Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnaeus Part 5

John Jonston, descended from a family originally Scottish, was born, in 1603, at Sambter, near Lissa, a city of the palatinate of Posen in Poland. After studying at Beuthen on the Oder, and at Thorn in the Prussian dominions, he prosecuted his education at the University of St Andrews; whence, in due time, he returned to his native country, and for three years acted as tutor to the sons of Count Kurtzbach. He then studied medicine and natural history in several of the more distinguished seminaries at home and abroad. In 1632, he took charge of two young n.o.blemen, whom he accompanied to England, Holland, France, and Italy. At Leyden he obtained a medical degree, and was offered a professorship; which, however, he declined, preferring a private life.

On completing his travels, he retired to a place in the neighbourhood of Lignitz, where he spent the rest of his days. He died on the 8th June 1675.

The most important of Jonston's works is his Historia Animalium, which was published at Frankfort on the Maine. The first part, containing five books on fishes and cetacea, and four on the white-blooded aquatic animals, appeared in 1649. The second part, which treats of birds, followed in 1650; the third, on quadrupeds, in 1652; and the fourth, on insects and serpents, in 1653. Several editions of this work have since come out; the latest being that of Heidelberg, in 1755. It is, however, a mere compilation from the writings of Gesner, Aldrovandi, and others.

The plates, which are numerous, are also, for the most part, copied from these authors, a few only being original. They are not without merit, having been engraved by the famous Matthew Merian; but several of them, resting on no authority beyond that of simple description, represent objects which have no real existence. His first treatise, which is a collection of the most curious phenomena presented by the sky, the elements, meteors, fossils, plants, birds, quadrupeds, insects, and man, was printed at Amsterdam in 1632, under the t.i.tle of Thaumatographia Naturalis in Decem Cla.s.ses Distincta. He also produced a Dendrographia, or natural history of trees and shrubs; and two smaller tracts, the one ent.i.tled Not.i.tia Regni Vegetabilis, the other Not.i.tia Regni Mineralis; together with several others, on various subjects, which, as they have long since pa.s.sed into oblivion, it is unnecessary to mention at greater length.

JOHN GOEDART.

This distinguished naturalist was born at Middleburg in Holland, in 1620. He was a sedulous observer of the nature and properties of insects, which he examined with admirable patience and sagacity. His work, which was written in Dutch, was published at Middleburg in 1662, with the t.i.tle Descriptions of the Origin, Species, Qualities, and Metamorphoses of Worms, Caterpillars, &c. Being a painter by profession, he adorned it with very accurate coloured engravings. The treatise was also printed in Latin and French translations. The former bore this t.i.tle:--Metamorphosis et Historia Naturalis Insectorum, c.u.m Commentario Jo. de Mey et duplici cjusd. Appendice, una de Hemerobiis, altera de Natura Cometarum. An improved edition, in the English language, was published by Lister in 1682; and another, in Latin, in which the species were methodically disposed, appeared in 1685, under the care of the same naturalist, who had the work reprinted a third time as an appendix to his Historia Animalium Angliae. Goedart describes 150 different species, and may be considered as the first who subjected the metamorphoses of insects to accurate examination. He died in 1668.

FRANCIS REDI.

The princ.i.p.al works of this eminent physician, having any reference to zoology, are on the generation of insects, on the poison of the viper, and on intestinal worms. His observations and experiments were translated from the Italian into Latin, and published at Amsterdam in 1670 and 1686, and at Leyden in 1729. Fabroni gives his life in the third volume of his Vitae Ill.u.s.trium Italorum. Sprung from a n.o.ble family, he was born at Arezzo on the 18th February 1626. After finishing his studies at the University of Pisa, he settled at Florence, where he soon became known as a successful pract.i.tioner, and was appointed physician to Ferdinand II, grand duke of Tuscany, in which office he was continued by Cosmo III. Redi's experiments, directed by professional views, had for their chief object the treatment of the bite of serpents, and the destruction or removal of intestinal worms. His letters, however, published in 1724, in two volumes 4to, are replete with interesting observations in every department of natural history; his poetical works are said to be distinguished by elegance and grace; and his numerous literary compositions are described as evincing a pure and cultivated taste. He was a considerable contributor to the edition of the Dictionary of the Academia della Crusca, printed in 1691. He died at Pisa on the 1st of March 1694, at the age of sixty-eight, and was buried at Arezzo, in a tomb which his nephew decorated with an inscription, remarkable for its simplicity and good taste:--

FRANCISCO REDI PATRITIO ARETINO GREGORIUS FRATRIS FILIUS.

