554 
relic of antiquity, unworthy of a place! in’ 
your excellent repository. 
The monument is a rough stone pillar, 
situated near the high-road, leading to- 
wards Huntly, about twenty-five miles 
north from Aberdeen; and on it there is 
deeply cut an inscription of undoubted 
antiquity; but. in such characters, as 
have hitherto baffled every attempt at 
explanation. The stone, a granite, is of 
the rudest and most shapeless form, rising 
about six feet above ground, without any 
figures or marks whatever, excepting 
the five lines of letters, of which the ac- 
companying draught is a fac-simile, taken 
on the spot, and of which the accuracy 
can be fully authenticated. Now, al- 
though many monumental pillars have 
been found in every part of the island, 
with emblematical carvings and figures 
en them, yet it is not known, that any 
one whatever is now to be seen, with an 
inscription on it, unless what clearly 
belongs ‘to the Roman period of our 
history. In this respect, therefore, it is 
probably an unique, and highly deserving 
the attention of the learned; especially, 
as from the rudeness of the sculpture, and 
singularity of the characters, it would 
seem to have been formed anterior to 
that era. 
The only other inscribed stone, that I 
have seen mentioned, at least in North 
Britain, is noticed in the first volume of 
Mr. Chalmers’s Caledonia, page 466, 
where he observes, ‘‘ that a pillar in the 
church-yard of Ruthurle, in Dumfries- 
shire, inscribed with Runic letters, the 
only one in Scotland, was demolished by 
order of the General Assembly, in 1644, 
as‘an ¢bject of idolatry.” This is also 
described and engiaved by Gordon, in 
his “ Itinesarium Septentrionale,” plate 
57, page 160; but bears not the smallest 
resemblance to the one now mentioned, 
and is evi€3rt.y the work of a much 
later age. 
If you will, therefore, have the good- 
ness to get a correct engraving made of 
this inscription, from the annexed draw- 
ing,* with the letters of the same size, 
and will give it a place in an early num- 
ber of your valuable miscellany, you will, 
T am sure, confer on your antiquarian 
readers a parccvlar favour, while you 
wili greatly oles Your's, &c. 
Aw OrrernaL SUBSCRIBER. 
Aberdeen, May Ae 1809. 
* The engraving is given with this Ma- 
On Italian and English Music. 
[July 1, 
To the Editor es ihe Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T= ahd of man, like his body, : Te= 
quires occasional relaxation. Wher 
the body is exhausted by fatigue, the 
enjoyment of mere rest is sufficient .to 
re-accumulate that excitability which has 
been expended; but the mind of the 
well-educated man, always acting, seeks 
for repose, only by employing itself in 
pursuits of a less fatiguing and more 
pleasing nature. This faculty, which ex-. 
alts man so far above otber animals, 
teaches him also, that the hours which 
he gives up to the gratification of such 
pursuits, are amongst the most pleasu- 
rable of his existeice; and. it will be 
found, that their variety will always keep 
pace in their increase with the progress 
of refinement and civilization.’ 
The cultivation of music, in all ages, 
has been one of the most fascinating of 
these pleasures; and especially of late 
years, it has so increased in the public 
estimation, that, at this timé, it may be 
almost. considered as an indispensable 
branch of education. Fashion, however, | 
that “ arbiter elegantiarum,” not con- 
tent with making the study of music of 
such prime importance, has, at the same 
time, introduced a spirit of criticism, 
which, while it raises the music of a 
neighbouring country above its proper 
standard, has too much debased the mu- 
sical compositions of our own country- 
men. Our masters are Italian, our sing= 
ers are Italian, our music is Italian: ; and 
our fair countrywomen, in their ‘decak to . 
imitate the frivolous refinements of their 
foreign instructors, forget, that what ap- 
pears correct as coming from an Italian 
singing in his own country, is unnatural 
in the mouth of an accomplished English- 
woman. 
Italian music has charms in abund- 
ance ; the language is admirably adapted 
for enabling the voice to produce the most 
mellifluous sounds; yet as we find diffe- 
rent nations having’ different styles in 
composition, it must of necessity follow, 
that there is some radical difference in 
the habits, in the constitutions of each 
particular people, which adapts their 
feelings to their own music in preference 
to all others. “How is it possible then, 
that the inhabitants of one country can 
prefer any other'style of music to that p 
whichis so natural tothem? In our own 
case it is still more remarkable; the 
manners, the customs, the climate, the 
a of Maly are, In every respect, so. 
different 
