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This faith the Jewish nation guarded for long ages: at times with the intelligence of a man who knows and values his treasures, at times with the blind instinct of a dog, who jealously preserves the object of his watch, merely because it is such, although he is unable to appreciate it. This faith, gradually more developed, and at last perfected in our Saviour, has been transmitted to us; and well it is our part to maintain it. Its high and holy nature, if rightly apprehended, exercises a purifying and humanizing influence on the whole character. It is the only immovable pillar on which we can lay hold when whirled about in the convulsions of the moral world—the only pole-star to which we can look up with hope when fainting beneath misfortune, or, worse still, beneath consciousness of aberrations from that high moral standard, at which the still small voice prompts us to aim. Moral principles, amiable feelings, honourable spirit, all these are but part of ourselves, and may be overcome by the insidious whisper of other emotions. Religion is held out to us from above, and affords an external and additional support. It is a mast on which we, shipwrecked mariners, may ride buoyantly over the waves. Innocence once lost, who can restore it? Honour once stained, who shall wash out the spot? He who trusts on them alone, must sink in despondency, when he finds them inadequate to his support. But religion secures us against such debasement, by holding out a mean to regain our lost sta"When I forget thee, oh, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning!"

tion.

A Flora of Berwick-upon-Tweed. By George Johnston, M.D. &c. Vol. I. Phænogamous Plants. Edinburgh. Carfrae and Son. 1829.

We are told, in the preface to this work, that it was the amusement of the leisure hours of its author,-begun and carried on as a relaxation to his more serious professional duties. Those only who are engaged in an arduous profession, many of the details of which, to say the least, are somewhat disagreeable, can duly appreciate the delight which a study like Botany is calculated to produce in the minds of those who cultivate it for its own sake. And sure we are that we may with perfect safety say to Dr Johnston, in the words of an eminent botanist, whose example and instructions have made many turn to this interesting science, that in his pursuit of this study, "whose pleasures spring up under our feet," he must have been plentifully "rewarded with health and serene satisfaction." For whether engaged in roaming along the banks of the silver Tweed, which, from its rise to its fall, presents one bright continued line of classic lore,—or wandering among the high rugged cliffs which render the cast of Berwickshire the delight and the terror of seamen, whether busy "exploring the damp recesses of the woods," or the banks of some sweetly-secluded loch, or ransacking the treasures of some sequestered glen, whose melancholy gloom, a cause of undefined dread and terror to ordinary mortals, becomes the source of unmixed pleasare and admiration to the Botanist-in each and in all of these situations, his enjoyment must have been great and unalloyed, while the beautiful flowers which strewed his every step, appeared like “old acquaintances rising to greet him with their smiles."

We hail with delight the appearance of such works as the present, and already some works of the kind have appeared. In our own country, the botany of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh has been fully examined and made known; the Clyde has had its botanist; and in the Philosophical Journal, the botany of a small district in Aberdeenshire has been attempted. Till the present work of Dr Johnston, however, no regular attempt has ever been made to describe the botanical treasures of our Borders, if we except a Catalogue of Plants found in the neighbourhood of Berwick, by Mr Thompson, and which a comparison with the Flora will prove to be very defective in its enu

meration of species. The author, therefore, we consider entitled to the thanks of botanists in general, and more especially of the natives of the district comprehended within his range, for having placed their "fairy flowers" on the fair page of history.

The use and advantage of having local Floras is great and manifest; and now that there is a considerable degree of attention begun to be bestowed on that most interesting investigation—the geographical distribution of plants their utility is doubly increased. How curious, for instance, is it to know, that in one part of the country where one set of rocks occur, there also grow a set of plants very different from those in a neighbouring district where the geological distribution varies; and it is interesting, when this much is known, to trace the enquiry through any particular district, and to find that some plants which grow plentifully on one kind of rock, cease to be found where that rock terminates, so that a small ravine or gully proves as effectual a barrier to the further distribution of certain species as if the wide ocean rolled between. Some good remarks connected with this subject are to be met with in the preface to this Flora, which consists chiefly of an Essay on the Geology of Berwickshire, written by a friend of the author's. This is the first attempt, we are told, that has been made to sketch the structure of the county; and there are few, if any, sketches of the kind so clear and intelligible in its details, while the animation of its style carries us, unwearied, through all the technicalities of descriptive geology. Many will consider it the most valuable part of the work, and it speaks to the interests of those proprietors who have, or may hereafter commence the digging for coal on their estates.

