1800. ] 
; SCOTLAND. 
The inhabitants of Edinburgh have deter- 
mined not to purchafe frefh-butter at more 
than 1s. per lb. At a Jate market this ar- 
ticle fell from 2s. to 4s. 5d., but found no 
purchafers even at the latter price. 
A fociety at Stirling having purchafed a 
cargo of foreign wheat, canfed it to be ma- 
nufa¢tured into bread, and were enabled to 
fell the quartern-loaf, without profit, at 10d. 
The centenary of Thomfon’s birth-day, on 
the 22d ult., was celebrated by the Knights- 
Companions of the Cape, at the King’s-Arms 
Inn, in Edinburgh, in a manner fo truly claf- 
fical and appropriate, as to refleét honour on 
the tafte and genius of the gentlemen. At 
Ednam, alfo, the place of his nativity, the 
day was charatteriftically ‘celebrated by the 
gentlemen of that neighbourhood. 
In Auguft 1799 the medium heat at eight 
o’clock of the morning and evening at Edin- 
burgh was fifty-three degrees. At the fame 
hours in Auguit 1800 it was about fifty-eight. 
To this difference of five degrees, during the 
latter part of fummer, and the beginning of 
autumn, may be afcribed that fuperior geuial 
warmth which in the prefent year has fo 
happily matured the produce of the gardens 
and the fields. 
Mr. M‘Dougall, of Ardincaple in Argyle- 
fhire, has made a very important acquifition 
from the fea by means of an embankment, 
which well merits the attention of the civil 
engineer. In makmy a new approach to his 
manfion-houfe, he has conducted it through 
an arm of the fea, running two miles into 
his eftate. his he effe&ted by embankments 
compofed of dry {tone walls and clay puddle, 
which were afterwards pointed and payed 
over upon the outer fide with lime and pitch. 
By a {mall canal drawn ‘through the middle, 
the back-water lodges there at flood, and is 
difcharged by the fluice-gate at ebb-tide. 
Thus the land is effectually proteéted from 
inundation, while the proprietor has added 
to his eftate a piece of ground nearly two- 
miles in circumference, and valued at two 
pounds an acre. yi 
The Lord Provof and magiftrates of Edin- 
burgh have conferred the freedom of their 
city on the celebrated Count Rumford, now 
on a tour to the northern part of the ifland. 
Some days afterwards the Count, accompa- 
nied by his Lordthip, vilited the charity 
workhoufe of that city, and expreffed his 
fatisfaction with the general cleanlinefs and 
accommodation of the place, which contains 
upwards of four hundred perfons, and which 
he deciared to be as properly regulated as 
any eleemofynary eftablifhmeut of the kind 
he ever examined, 
The fmall town of Burntifland has been 
honoured with a vifit by Nicholas Vanfittart, 
efg., M.P., Chairman of the Committee of 
the Houfe of Commons on the herring-fifh- 
ery, on which occafion the magiftracy pre- 
fented him with the freedom of the burgh. 
Scotland: : 
.the filhery, 
387 
He made numerous inquiries refpecting the 
trade of the place, and expreffed his fatis- 
faction at fleeing the great preparations for 
It is fincerely to be wifhed that 
the chairmen and members of the different 
commercial committees would convert their 
pleafure excurfions between feffions to fimilar 
refearches of public utility. 
At the Michaelmas Head Court for the 
county of Edinburgh a petition from the pa- 
rochial f{choolmafters of Scotland was read, 
praying the concurrence of the gentlemen of 
the county in an intended application to Par- 
liament for an increafe of their falaries. 
The Court appointed a committee to meet 
with any committees nominated by the other 
counties in Scotland to confider this impor- 
tant fubject. When it is recofleéted that the 
Scotch fchoolmafiers are obliged to ge 
through the education neceflary to clerical 
candidates, and after leaving the univerfity 
are fcattered through the rural parifhes on 
falaries of five or eight pounds, fo inade- 
quate to the prefent times, their cafe merits 
the fincere attention of their country, and 
the generous interpofition of the legiflature. 
Meilrs Bufby have now completed the 
mineral furvey of Duimfriesthire ; the plan 
of which was firft fuggefted by that able 
writer and intelligent officer Lientenant-Co- 
lonel Dirom, who paid unwearied attention 
toils execution. It was patronifed by the 
gentlemen of the county, and particularly 
by that public-fpirited nobleman the Duke 
of Buccleugh. ‘The refult is highly fatisfac- 
tory to the inhabitants, as it is expected that 
coal may be found im nearly the whole ex- 
tent of country between the Efk and the 
Nith. Lime-ftone and thell-marle have been 
di{covered in feveral places, and the moun- 
tainous parts have the appearance of contain- 
ing metallic veins, which may become, at 
no diffant period, the fource of induftry and 
wealth, efpecially as coal alone was wanting 
to render this a manufaéturing diftrict. 
In May laf no lefs than one hundred 
and eighty-three fecieties and incorporations 
in and about Edinkurgh fent reprefentations 
to a general meeting held in that city for the 
laudable purpofe of purchafing grain at a 
foreign market, and of furnifhing it to their 
members at comparatively low prices. Con- 
fiderable quantities of wheat were according~- 
ly imported from Dantzic ; Indian corn was 
brought from New-York ; and grain was 
alfo purchafed- trom the dealers at Leith. 
The whole importation by thefe friendly.be- 
nefit focieties, as they were ftyled, may have 
amounted to fifty or fixty thoufand pounds. 
Meafures of a fimilar nature were adopted 
in different places of Scotland to procure an 
immediate fupply. Yet, notwithftanding 
this wife and philanthropic plan, which cer- 
tainly produced a partial alleviation of the 
evil, the public diftre{s arifing from the fcar- 
city. and enormeus price of provifions . was 
{carcely fupportable. With the exception 
S Dre however 