JOHN SWAMMERDAM.

As a naturalist, Swammerdam is chiefly celebrated for the extent and accuracy of his inquiries into the structure of insects; though anatomy and physiology are equally indebted to his labours. He was the first who discovered the method of rendering the blood-vessels more easy to be traced in dissection, by injecting them with coloured wax in a fluid state; and although he cannot for that reason alone claim all the discoveries that have been made in anatomy, any more than the first person who skinned birds can claim the honour of determining the numerous species that have been conveyed from distant countries, or he who first cut a slice of petrified wood, all the results that have emanated from his experiment, yet he certainly devised the means of extending our knowledge of the human body as well as of pathology. His works on insects are the following:--1. The General History of Insects, published in Dutch at Utrecht in 1669, and subsequently in French and Latin, in which he gives a cla.s.sification of these animals, founded on their structure and metamorphoses. 2. The History of the Ephemeris, published in Dutch at Amsterdam in 1675, and in Latin at London in 1681.

3. The Biblia Naturae, sive Historia Insectorum in Cla.s.ses Certas Redacta, Leyden, 1737-38, 2 vols folio, which has been translated into German, English, and French. This important work was published after his death by Boerhaave, in Dutch and Latin, and contains a masterly exposition of the structure of such insects as came under his observation.

It has been remarked by an eminent entomologist, that natural history, which, during the long series of ages in which barbarism reigned, shared the fate of the other sciences, underwent the same treatment when a taste for knowledge began to revive. For example, it was chiefly in Aristotle that the history of animals was sought; whereas, if Aldrovandi, Gesner, Moufet, and other physiologists, had studied nature as much as they studied the ancient writers, the a.s.siduous labour of so many active minds would have secured for that science a more sure and rapid progress. The material world was then observed only for the purpose of confirming the reports made by the authors of antiquity. At length Nature opened the eyes of those who were trying to see in her only what they had seen in Aristotle and Pliny. She disclosed to them facts worthy of being noticed, which they vainly sought in the books which they imagined to contain every thing; and unfolded others, which gave them reason to doubt the truth of those that had been transmitted from former ages. After having thrown off the fetters of authority, farther, perhaps, than was quite consistent with the respect that was really due to the ancients, men perceived that they ought to study facts, verify whatever had been related, and try to discover more. It was thus that Malpighi, Swammerdam, Redi, and other ill.u.s.trious authors proceeded. Even those, such as Goedart and Madame Merian, who, from an ignorance in some degree fortunate, were unable to read the ancients, laboured with advantage as observers.[H]

The subject of this memoir was born at Amsterdam on the 12th February 1637. His father, an apothecary, was fond of natural history, and, being in prosperous circ.u.mstances, embellished his house with preserved animals, sh.e.l.ls, and minerals, insomuch that it became an object of attraction to the curious. Young Swammerdam was intended for the church, and received instructions in the Greek and Latin languages, to qualify him for the study of divinity; but, on seriously considering the importance of the task designed for him, he judged himself incapable of discharging the duties of a religious instructor. On representing the matter to his parents, he received their permission to commence the study of medicine. Being frequently employed in cleaning and arranging his father's cabinet, he gradually acquired a liking to natural history, and even at an early age began to form a collection of insects, which he disposed into cla.s.ses, agreeably to ideas derived from observation and the descriptions of authors. Day and night he pursued his favourite employment, searching the woods and fields, the sandhills and muddy sh.o.r.es, the lakes, rivers, and ca.n.a.ls, for insects, worms, and mollusca, until he acquired, even while a youth, a more extensive and more accurate knowledge of the lower animals than all the naturalists who had preceded him.