The county of Berwick is divided naturally into two great districts the High, comprehending the subalpine districts of Lammermuir and Lauderdale and the Low, containing the rich country called the Merse. Agreeably to this natural division, the geology of the county seems also to assume, for the most part, only two grand features, consisting of two great rock formations, the transition and secondary-the former chiefly prevailing in the High, and the latter predominating in the Low, districts. The chief rocks of the transition class occurring throughout the high districts seem to be the grey wacké and the grey wacké slate, except at St Abb's Head and the shore from thence to Eyemouth; while the secondary formation consists almost entirely of the new red sandstone—in some places the old red sandstone appearing and forming the connecting link between the transition and secondary rocks. The most interesting point, however, in the county, is St Abb's Head, whether from its natural scenery, or its geological structure. "Few parts of the kingdom," says the writer, "can exhibit a finer and more splendid piece of coast scenery than St Abb's, to him especially who surveys it from the sea beneath, whether it be in the summer season, when in calmness and security he sails over the peaceful and pellucid waters, amid gloomy caverns, rocky archways, and majestic cliffs, half shattered by the storm or lightning, and shooting up aloft their giant greatness to the skies; or whether he visit it when the myriads of sea-fowl are clothing the lofty cliffs, or darkening with their multitudes the noon-day sun, or filling all the surrounding echoes with their dissonant voices; or whether, when the elements of sea and sky are mingled together, and the waves are lashed up to foam, he sits securely on its mountain top, and eyes the maddening strife." The Promontory itself is described as a huge insulated mass of trap-rocks, of which the principal are, trap-tuffa, amygdaloid, and felspar porphyry, and is completely cut off from the wide extent of high ground towards the west by a deep valley.

It is in tracing the relation between this geological and geographical distribution of rocks and plants, that one of the greatest sources of interest is opened up in the study of botany. In turning to the Flora itself, we find numerous examples:-Thus the Salvia verbenaca seems only

to occur on the new red sandstone formation; the same may be observed of the viola sierta-while the V. lutea occurs only on the transition series. The Carlina vulgaris, and the Inula dysenterica, seem to occur only on the new red sandstone, while the Potentilla verna only occurs on the trap-rocks of Spindlestone hills. It may be observed here also, that the Cnidium Silaus occurs most abundantly on every road-side and field almost throughout the new red sandstone district of Berwickshire; and that though so profuse in that quarter, it does not occur at all in the Edinburgh Flora, except sparingly near Oxenford Castle. Some very curious and unexpected localities we also find mentioned in this volume. The Scilla verna, which seems almost exclusively confined to the west coast, here occurs in abundance at the eastern extremity of the kingdom; and a no less interesting locality, and equally unexpected, is the station assigned for the Rhodiola rosea, a plant which previously was seldom or never met with, except on Alpine rocks.

Dr Johnston has also in this work added several plants to the Scottish Flora. The Veronica filiformis he has as

dical uses of the most interesting plants are also pointed out; and the graver and heavier details, the mere descriptions of the plants, are lightened and softened by a liberal recourse to many of our first poets,-for, to use a quotation of his own," he is continually coming upon some document of poetry in the blossomed hawthorn, the daisy, the cowslip, the primrose, or some other simple object that has received a supernatural value from the Muse."

We conclude with again declaring our satisfaction at the appearance of this Flora; and, being conversant with most of the habitats mentioned in the book, we are perhaps better able to appreciate the utility and advantages to be derived from it. We look with impatience for the second volume, with which we expect to be equally pleased as with the present; and, in the meantime, we would say to each botanist who has perused this little volume, and whose path lies in another part of the country," Go, and do thou likewise."

