1800. ] 
otherwife an unwary traveller might be in 
a difagreeable fituation, The valley be- 
fore me feems more expanded than any I 
have hitherto met with in Scotland, and 
beyond its apparent termination I can 
clearly defery in the horizon two moun- 
tains, with whofe afpects Iam well ac- 
quainted ; thefe are Brunfwick and Crif. 
fell; the former exactly in front, at the 
diftance of about twenty miles, and the 
Jatter a little inclined to the right, perhaps 
near thirty miles off. Woat is fomewhat 
fingular, thefe hills have exaétly the fame 
appearance as when feen at the fame dif- 
tance on the contrary fide. i now defcend 
pretty rapidly for about two miles into the 
vale of Annan. The river of that name 
iffues a little above, and leaves a collec- 
tion of high, green, and fteep hills, curi- 
eufly jumbled together, and which forms 
the bafon I have juft feen. In this dale 
the facm-houfes and cottages are thatched, 
and generally very mean. ‘The holm or level 
jand by the fides ef the river is narrow, not 
more in general than roo to 250 yards 
broad, from which the cultivated ground 
rifes in irregular waves upto the mountains. 
The foilis tolerably good, and near Moffat 
there is a very fertile tract. 
Moffat is a {mall town, but for neatnefs 
Thave not feen many equal toit. [tis chiefly 
compoled of one very wide ftreet, with 
numerous alleys on each fide opening into 
the fields and gardens. Here are feveral 
elegant modera houles, which feem to be 
inhabited by people in eafy circumftances. 
The church is likewife a neat edifice, as is 
the parfonage or manfe (provincially fo 
called). Indeed I have all along obferved 
that the manfe-houfe in every pariih is 
convenient, and even genteel ; the Scots 
having a great veneration for their clergy, 
who on their parts feem to deferve that 
confidence and refpeét which their congre- 
gations obfequioufly give them. The 
clergy appear to live very comfortably ; 
their incomes are about rool. per annum, 
with a good houfe, and more or lefs 
 glebe. é 
Moffat contains fome good inns, being 
upon the great road from Carlifle to Edin- 
burgh and Glafgow, and likewife poffeffing 
a {pa, or mineral water, much frequented 
in the feafon. ‘ 
Having left Peeblefhire, I fhall make a 
few general agricultural remarks on that 
county. Tweedale, or Peeblefhire, con- 
tains about 294 fquare miles, or 183,160 
acres Englifi, of which about a tenth part 
may be in tillage or arable, and the re- 
maining nine-tenths in pafturage, wood, 
waters, &c. The cultivated parts of 
Houfinan’s Tour in Scotland. 
423 
this county he along the borders of its ri- 
vers, in dates or vallies of different dimen- 
fions, but generally narrow, and inclofed 
by high ridges of shills on each fide, G€ 
thefe rivers, the T'weed is. the principal, 
and it is reckoned the fourth great river 
in Scotland. ‘The foil of the cultivated 
land is almoft univerfally dry, being fandy, 
gravelly, ora light loam. The holm ground, 
which 1s level, and has been formed by the 
rivers, is generally fand or light loam; 
that a little higher is gravelly ; aud the 
fkirts of the mountains, and a little up 
their fides, often contain a mixture of clay. 
Towards the fources of the rivers the land 
is lefs fertile, and more inclined to a 
mocrifh foil. Many of the bills are green, 
and afford good pafturage for theep and 
eattle ; but there are large mountainous 
diftriéts of bleak and barren furface. 
Sheep engrofs the chief attention of the 
farmer, but there are few farms without a 
{mall proportion of arable land, Eftatés 
are very extenfive, and farms large; the 
fize of the latter amounts fometimes to 
3000 or 4000 acres, and they are rarely 
found of lefs magnitude than 400 or 600 
acres. ‘he average rental of the county 
is thus eftimated in the agricultural fur- 
vey: 

15,000 acres, at tos.6d. .- f7,87¢ 
139,520 ditto, airs. 8d. = 11,294. 
150,528 acres Scots - £19,169 

Leafes are generally granted for nineteen 
and twenty-five years; and on one of the 
moft extenfive eltates in the county, the 
lordfhip of Needpath, for fifty-feven years. 
Farm houfes and offices are generally com- 
modious and well built; but fome il] 
remain in the old ftyle of building. In- 
clofing farms into feparate fields is an im- 
provement {till in its infancy here; it is, 
however, now beginning tobe very gene- 
rally adopted } indeed no doubt can be 
entertained of its propriety, particularly 
on arable land. The Galloway dyke, or 
ftone wall, is moft approved of when furs 
rounding or bordering on fheep pafture ; 
but thorn hedges in moft other fituations 
are ufed. 
(To be continued.) 
rR ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
CRITICISM of the MESSIAH. 
(Continued from page 320.) 
RITICISM deals too much in 7pfe- 
C dixits. The preference of Milton 
to Klopflock (fee p. 320.) looks like one 
of them. Bur who, that ules reafon and 
loves 