In 1661, he went to Leyden, for the purpose of attending the lectures at the celebrated university of that city. There he remained two years, studying surgery with Van Horne, and medicine with Franciscus Sylvius de le Boe, with as much diligence as he had previously displayed in his other pursuits. During the whole of this time he enjoyed the friendship of Steno and De Graaf; and, becoming much attached to the study of anatomy, he exerted his utmost ingenuity in devising means for effectually preserving his preparations.

He then went to Paris to improve himself in his profession. There he continued the examination of insects, and had the good fortune to discover the valves in the lymphatic vessels. After this he resided for some time at Lyons, where he lived on terms of intimacy with Thevenot the celebrated traveller, who introduced him to the learned men by whom his house was frequented. In their society he usually remained a listener, and could not be prevailed upon to communicate his ideas; but, being repeatedly urged to exhibit one of his minute dissections, he gratified the wishes of his friends, and, by the profound knowledge which he displayed, acquired at once their esteem and admiration.

Thevenot recommended him to Van Beuningen, a senator at Amsterdam, who, on his returning to that city, obtained permission for him to examine the bodies of patients dying in the hospital,--an opportunity of increasing his knowledge which he took care not to neglect.

In his native town he frequented a society of medical men, who met once a-fortnight for the purpose of discussing subjects connected with their profession, and made observations on the structure of the spinal marrow and nerves, on respiration, and on the effects produced by the injection of fluids into the blood-vessels of animals.

About the end of 1666, he returned to Leyden with the view of obtaining his medical diploma, and there continued his researches in company with his former teacher, Van Horne, in whose house he injected the uterine vessels with wax,--a method of showing the distribution of the arteries and veins afterwards greatly improved by him, and which has been productive of much advantage in the study of anatomy. In February 1667, he received the degree of doctor, and in March published his thesis on respiration, which he dedicated to Thevenot. He next invented a new method of preserving anatomical subjects by inflating them with air. But the eagerness with which he engaged in these occupations was prejudicial to his health, and he was seized with a quartan ague, which reduced him to a state of extreme debility. On recovering from this disease, he remitted his professional studies for two years; resuming the investigation of insects, the structure of which he unfolded with astonishing precision and success.

It happened about this time that the Grand Duke of Tuscany visited Amsterdam. Accompanied by Thevenot, he examined the collections made by Swammerdam and his father, and was so struck by the wonderful dissections of insects that he offered 12,000 florins for the museum, on condition that its proprietor should accompany it to Florence, and take up his residence in the palace. But the young naturalist had been no much accustomed to roam about at will, that he could not relinquish his liberty, and therefore refused the offer.

In 1669, he published his General History of Insects, which he dedicated to the senate of Amsterdam. The expense which he incurred in procuring specimens from all quarters, while no emoluments resulted from his labours, so displeased his father, that he earnestly urged him to relinquish his unprofitable pursuits, and engage in the practice of medicine. At length, finding him unwilling to follow his advice, he was obliged to threaten a total intermission of supplies; though by this time the ardent student had fallen into such a state of debility that he was totally unfit to undergo the fatigues of practice. He was, however, sensible of the propriety of the counsel which was administered to him, and retired to the country to recruit his strength; but he had scarcely arrived when he recommenced his studies, being wholly unable to resist the temptation offered by solitude and by the presence of the objects which invited his research. In the mean time, Thevenot, being made acquainted with these circ.u.mstances, urged him to return to France, generously offering him every thing necessary to enable him to follow the bent of his genius. His father, however, did not approve of this scheme, which was therefore relinquished; but the son did not the less continue to pursue his former occupations.

In 1672, he published his Miraculum Naturae, seu Uteri Muliebris Fabrica.

He soon afterwards entered upon an extensive examination of fishes, having reference chiefly to the pancreas. About this time he began to be impressed with religious ideas; becoming sensible of the vanity of human pursuits, as well as of the sinfulness of that inordinate ambition which impels men to aim at the highest place in the estimation of their fellows. He accordingly resolved to eradicate that base pa.s.sion from his breast. In this state of mind he imbibed the mystical notions of the celebrated Antoinette Bourignon.