Treuttel and Wurtz. August, 1829.

certained to be a native of Berwickshire; and though The Foreign Quarterly Review. No. VIII. London. this plant had been previously found in England by Messrs Borrer and Forster, this is the first time it has found a

THIS is by far the best Number of this periodical that has yet appeared. In general talent, and diversified interest, it need not fear comparison with either of our standard Reviews. It contains, inter alia, some interesting statistical details respecting southern Russia; an able

place in any botanical work in this country. The Erisphorum pubescens also he has found in abundance at Lamberton toll, and in Lamberton muir-a plant which had not a place in any British botany, till the last edition of the late Sir J. E. Smith's English Flora. The Luciola sustatement of the moral features of the Roman Catholic detica occurs in the field below the Lamberton toll-never church in Germany; a sketch of the system of letting before, we believe, found in Scotland. The Senecis tenui- | land on the Continent, a subject intimately connected with folius has been casually mentioned in Jameson's Philoso- the condition of the peasantry; a well-written account of phical Journal, but this is the only botanical work in the rise and fall of the Templars; a graphic, though ocwhich it has been described as a native of Scotland. The casionally desultory, narrative of Masanieilo's revolution Mentha piperita occurs also wild in a rivulet below Lambat Naples, from the pen of Sir Walter Scott; a biography erton Shields, which is mentioned as being the second of Mozart-the Shakspeare of music; an impartial and wild station that has yet been found for this plant in full account of what has yet been done towards the deScotland. The Sisymbrium Iris, and the Picris echirides, ciphering of hieroglyphics, by our talented townsman Dr both grow about the pier-gate at Berwick; and though Browne; and spirited specimens of the poetry and rothey are within the liberties of the town, yet as they are mance of France, Spain, and Italy. It will appear, thereon the north side of the Tweed, they almost deserve a fore, even from this brief outline of the contents, that the place in the Scottish Flora. It is curious they have neNumber embraces a wide field of interesting matter;ver been found farther in the country than just across the historical and statistical notices of countries, times, and Tweed, there reaching apparently their most northern institutions, respecting which comparatively little is known boundaries. Our author has also attempted to establish-graphic sketches of individual character, from the fierce a new species of Melampyrum, the M. montanum. We are lunatic who wielded for a moment the destinies of Naafraid, however, that he has been too hasty in so doing; ples, to him whose soul was all harmony like his compoand we may state, that having gathered specimens from sitions-views of the moral and physical condition of our the Doctor's own habitat, Cheviot hill, we cannot doubt Continental neighbours—and a report of the state of those as to its being any thing else than a variety of one of the discoveries, which promise to bring clearly before us common species. Here, also, as we are upon the dis- Egypt, the land of gigantic dreams, the Delos, tossed on agreeable subject of finding fault, we may point out what tradition's waves, of the young Apollo Europe. The we believe to be a slight error into which he has fallen, lighter articles that are interspersed afford a pleasing rewith regard to the Irish whin. This, we conceive, he is lief to the excited attention; while the critical sketches perfectly correct in stating, upon the authority of Mr and literary notices convey a satisfactory idea of what Neill, to be the Ulex stricta, a different species from ours. has been doing during the last quarter among the ContiBut what is curious, this whin seems to be disagreeable nental literati. to cattle; and it is the common species, the U. europæus, which grows in equal abundance with the other, that is used by many people in Ireland as a substitute for hay, in seasons of scarcity.

We

In his Flora, Dr J. has not contented himself with giving a mere catalogue of the plants found in the district to which he has confined himself, but has given descriptions of each plant, many of them in full. He follows Smith in his arrangement and specific characters; and in several of his genera, he even improves upon him, many of his general remarks being very excellent. would point out the genus Erisphorum, as an example of correctness and distinctness; while we must also do justice to his great labour and discrimination in the genus Rosa, of which he has eight species of the genus Carex, of which he describes accurately 27—and the genus Salix, of which 18 are described, and many of them minutely characterized. The economical and me

Knight's Scroll Ornaments, designed for the use of Silversmiths, Chasers, Modellers, Die-Sinkers, Carvers, Founders, &c. &c. To be completed in 12 Parts. London. T. Griffiths. Edinburgh. A. 1829.

Part I.
Stewart.

