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fucceed, the question of prudence is at an end; every body will think that done right which ends happily; and though your expectations, of which I would not advife you to talk too much, fhould not be totally answered, you can hardly fail to get friends who will do for you all that your prefent fituation allows you to hope: and if after a few years you thould return to Scotland, you will return with a mind fupplied by various converfations, and many opportunities of enquiry, with much knowledge and materials for reflection and instruction."

Mr Bofwell had not been long at the English bar when he was elected Recorder of the ancient city of Carlife, and foon after his learned and refpectable countryman Dr John Douglas was appointed Bishop of the Diocefe. Thefe two promotions gave occafion to the following epigram:

“Of old, ere wife Concord united this Isle, "Our neighbours of Scotland were foes at "Carlisle;

"But now what a change have we here on "the border,

which are attained by the want of pub-
lic virtue in men born without it, or
by the proftitution of public virtue in
men born with it. Though power,
and wealth, and magnificence, may at
firit dazzle, and are, I think, most de-
firable; no wife man will, upon fober
reflection, envy a fituation which he
feels he could not enjoy. My friend
(my Macenas Atavis edite regibus)
Lord Mountftuart flattered me once
very highly without intending it.
"I would do any thing for you (faid
he) but bring you into Parliament;
for I could not be fure but you might
oppofe me in fomething the very next
day." His Lordfhip judged well.
Though I fhould confider, with much
attention, the opinion of such a friend
before taking my refolution;-moft
certainly I fhould oppofe him in any
measure which I was fatisfied ought
to be oppofed. I cannot exist with
pleasure, if I have not an honeft inde-
pendence of mind and of conduct;
for though no man loves good eating
and drinking, fimply confidered,
better than I do I prefer the broiled
blade-bone of mutton and humble

"When Douglas is Bishop, and Bofwell port of" downright Shippen" to all

"Recorder."

Finding this Recordership, at fo great a distance from London, attend ed with many inconveniencies, Mr Bofwell, after holding it for about two years, refigned it.

It was generally fuppofed that Mr Bofwell would have had a feat in Parliament; and indeed his not being amongst the Reprefentatives of the Commons, is one of thofe ftrange things which occafionally happen in the complex operations of our mixed Government. That he has not been brought into Parliament (as the phrafe is) by fome of our great men, is not to be wondered at, when we perufe his public declaration in his "Letter to the People of Scotland" in 1785. Though ambitious, I am uncorrupt ed; and I envy not high fituations

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the luxury of all the itatefmen who play the political game all thorough."

He offered himself as a candidate, at the last General Election, to reprefent Ayrshire, his own country, of which his is one of the oldeft families, and where he has a very extensive and a very fine place, of part of which there is a view and defcription in Grofe's "Antiquities of Scotland." But the power of the Minifter for Scotland was exerted for another perfon, and fome of those whose support he might reafonably have expected could not withstand its influence; he therefore declined giving his friends the trouble of appearing for him; but has declared his refolution to perfevere on the next vacancy.

Upon all occafions he has avowed himself to be a fteady Royalift; nay, has had the courage to affume the

title of Tory, protesting, that fince his prefent most gracious Majefty's generous plan of annihilating the diftinction of political parties has been fruftrated, and there are fome who keep up the cant appellation of Whigs, the true friends to the Conftitution in Church and State fhould meet them with the oppofite name, as Tories. Mr Bofwell, however, in the pamphlet juft quoted, thus liberally writes: "I can drink, I can laugh, I can converfe, in perfect good humour, with Whigs, with Republicans, with Diffenters, with Independents, with Quakers, with Moravians, with Jews. They can do me no harm. My mind is made up. My principles are fixed. But I would vote with Tories, and pray with a Dean and Chapter.

In 1789 Mr Bofwell experienced a moft fevere affliction in the lofs of his valuable wife, who died at Auchinleck on the 4th of June that year, leaving him five children; two fons, Alexander, now at Eton, and James, at Weftminfter School; and three daughters, Veronica, Euphemia, and Elizabeth. This melancholy event afected him very much; for it deprived him of the woman he loved, and the friend he could truft. He had recourse to piety for relief; but his expreffion of what he felt was, "There is a wound

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which never can be entirely healed. I may have many gratifications, but I fear the comfort of life is over.'