This lady, who was a native of Lisle in Flanders, had become at an early age impressed with the idea that pure Christianity was in a state of decay, and that she was called to revive it. She became governess of the hospital of her native city, and took the order and habit of St Augustin; but owing to the disturbances caused by her violent temper and pretensions to inspiration, the magistrates were obliged to expel her from her office, when she retired to Ghent. The fortune which she inherited from her parents, and that bequeathed to her by her convert De Cordt, enabled her to publish several works of her own composition, and rendered her, notwithstanding the deformity of her person, the object of much hypocritical admiration. Such was her extreme parsimony, and so inconsistent was her conduct with her professions, that she declared she would rather throw her wealth into the sea than bestow the smallest sum on the poor, or on "beastly persons who had no souls to be saved."

She was at that time in Holstein; and Swammerdam wrote to a friend of his who accompanied her, to obtain permission to consult her in writing respecting his doubts. The result of their correspondence was a resolution on his part no longer to addict himself exclusively to pursuits which had reference to this world only, but to endeavour to make his peace with G.o.d. He did not, however, entirely relinquish his anatomical studies, but on the contrary engaged with astonishing ardour in the examination of the structure of bees, which he finished on the last day of September 1674. "He had laboured so a.s.siduously at this work," says Boerhaave, "as to destroy his const.i.tution; nor did he ever recover even a shadow of his former strength. The labour, in fact, was beyond the power of ordinary men: all day he was occupied in examining subjects, and at night described and delineated what he had seen by day.

At six in the morning, in summer, he began to receive sufficient light from the sun to enable him to trace the objects of his examination. He continued dissecting till twelve, with his hat removed lest it should impede the light, and in the full blaze of the sun, the heat of which caused his head to be constantly covered with a profuse perspiration.

His eyes being continually employed in this strong light, the effect of which was increased by the use of the microscope, they were so affected by it, that after mid-day he could no longer trace the minute bodies which he examined, although he had then as bright a light as in the forenoon." A month of this excessive labour was necessary to examine and depict the intestines of bees alone; and the investigation of their entire structure cost him much additional labour; and all this was done, with a body debilitated by disease, and a mind agitated by conflicting pa.s.sions, amid sighs and tears. At one time the bent of his disposition impelled him to investigate the wonderful works of Omnipotence; at another a voice within told him that he ought to set his affections on G.o.d alone. After finishing his examination of the structure of bees, he was so affected with remorse, that he gave the ma.n.u.script and drawings to a friend, careless what might happen to them. At the same time, however, he wrote two letters to Boccone, on the nature of corals.

These occupations being ended, he was more powerfully impressed than ever with the vanity of human pursuits, and after this period he never engaged in his customary investigations. He acknowledged that hitherto ambition alone had incited him to undergo so many labours, but now resolved to devote the remainder of his life to the cultivation of Christian piety. Being encouraged in this resolution by the approbation of Antoinette Bourignon, he firmly adhered to it; and estimating the annual sum necessary for his subsistence at 400 Dutch florins, he endeavoured to dispose of his collections, which formed the only treasures that he possessed. For this purpose, he applied to Thevenot, who, however, was unable to find a purchaser in France. He then had recourse to another friend, Nicolas Steno, who had abjured the Protestant faith and was living at Florence, and whom he requested to represent the matter to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in case he might feel disposed to purchase them. This person advised him to follow his example, relinquish his creed, embrace the Catholic faith, and proceed to Florence, promising that he should induce the duke to accept the offer. Swammerdam replied indignantly, that he would not sell his soul for money.