We have already noticed, in the terms of approbation they deserved, Knight's "Heraldic Illustrations," his "Book of Crests," and his "Modern and Antique Gems." The Scroll Ornaments, of which he has now commenced a complete series, are no less beautifully executed; and it is difficult to say whether they reflect more credit on the designer or the engraver. The fancy of the one, and the burine of the other, have combined to produce an elegant, and, we should think, highly useful work, in this department of the fine arts.

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Vol. III.

The Library of Entertaining Knowledge.
Part I. The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,
illustrated by Examples. London. Charles Knight.
August, 1829.

THIS is the first half of an interesting and judiciously compiled volume, intended to enforce, upon all classes, the great and satisfactory truth, that, by perseverance and industry, united to a moderate share of natural abilities, the highest honours may be attained in almost every pursuit. The work cannot be too widely circulated, among the young in particular, whom it will inspire with the love of knowledge, and allure to its acquisition.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

UNPUBLISHED POEMS, BY HUGH AINSLIE, AUTHOR OF "THE ROVER OF LOCH-RYAN."

WHEN we reviewed Chambers's collection of Songs and Ballads, we gave, among other extracts from his volumes, the "Rover of Loch-ryan ;" and having been particularly struck with the spirit and originality of that song, we expressed a wish to know something more of its author. This wish has been subsequently gratified, and several papers have been placed in our hands, by which we have been enabled to form a more extended and accurate estimate of Ainslie's genius. We are induced now to notice his writings, because we are satisfied that he has produced many things which deserve to be much better known than they are; and because, in a work like the LITERARY JOURNAL, which we have always wished to impress with a decidedly national character, we are at all times glad to bring the merits of any of our countrymen before the public, whom accidental circumstances may have hitherto kept too much in the background.

Hugh Ainslie, who is a native of Ayrshire, held for some time the situation of amanuensis to the late venerable and celebrated Dugald Stewart, from whose family he was transferred to the Register Office, Edinburgh. He was employed as a clerk in that establishment for some years; but having married, and finding his income much too limited, he left this country, along with his wife and family, in 1822, for America, and is now finally settled, after many wanderings, on the banks of the Ohio, in the neighbourhood of that phoenix city of the central states, Cincinnati. Before emigrating from his native country, Ainslié published a book, entitled "A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns," which, however, from the want of an influential publisher, fell almost still-born from the press. It has only recently been put into our hands; but, on perusal, we find in it, together with a good deal of vulgarity and nonsense, many indications of original, though unpruned genius, and a good bold mixture of the ludicrous and the tender. sort of mélange of prose and poetry, but the poetry is decidedly the superior of the two; indeed, without it, the book would be comparatively worthless. In most of the poetic pieces, there is either a breadth of humour, or a gentleness of pathos, or a freedom of thought and expression, which mark a mind of higher susceptibilities than is often met with in common life. Among these effusions we would particularly mention the "Rover of Lochryan," which originally appeared in this volume, together with the "Ingle-side," the "Ballad to the Bat," the "Gowan o' the West," the " Recipe for making a Scotsman," the "Lads o' Lendalfit," several songs, and the ballad of "Sir Arthur and Lady Ann." Of these we shall extract only the last, reserving the rest of our space for some manuscript poems, by the same author, with which we have been favoured:

SIR ARTHUR AND LADY ANN.

Sir Arthur's foot is on the sand-
His boat wears in the wind,
An' he's turn'd him to a fair foot-page
Was standing him behind.

It is a

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But ae blink o' her bonny ee,

Out spake his Lady Ann,
An' he's catch'd her by the waist sae sma',
Wi' the gripe o' a drowning man.

"O! Lady Ann, thy bed's been hard,
When I thought it the down;
O! Lady Ann, thy love's been deep,
When I thought it was flown.

"I've met my love in the greenwood-
My foe on the brown hill;
But I ne'er met wi' aught before
I liked sae weel-and ill.

"O! I could make a queen o' thee, An' it would be my pride;

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"There's gowd and siller in this han',
Will buy us mony a rigg ;
There's pearlings in this other han',
A stately tower to bigg.

"Though thou'rt an outlaw frae this lan',
The world's braid and wide;

Make room, make room, my merry-men,
For young Sir Arthur's bride!"

