the year 1500, and one in the new 

 town, founded by George Keith, fifth earl-marshal, in 1593 ; and that 

 of Edinburgh, founded by James VI, in 1580, which usually contains 

 about 1000 students. The old buildings of this university having fallen 

 to decay, the foundation of a new edifice, to which our most gracious 

 sovereign has been a very liberal benefactor, was laid in 1 789, and may 

 be expected soon to be completed on such an elegant and magnificent 

 plan, as shall render it a noble monument of national munificence and 

 taste. 



Language. ...The Earse or Gaelic, a dialect of the Celtic, nearly the 

 same with the Irish, is still spoken in the Highlands ; but the language 

 of the Low-countries, which is of the same origin with the English, is 

 continually extending. The English and Scotch are written in the 

 same manner ; and the pronunciation of the latter is scarcely more 

 different from that of London than we find it in many of the northern 

 and western English counties. 



Antiquities. ...The Romam and other antiquities found in Scotland 

 have of themselves furnished matter for large volumes. The stations 

 of the Roman legions, their castella, the psetentures or walls reaching 

 across the island, have been traced with great precision by antiquaries 

 and historians; so that, without some new discoveries, an account- of 

 them could offord no instruction to the learned, and but little amuse- 

 ment to the ignorant; because at present they can be discovered only 

 by crftical eyes. Some mention of the chief, however, may be proper. 

 The course of the Roman wall (or, as it is called by the country people, 

 Graham's Pvke, from a tradition that a Scottish warrior of that name 