Being without any fixed occupation, he devoted his leisure to arranging and cleaning the contents of his museum, and writing out a catalogue of them. They consisted of anatomical preparations and insects, of the latter of which there were nearly three thousand distinct species. These were all described and arranged into cla.s.ses, and the entire structure of many of them had been demonstrated by the most minute dissection. He then published his Treatise on the Ephemeris, which he had commenced when in France, and which is considered as one of the most remarkable productions of any age. He did not, however, venture upon this step without consulting Bourignon. These arrangements completed, he now determined in earnest to lead a holy life, and being desirous of a personal consultation with his directress, he went to Holstein, where he remained with her some time. On returning to Amsterdam, he again endeavoured to dispose of his museum, but without success; and his sister, who had hitherto presided over the domestic establishment, happening at this time to be married, his father resolved upon living with his son-in-law, so that he was obliged to look out for another residence. On this occasion his allowance was limited to 200 florins, and as he could not find any one to purchase his collection he was reduced to great perplexity. However, a thought struck him that he might apply to an old friend, who had formerly treated him with great kindness; but in this he also failed.

In the following year, his father died, leaving him heir to his property, which was sufficient for his support; but he became involved in disputes with his sister, which, together with his a.s.siduous endeavours to discharge his religious duties, so agitated his mind, that he was again seized with a severe ague. For three entire months he was confined to his bed, and even when the accessions of the fever had become more gentle and less frequent, he still persisted in remaining in the house. In vain did his friends, Sladus, Ruysch, Schrader, Hotton, and Guenellon, urge upon him the propriety of adopting means for improving his health. He would not yield to their proposals; and, when they still persisted, at length maintained an obstinate silence.

Finding all his endeavours to sell his collection fruitless, he determined to expose it to public auction; but before the period arrived, his disease was much aggravated by the various agitations to which his mind was now habitually subject. The fever proved again regular and continuous, the countenance was emaciated, the eyes were sunk, the feet, the legs, and at length the whole body, dropsical. His friends dared not speak to him respecting his former studies, for he detested all allusion to them, and wished to withdraw his mind entirely from earthly concerns. At length, on the 25th January 1670, when he perceived his end approaching, he wrote his will, leaving to Thevenot all his original ma.n.u.scripts on the history of bees, b.u.t.terflies, and anatomy, with 52 plates; all of which were at that time in the house of Herman Wigendorp in Leyden, to whom they had been delivered to be translated into Latin. He bequeathed his property to Margaret Volckers, wife of Daniel de Hoest, appointing her and Christopher Wyland his executors. The remainder of his time he spent in devotion, and died on the 17th February.

It was some years before Thevenot obtained possession of the ma.n.u.scripts, and after his death they pa.s.sed into various hands, but were bought in 1727 by the ill.u.s.trious Boerhaave, who arranged and published them in two folio volumes, prefixing a life of the author, from which we have drawn the materials of this notice.

The learned editor gives an interesting account of the instruments and expedients employed by Swammerdam in dissecting insects and other minute animals. When the anatomical preparations, insects, and apparatus, were offered for sale, no purchaser could be found, and the collection was subsequently dispersed. The ma.n.u.scripts and drawings of the Biblia Naturae were deposited by Boerhaave in the library of the University of Leyden.

The works of Swammerdam contain more original and accurate observations than those of any naturalist who preceded him, excepting Aristotle. He refuted numerous errors committed by his predecessors, and carried his observations to a degree of minuteness and accuracy truly astonishing; but it is not a little surprising that he succeeded less in describing the structure of large objects than in delineating the organs of the most minute.

His cla.s.sification of insects differs very materially from those now in use. The characters of his four cla.s.ses he derives from the state in which each insect appears after its birth, and those through which it pa.s.ses before attaining its entire development. In the first he places all those which issue from the egg with nearly the same form as that which they have at the period of their full growth; such as spiders, slugs, leeches, &c. In the second are included those which, like the grashopper, issue with six feet, and some time after cast off the covering under which the wings were concealed. These insects run or leap with agility in their first stage, which is not the case with those of the next cla.s.s. To the third are referred insects which undergo greater changes, such as caterpillars, and which proceed from the egg in the state of a worm, remain in that state for some time, cast off their hairy covering, a.s.sume the form of a chrysalis, when they become motionless, and finally emerge in a winged state. The fourth cla.s.s consists of such as, like the common fly, on changing the form under which they issued from the egg to a.s.sume that of a worm, do not cast their covering, but become separated from it, while it remains and forms a sh.e.l.l or egg-like invest.i.ture, in which the insect remains in the pupa state until it finally emerges with wings.