There is in the above a great deal of the genuine spirit of the old Scottish ballad; and our readers, we think, will be willing to confess with us, that the man who can write thus, ought not to write altogether unknown. Since Mr Ainslie went to reside in America, nothing of his has appeared in print on this side of the Atlantic, with the exception of a paper or two in the Newcastle Magazine, which he entitled "Feelings of a Foreigner in America.' He contributes, however, to American publications; and he has, from time to time, transmitted to his friends at home poetical effusions of great merit, some of which we have now pleasure in making public. We shall begin with a poem, which bears date " January 25th, 1823:"

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Ay, when days war dark, an' the nights as grim,
When the heart was dowff, an' the ee was dim,
At the tail o' the purse, at the end o'
my wit,
It was time to quit but I'm living yet!

Our pleasures are constantly gi'en to disease,
An' Hope, poor thing, aft gets dowy, and dies;
While dyster Care, wi' his darkest litt,
Keeps dipping awa'-but I'm living yet!

A wee drap drink, an' a canty chiel,
Can laugh at the warl', an' defy the deil;
Wi' a blink o' sense, an' a flaught o' wit,
Oh! that's the gear's kept me living yet!
In a similar spirit is

A DECEMBER DITTY.

The merry bird o' simmer's flown,
Wi' his brave companions a';
Grim winter has the green leaf stown,
An' gifted us the snaw.

The big bough sings a dowy sang,

As it swings in the deep'ning drift; An' the glint o' day just creeps alang The ledge o' the leaden lift.

But awa' wi' words in wintry weed, An' thoughts that bode o' ill! What! are we o' the forest breed

To dow wi' the daffodill?

Let's roose up merry days we've seen,
When carping care was dumb;
Let's think on flowers an' simmers green,————
There's Julys yet to come!

Though my lair is in a foreign land,
My friens' ayont the sea,

There's fusion in affection's band

To draw them yet to me!

The pensive vein of thought which runs through the following poem, contrasts well with the above:

LINES WRITTEN BY THE RIVER SIDE.

Sweet, sober, solitary Nook,
Where many an hour I stole,
To read, as in a written book,
The records of my soul !

Oft when the morn came down the cleugh, To gild thy waters clear,

And birds set up their merry sough,

Thou'st found me pondering here.

And when the sun lay in the west, And dewdrops sought the flower, The gowan'd sward I've often press'd, Within thy hazel bower.

Sending my weary spirit forth

Through wilds that lay before,

And wishing they might be more smooth Than those I've wandered o'er.

These days are done, and I draw near
My last fond look to take,

And think of one who often here
Will wander for my sake.

And when cold winter's blasting look
Bids summer's sweets depart,
She'll see within this wither'd nook,
An emblem of my heart!

The following also deserves a place :

HARVEST-HOME IN AMERICA.

The barley's in the mow, boys,
The hay is in the stack;
An' grain o' a' kind now, boys,
Is under rape and thack.

Sae stow your tools about the yard,
Let's meet wi' ae accord;

We've bent enough out ower the sward,
We'll bend now ower the board.

O mony a ane has sown, boys,
To see another reap ;

To see what he has grown, boys,
But swell a landlord's heap.

But rent, or tax, or tithe, boys,

Our girnals darna spill;
These burdens were bought off, boys,
Langsyne at Bunker's Hill.

What though the hand be like a hoof,
The cheek be like the grun',
The wearied shank be kicking proof,
An' rather stiff for fun?

Ne'er fear, we'll get the slight o't,
An' tongues shall wag like flails;
An' faith we'se hae a night o't,
Or punch an' pantry fails!

When hearty health is given, boys,
To season life's dull lease,
An' plenty comes frae heaven, boys,
To mate wi' gentle peace,-

The soul that winna glow, then,
Is chill'd wi' gripping greed,

And the heart that winna flow, then,
Is a stony heart indeed!

We shall give our readers at present only one more specimen of Mr Ainslie's abilities. It is a Scotch song of great merit:

DAFT DAYS.

"The midnight hour is clinking, lads,
An' the douce an' the decent are winking, lads,
Sae I tell ye again,
Be't weel or ill taen,

It's time ye were quitting your drinking, lads."

