which you have made on the refpectable Order of which I have the honour to partake the misfortunes. The first Orator of England has become the Defender of the Clergy of France. Yours is the voice that has fo long directed and balanced the opinion of a nation, of which France ought rather to be the rival by its progrefs in intelligence, than by its political interefts. Oh, that the dark clouds which overhang my country may not for ever obfcure the rays of light which the fciences, letters, and the arts bestow! We are in a time of trouble we attend only to the noife of our difcuffions- -we read only the produc tions of party and how many wife men and enlightened citizens remain in filence! We can no longer judge for ourselves, and a foreign obferver only can decide for us what ought to be the judgment of pofterity.

-

f

When my colleagues, in addref fing themselves to you, chofe me for their organs osiowase penetrated with their fentiments, and with thofe of the minifters of allir ranks, whom nothing can feparate from their confciences. I fpoke for them with the feeling which they gave me; and the noble thoughts, the touching expreffions, I can boldly fay, were only the daily impreffions which the knowledge of their virtues inspire. It is wanting to their glory that you should fee

as

I have feen them, fin ple in their conduct, tranquil in their adverfity, and content with having fulfilled their duty, The Church of France is the stranded bark which the waters have left after the tempeft, and every one of us in the hip wreck contemplares with aftonishment thole new Beavers, and this new earth, which were unknown before.

By what deftiny muft it be, that, after having fupported all my life thofe maxims of Chriftian Charity, of which the first ages of the Church gave us both leffons and examples, I fee myself the victim of intolerance and perfecution! It is in the eighteenth century-it is in a nation that

boafts of its philofophy-it is even in the moment that they announce the Revolution of Liberty, that they perfecute thofe who practice what they believe in religion, and who wish to preferve the worship of their fathers! We read in the Conftitution, that "No one ought to be disturbed for his religions opinions."We read the Laws concerning religion-oaths, deprivations, infamous penalties, and exile; and it is on the overthrow of their new Constitution that they found the Civil Conftitution of the Clergy. What has become of all thofe natural laws which were to ferve for the bafis of all their laws? We are the men whom they wish to accuse with prejudices, who plead this day the Rights of Liberty.

The caufe, Sir, that we have defended, is the noble, juft, and holy caufe of liberty, humanity, and religion. The Clergy of France have demonftrated what it was perfuafion without fanaticifm-courage without excess and refiftence without trouble, and without infurrection.-We have fuffered all kinds of lofs-we have endured, all forts of rigour, and we remain tranquil and firm, because nothing is fo unconquerable as the probity which fupports itself on religion. Behold that of which they can-" not julge in the world ! They conceive that honour is the only fentiment which influences men of all conditions to the accomplishment of the moft facred duties. God forbid that I fhould weaken this noble instinct, which comes to the aid of reason, which rallies the warriors in the day' of combat, and which can animate to the love of the public weal, when it does not mislead us in the purfait ! But you have better defined this fimple and true fentiment, which confilts in the habitual impreffion of our duty, of right, and of piety." This fentiment ought to be in general that of good Citizens, and there are no morals in a country where it is not acted upon. If they wish to destroy

religion

eligion in France, it will be the first example of an Empire without religion; and no one has proved, Sir, with more eloquence than yourfelf, how much it imports to attach the -principles of human fociety to fome thing too high for man to outrage or deftroy. They must confecrate by religion, refpect for the laws; for what must the laws be, which fan entire people obey only through conftraint, and not by inclination? They will foon perceive that the force to which they yield is only the force which they give. This force will weaken of itfelf by general corruption, and the State is no more, Mon

You have reafon, Sir, to encourage us in the laborious career to which we are doomed. It is the writings of such men as you, which maintainin all nations a wholesome morality. We cannot help believing, that our fellow -citizens will, fooner or later, do us the juftice which we receive from foreigners; and that we shall revive, in more peaceable times, the principles of religion and humanity. We hopen to d

I do not speak to you, Sir, of those other writings, n which I am detirous of fhewing how ufeful would be the lights of a long and peaceable Adminiftration. It does not belong to me to judge of the ufe which may be made of them, and it must not aitonifh us, that men are ungrateful for truths which come from us, who have no paffion for Revolutions.

Accept, Sir, the teftimonies of the veneration and attachment, which well-intentioned men ought to feel for the enlightened and virtuous of all countries. 71 0.

1 cannot tell you how fenfible we have been to the attention which the Clergy of England have fhewn towards one of our most virtuous and refpectable Colleagues. You are equally juft to his character in fociety, as to his principles and conrage; and fuch are the regrets of his diocese, that they confider his abfence as a public calamity.

perdona how I have the honour to be, nude while mos P &c. &c. &c. LONDON, ISful.

9149

2

THE

231

THE frft fheep I met with were on the Lomond hills; they feem to be a mixture between the black, faced and white faced kinds, hav ing mostly imperfectly white faces, and are, what we would reckon i the south, a bad kind of sheep. fuc As very few theep in this part of the country are laid or fmeared, the wool is mostly fold white to the people in the neighbourhood for making blankets, and other country fabrics; the price about eighteen fhillings a tone, confifting of twenty four pounds English avoirdupoife.