The history of Swammerdam must excite our sympathy and commiseration; but that, as some have alleged, he lost his reason towards the end of his life, and became subject to mania, arising from religious melancholy, no one who has any share of that piety which he evinced will feel disposed to admit. Although he lived in misery, the close of his life was perhaps more enviable than that of many who have gone smiling to their final rest; and it is well for those who, before the period arrives when as the tree falls so it must lie, can like him become truly sensible of the vanity of all earthly pursuits, even although after death they should be pointed out as the victims of a distempered imagination.

FOOTNOTES:

[H] Reaumur, Histoire des Insectes, tome i. p. 28.

RAY.

_Account of the Life and Writings of Ray._

Birth and Parentage of Ray--He receives the Rudiments of his Education at Braintree School--At the age of Sixteen enters at Katherine Hall, Cambridge--Removes to Trinity College, where he pa.s.ses through various Gradations, and becomes a Fellow--Publishes his Catalogue of Cambridge Plants, and undertakes several Journeys--Extracts from his Itineraries--Resigns his Fellowship--Becomes a Member of the Royal Society--Publishes his Catalogue of English Plants, &c.--Death of his most intimate Friend, Mr Willughby--Character of that Gentleman--Mr Ray undertakes the Education of his Sons, and writes a Vocabulary for their Use--Notice of Dr Lister--Several Works published by Mr Ray, who improves and edits Willughby's Notes on Birds and Fishes--Continues his scientific Labours--Remarks on the Scoter and Barnacle--Letters of Dr Robinson and Sir Hans Sloane--Notice respecting the latter--Publication of the Synopsis of British Plants, the Wisdom of G.o.d manifested in the Works of Creation, &c.--Estimate of the Number of Animals and Plants known--Synopsis of Quadrupeds and Serpents--Cla.s.sification of Animals--Various Publications--Ray's Decline--His last Letter--His Ideas of a Future State, and of the Use of the Study of Nature--His Death, Character, and princ.i.p.al Writings.

The distinguished individual whose history we are about to sketch, and who is considered by many persons of the present age as the greatest naturalist that Britain has yet produced, was born on the 29th November 1628, at Black Notley, near Braintree in Ess.e.x. His father, Roger Wray, was a blacksmith,--a circ.u.mstance which affords another proof that natural history has had among its most successful cultivators men of all stations in society, from the lowest to the highest. He received the rudiments of his education at Braintree School, under the care of a Mr Love, who, it seems, was but indifferently qualified for his office.

Young Wray, however, profited so well by his opportunities of acquiring knowledge, that at the age of sixteen he was sent to the University of Cambridge, where he entered at Katherine Hall in June 1644. As it is not stated that on this occasion he had to draw on the generosity of any of his rich neighbours, it is to be presumed that his father was in prosperous circ.u.mstances. At the end of a year and three-quarters he removed to Trinity College, where he had the good fortune to have for his tutor Dr Duport, a man of great learning, under whose direction he acquired considerable skill in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages.

About three years afterwards he was chosen Minor Fellow of Trinity, at the same time with his friend the celebrated Isaac Barrow; and, after pa.s.sing through the usual gradations, was appointed Greek lecturer of the College in October 1651, Mathematical lecturer in October 1053, and Humanity reader in October 1655. After this he was made Praelector Primarius, Junior Dean, and College Steward, having been sworn into the latter office in 1659.

During the time of Mr Wray's residence at the university, he had several gentlemen of great merit under his tuition. He also became eminent as a pulpit orator, being, according to the testimony of Dr Tenison, archbishop of Canterbury, "much celebrated for his preaching solid and useful divinity, instead of that enthusiastick stuff, which the sermons of that time were generally filled with." He contracted an intimate friendship with Mr John Nid, who, like himself, was an ardent "admirer of the works of G.o.d," and whom, in a funeral sermon, he eulogizes for his admirable amenity and candour, his strict probity, innocence of life and manners, singular modesty, and great learning. He was aided by this gentleman in writing his Catalogue of Cambridge Plants, which he published in 1660, and which was found of great use in promoting the much-neglected study of botany at that university. But before it was entirely finished, he was deprived of the companion whose society had afforded him so much delight.