"Gae ben an' mind your gantry, Kate,
Gie's mair o' your beer and less bantry, Kate;
For we vow whare we sit,

That afore we shall flit,

We'll be better acquaint wi' your pantry, Kate.

"The daft days are but beginning, Kate,

country; and, as we believe it is not unlikely that the present number of the LITERARY JOURNAL will fall into his hands, we doubt not that it will give him some pleasure to perceive, that the genius which God has given him is not destined to pass entirely unappreciated in his native country.

THE CRIMES OF RICHARD HAWKINS. By Thomas Aird, Author of " Religious Characteristics," &c.

WHEN a young man, Richard Hawkins was guilty of the heinous crime of betraying the daughter of a respectable farmer in the west of Galloway, of the name of Emily Robson. As he yet loved the injured maiden, he would have married her, but in this he was determinedly opposed by her relatives, and particularly by her only brother, betwixt whom and himself an inveterate hostility had, from various causes, been growing up since their earliest boyhood. From remorse partly, and shame and disappointment, and partly from other causes, Hawkins hereupon left his home and went abroad; but after making a considerable sum of money he returned to Scotland, determined to use every remonstrance to win over Emily's friends to allow him yet by marriage to make reparation to the gentle maiden, the remembrance of whose beauty and faithful confiding spirit had unceasingly haunted him in a foreign land. He arrived first at Glasgow, and proceeded thence to Edinburgh, where he purposed to stay a week or a fortnight before going southward to his native county, in which also Emily Robson resided.

During his stay in the metropolis, having been one evening invited to sup at the house of a gentleman, ori. ginally from the same county with himself, scarcely had he taken his seat in his host's parlour, when Emily's brother entered, and instantly recognizing him, advanced with a face of grim wrath, denounced him as a villain, declared he would not sit a moment in his company, and to make good his declaration, instantly turned on his heel and left the house. The violent spirit of Hawkins was in a moment stung to madness by this rash and unseasonable insolence, which was offered him, moreover, before a number of gentlemen; he rose, craved their leave for a moment, that he might follow, and show Mr Robson his mistake; and sallying out of the house, without his hat, he overtook his aggressor on the street, tapped him on the shoulder, and thus bespoke him, with a grim smile :-" Why, sir, give me leave to propound to you that this same word and exit of yours are most preciously insolent. With your leave, now, I must have you back, gently to unsay me a word or two; or, by heaven! this night your blood shall wash out the imputation !"

"This hour-this hour!" replied Robson, in a hoarse compressed whisper; "my soul craves to grapple with you, and put our mutual affair to a mortal arbitrement. Hark ye, Hawkins, you are a stranger in this city, I

An' we've sworn (wad ye hae us be sinning, Kate?) presume, and cannot reasonably be expected easily to pro

By our faith an' our houp,

We shall stick by the stoup,

As lang as a barrel keeps rinning, Kate.

"Through spring an' through simmer we moil it, Kate, Through hay an' through harvest we toil it, Kate; Sae ye ken, whan the wheel

Is beginning to squeel,

It's time for to grease or to oil it, Kate.

"Then score us another drappy, Kate, An' gie us a cake to our cappy, Kate,

For, by spiggot an' pin,

It were mair than a sin

To fit when we're sitting sae happy, Kate." We are glad that we have thus had it in our power to do some justice to a clever man, now self-exiled from his

vide yourself with a second; moreover, that no one would back such a villain;-now, will you follow me this moment to my lodgings, accept from my hand one of a pair of pistols, and let us, without farther formality, retire to a convenient place, and do ourselves a pleasure and a justice. I am a-weary of living under the same sun with you, and if I can shed your foul blood beneath yon chaste stars of God, I would willingly die for it. Dare you follow me?-and quickly, before those fellows think of looking after us ?"

To Hawkins' boiling heart of indignation 'twas no hard task so to follow, and the above proposal of Robson was strictly and instantly followed up. We must notice here particularly, that, as the parties were about to leave the house, a letter was put into Robson's hand, who, seeing that it was from his mother, and bore the outward notification of mourning, craved Hawkins' permission to read

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