1797-} 
unhandfomely and ungeneroufly extrnd- 
ed from the fituation which his father. 
and uncle had held in the univerfity of 
Glafgow, and who has now eftablifhed 
himfelf in Edinburgh, 
Sed fugit interea, fugit irrevocabile tempus 
Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore. 
On the latter part of the preceding fe- 
ries of faéts, I cannot conclude without, 
obferving, that the extrrordinary {plen- 
dour in which Scottifh literature has be- 
gun to appear during thefe laft fifty years, 
has been, undoubtedly, owing to the in- 
creafe of the national opulence and popu- 
lation; tothe more intimate intermix- 
ture and affociation of the Scots with 
their Englifh neighbours; to the necef- 
fary influence of the general improve- 
ment and increafing diffufion of learning 
throughout all Europe, upon even every 
obfeure corner within its limits; tothe 
endeavours of the late earls of Bute and 
Mansfield, to gain credit to themfelves 
by raifing their country co diftinétion, in 
comparifon with the other parts of the 
Britith empire, and to feek for Scotland 
fuch diftinétion, by encouraging its na- 
tives to afpire to the honours of literary 
genius ; tothe tendency which the ap- 
pearance of one or two diftinguifhed per- 
fons in any particular province of human 
€xertion, always has to call forth a num- 
ber of others to rival or to imitate them. 
So far as the advancement of Scottith 
literature may have been favoured, un- 
der former adminiftrations, by the pa- 
tronage of the national government, or 
by the influence of fafhion among the 
freat ; it muft now be reduced to a paufe, 
or even be reverted. 
In the eburch, in the department of the 
Jaw, in the colleétion of the public re- 
venue, in the univerfities, even in the in- 
feriot /chools, all thofe places to which, 
thirty or forty years fince, learning, ge- 
nius, and perfonal worth might have af- 
pired, with the reafonable hope, that no 
other claims would be preferred totheir’s, 
are now exclufively appropriated to be 
the prizes of political intereft, and of ab- 
je& political fervility. 
Learning is too common a thing to 
have, at prefent, the caprice of fafhion 
in its favour. ‘Pafte, or a paffion for {ci- 
ence or literature, are naturally account- 
edincompatible with the proper talents 
and habits of a man of bufinefs, at a time 
when the leaders in the national ad- 
miniftration have fo little of what is pe- 
culiarly underftood by diterature and fc- 
ence, that their knowledge would not 
Mr. Houfeman’s Tour continned. 
445 
have been too much to difgrace the car- 
dinals of Pope Gregory the Seventh, or 
the minifters of William Rufus, 
Edinburgh, Aug. 1797. A edhe 

TOUR ‘OF ENGLAND, 
(CONTINUED). 
ournal of a Tour through almoft every county 
‘tn England, and part of Wales, by Mr. Joun 
Heuseman, of Corby, near Carlifle; who 
was engaged to make the Tour by a gentle= 
man of diftin€tion, for the purpofe of col- 
leéting authentic information relative ta 
the ftate of the poor. 
prifes an account of the general appearance 
of the country, of the foil, furface, builde 
ings, &c. with obfervations agricultural, 
commercial, &c. abi 
ULY 8, Chelmsford to RuMForD, in 
Effex, eighteen miles. The country 
continues as in that I paffed through 
yefterday, but a little more ofen.— 
Tuornpon Hatt, the feat of Lord 
Petre, is amongft the moft prominent 
features of this diftriét: it ftands on the 
left hand, upon a rifing ground, in the 
midft of a very. extenfive park, commands 
a view of London, and is generally 
reckoned among the firft feats in England. 
Rumford is a fmall town, confitting of 
one ftreet, is 2 confiderable market for 
cattle, and:a great thoroughfare. I ob- 
ferve a material change in the manners 
of the inhabitants: the higher orders ape 
the Londoners in every thing, and the 
lower claffes are quick in their anfwers 
and expreffions, and. wicked in their 
difcourfe. The road is extremely plea- 
fant, eafy, and fpacious; it has a {mall 
elevation in one part, from whence I had 
a diftant view of the great metropolis, for 
the firft time; St. Paul’s church, and 
the Monument were the principal objeéis 
by- which, at firft, I knew it to be London 
from the drawings I had feen. Here I 
‘{topped a moment to feaft my eyes with 
a dim profpeét of this famous city, of 
which I had heard and read fo much, but 
every thing appeared ill-defined from the 
cloud of {moke hanging over it. 
July oth, RumrForp to the Spread- 
eagle inn, Grace church-ftreet, Lon- 
DON, twelve miles. The furface per- 
feétly level, feats and pretty houfes on 
every fide; the road covered with car- 
riages, and crowds of people going back- 
wards and forwards. I was, however, 
fomewhat furprifed to find fome  poor- 
looking land very near the capital.— 
Effex is a fine level fertile county, pro- 
ducing much wheat, and, befides fending 
up daily to London great numbers of 
calves, 

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