From clipping time, in the end of

in

increafing the general weight of carcafe is in moft cafes very queftionable. The only disorder to which the fheep in these parts are fubject is called by the country people the braxy, which, fo far as I could learn, is the fame with the difeafe known under the name of fickness in Teviotdale. The hogs are fubject to this di eafe. They are afflicted with it from the end of October to the end of December, or until a good deal of froft or fnow falls after which time they are almost never troubled with it. They are generally feized very fuddenly with a fwelling of the whole body, and they die in a fhort tim, after which the body is very much difcoloured. There has been no cure, yet found for this difeafe; bit, I thould think, if it were attended to when the disease firit makes its appearance, by ufing a fmall quantity of tar in the fame man ner as is given to black cattle when fwelled with turnip or clover, a good effect might be produced at least a is worth making a trial. wos odio The me hod of herding the fheep in these parts is exceedingly improper, as they are conftantly kept ciofe to gether in hufels, by which means they are never permitted to fetile at their food. Sheep naturally spread and this plan requires the herd to disturb them perpetually on purpose to keep them together. This bad practice ap pears to proceed from their paftures being in common, which makes it neceflary to herd them in thefe clofe hirfels, to prevent the sheep of the various tenants from mixing

W

Their other practice of folding their fheep every night, from fhearing time till the month of April following, is likewife very hurtful. It must be very prejudicial to ford fheep at night, even in the fummer feafon, but much more fo in the winter, as they are then expofed to every kind of weather, without having it in their power to feek for fhelter, which they would do if they were left to their liberty,

It is the general practice in this part of the country to fheer the fheep before they are washed.

I think this a very bad practice. Washing the fleece after it is fhorn breaks the wool very much; nor do the fheep ever clip fo well without washing as after that operation, which makes the wool rife rom the back, and allows the hears to get in much more readily.

From Cupar I went to Tent-moor, in the parish of Leuchars, where I was informed of a peculiar breed of theep. This moor, which is fuppofed to contain 3000 acres of land, is of a very fandy foil, and produces very little grafs, but is covered with vast quantities of whins or furze, on which the fheep chiefly fubfift. It is bounded on the call by the fay by the Firth of Tay on the north, and by the river Eden on thes douth. The sheep on this moor are very fall; have moftly white faces, and dong mall upright horns like goats. When fat, they weigh from four and a half to fix pounds a quarter. They have very long wool in proportion to their fize, and the fleece is very open at the top, but, upon examination, turns out much finer than could be fuppofed from their first appearance, for they look more like goats than theep.

1

3

So far as d could learn, the fame breed has been kept on thefe mċors from time immemorial; for no person remembers any attempt having been made to change the breed, by crof fing or otherwife. The people here have no particular modes of managing their fleep, any farther than this, that each takes care to keep his own little flock from flaying out of his own farm. The whole moor keeps about 2000 head.

५

The farmers here always fell fome of their ewes, with lambs at their feet, in the Cupar market; and for there they got, laft year, from 7s. to 7s. 6d. They fell their wedders, at the fame time, when two years old,

for

but it is of a kind which does not anfwer the purposes of the clothier.

The country, from Brechin to 'Montrofe, is of an excellent foil, and is kept in very good order. The mode of hufbandry is apparently very Judicious. The linen manufacture alfo is very flour thing; there being, I was informed, at least nine millions of yards of linen made annually in the county of Angus.

I found myflf very much difappointed on getting to Glen-Efk, or Loch-lee, as it is likewife called, where I had been made to expect 'wool of a very great fiuenefs. So. far from there being any particular breed of sheep in thefe parts, bearing wool of a very fuperior quality, I found that the theep, w re moftly of the Linton or Tweed-dale breed.

The wool of the black faced, or Linton fheep, is molly all fold white or unlaid, and gives from eight to ten Thillings a ftone, which requires eight or ten fleeces. The wool of the mixed grey faced breed gives a better price, about thirteen thillings; but then it requires fixteen or eighteen fleeces to make a ftone. The markets are Brechin and Montrofe.

There are about four or Give fcore of goats kept in Glen-Ek, and I think, they might keep a great many more to advantage, as there are fe veral hills where sheep cannot feed, being fo exceedingly craggy s4,

The fheep in Glen Muick are much the fame as thefe in Glen Efk, being moftly of the Linton breed, bought in the fpring and autumn, and fold, when four year old, to the Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen butchers for thirteen or fourteen fhillings a-head. The other fheep are a crofs between a fmail breed, which they call the white heep, and the Linton or Tweed-dale breed.

It is very common here to fee the small tenants, who, I fuppofe, do not pay upon an average above feven or eight pounds a year, ploughing upon fine

level haughs with three galloways and four or fix small oxen, and even fome of them with ten, kyloes in a plough.

The cloth bufinefs is but in its infancy at Aberdeen, but is advancing faft. The wool is got from the fouth borders of Scotland and the north of England; as they find the wool w ich grows in the neighbourhood does not antwer eithr for cloth or worsted ftuffs.

From Aberdeen to Ellon there are very few or almost no fheep, and what are kept are of a mixed kind.

From Portioy to Elgin very few theep are kept at prefent, owing to the improvement of the land, and the great quantity of trees planted. I should think the Bakewell or Leicestershire breed very fit for the coaft fide, where the ground is improved, as probably there always will be a ready market for combing wool, to make worfted ftuffs and ftockings, in that neighbourhood. It is hardly to be credited how much the great proprietors on this coaft, in particular the Duke of Gordon, Lord Fife, and Lord Findlater, might improve the value of their property, by introducing proper breeds of sheep, calculated either for the hilly, or the cultivated parts of their eftates.

From Elgin to Nairn the fheep are all of the fall kind, and very few are kept (not above forty score in all) as the land is moftly in tillage or planted. Several of the fheep on this part of the coaft have very little wool, particularly before, probably owing to the poverty of their food. Mr Brodie of Brodie, about half way between Forres and Nairn, has begun to cross his fheep with a large tup, but the pafture fecms better calculated for a mall breed 12,

From Tain, I croffed over into Sutherland the fheep kept upon the eaft coaft in that country are very small, and of the fame kind as thole in the fhires of Rofs and Cromarty.They have the fame pernicious custom

there,