The favourable reception given to the work now mentioned, encouraged Mr Wray to prosecute his researches with more vigour, and induced him to extend his excursions through the greater part of England and Wales, as well as over a portion of Scotland. On these journeys or "simpling voyages," as he calls them, he was usually accompanied by some of his friends, and in particular by his pupil, Mr Willughby. The notes made on these hurried expeditions were afterwards published by Mr George Scott, under the t.i.tle of "Select Remains of the learned John Ray;" and as they are not deficient in interest, one or two extracts from them may be not misplaced here:

"August the 17th (1661), we travelled to Dunbar, a town noted for the fight between the English and Scots. The Scots generally (that is the poorer sort) wear, the men blue bonnets on their heads, and some russet; the women only white linen, which hangs down their backs as if a napkin were pinned about them. When they go abroad, none of them wear hats, but a party-coloured blanket, which they call a plad, over their heads and shoulders. The women generally to us seemed none of the handsomest.

They are not very cleanly in their houses, and but s.l.u.ttish in dressing their meat. Their way of washing linens is to tuck up their coats, and tread them with their feet in a tub. They have a custom to make up the fronts of their houses, even in their princ.i.p.al towns, with firr boards nailed one over another, in which are often made many round holes or windows to put out their heads. In the best Scottish houses, even the king's palaces, the windows are not glazed throughout, but the upper part only, the lower have two wooden shuts or folds to open at pleasure, and admit the fresh air. The Scots cannot endure to hear their country or countrymen spoken against. They have neither good bread, cheese, nor drink. They cannot make them, nor will they learn. Their b.u.t.ter is very indifferent, and one would wonder how they could contrive to make it so bad. They use much pottage made of coal-wort, which they call keal, sometimes broth of decorticated barley. The ordinary country houses are pitiful cots, built of stone, and covered with turves, having in them but one room, many of them no chimneys, the windows very small holes, and not glazed. In the most stately and fashionable houses, in great towns, instead of cieling, they cover the chambers with firr boards, nailed on the roof within side. They have rarely any bellows, or warming-pans. It is the manner in some places there, to lay on but one sheet as large as two, turned up from the feet upwards. The ground in the valleys and plains bears good corn, but especially beer-barley, or bigge, and oats, but rarely wheat and rye. We observed little or no fallow-grounds in Scotland; some layed ground we saw, which they manured with sea-wreck. The people seem to be very lazy, at least the men, and may be frequently observed to plow in their cloaks. It is the fashion for them to wear cloaks when they go abroad, but especially on Sundays.

They lay out most they are worth in cloaths, and a fellow that hath scarce ten groats besides to help himself with, you shall see come out of his smoaky cottage clad like a gentleman."

That this is a true character of the people of the southern division of Scotland in those days is very probable;--it is needless to say that things are much altered now. Still the picture applies in almost every particular to the inhabitants of several districts at the present day, although the men seldom plough in their plaids; but as the Scots cannot (any more than the English) endure to hear their country spoken against, we desist from making any reflections, merely wishing that they would strive to render it such as to merit the utmost praise.

The next extract which we shall present, has a reference to the Ba.s.s Rock, in the estuary of the Forth:

"August the 19th, we went to Leith, keeping all along on the side of the Fryth. By the way we viewed Tantallon Castle, and pa.s.sed over to the Ba.s.se Island; where we saw, on the rocks, innumerable of the soland geese. The old ones are all over white, excepting the pinion or hard feathers of their wings, which are black. The upper part of the head and neck, in those that are old, is of a yellowish dun colour. They lay but one egg a-piece, which is white, and not very large. They are very bold, and sit in great mult.i.tudes till one comes close up to them, because they are not wont to be scared or disturbed. The young ones are esteemed a choice dish in Scotland, and sold very dear (1s. 8d.