He however did not refign himself to unavailing grief, but endeavoured to diffipate his melancholy by occupation and amufement in the Metropolis, in which he enjoys perhaps as extensive and varied an acquaintance as any man of his time. We find him at length extremely gay, and occafionally exercifing his poetical talents. At the last Lord Mayor's Day's feftal board he fung with great applaufe a State Ballad of his own compofition, entitled, "The Grocer of London," in praife of Mr Pitt's conduct in the difpute with Spain, a Convention being juft then announced. He is generally believed to be the Author of a Poem of fome length, entitled, “No Abolition of Slavery; or, The Univerfal Empire of Love," which came out while the Slave Trade Bill was depending in Parliament. But his attention to the bufinefs of Weftminfter-Hall has been chiefly interrupted by his great literary work, in which he was engaged for many years, "The Life of Dr Johnson," which he has at lait published, in two volumes quarto, and which has been received by the world with extraordinary approbation.

Mr Forfyth's Difcovery for curing Diseases and Injuries in Trees, N confequence of an addrefs of the Houfe of Commons to his Majefty, and of an examination made refpecting the efficacy of a compofition difcovered by William Forfyth, for curing injuries and defects in trees, his Majefty has been pleafed to grant a reward to Mr Forfyth, for difclofing the method of making and using that Compofition; and the following directions for that purpose are published accordingly.

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TAKE one bufhel of fresh cowdung; half a bufhel of lime rubbish of old buildings (that from the cielings of rooms is preferable ;) half a bufhel of wood-afhes; and a fixteenth part a bufhel of pit or river fand. The three laft articles are to be fifted fine before they are mixed, then work them well together with a spade, and afterwards with a wooden beater, until the stuff is

ver y

very smooth, like fine plaifter used for the cielings of rooms. The compofition being thus made, care must be taken to prepare the tree properly for its application by cutting away all the dead, decayed, and injured part till you come to the fresh found wood, leaving the furface of the wood very fmooth, and rounding off the edges of the bark with a draw-knife, or other inftrument, perfectly smooth, which must be particularly attended to. Then lay on the plaifter about oneeighth of an inch thick, all over the part where the wood or bark has been fo cut away, finishing of the edges as thin as poffible. Then take a quantity of dry powder of wood-afhes, mixed with a fixth part of the fame quantity of the afhes of burnt bones; put it in to a tin-box, with holes in the top, and fhake the powder on the furface of the plaifter, till the whole is covered over with it, letting it remain for half an hour, to absorb the moifture; then apply more powder, rubbing it on gently with the hand, and repeating the application of the powder, till the whole plaifter becomes a dry fmooth furface. All trees cut

down near the ground fhould have the furface made quite fmooth, rounding it off in a small degree, as before mentioned; and the dry powder directed to be used afterwards fhould have an equal quantity of powder of alabafter mixed with it, in order the better to refift the dripping of trees and heavy rains. If any of the compofition be left for a future occafion, it fhould be kept in a tub, or other veffel, and urine of any kind poured on it, fo as to cover the furface; otherwife the atmosphere will greatly hurt the efficacy of the application. Where lime-rubbish of old buildings cannot be eafily got. take powder chalks, or common lime, after being flaked a month at least. As the growth of the tree will gradually affect the plaifter, by railing up its edges next the bark, care fhould be taken, where that happens, to rub it over with the finger when occafion may require (which is best done when moistened by rain,) that the plaifter may be kept whole, to prevent the hair and wet from penetrating into the wound. WILLIAM FORSYTH.

Account of the principal Articles imported from India by the Romans.*

IN every age, it has been a commerce of luxury, rather than of neceflity, which has been carried on between Europe and India. Its elegant manufactures, fpices, and precious ftones, are neither objects of defire to nations of fimple manners, nor are fuch nations poffeffed of wealth fufficient to purchase them. But at the time the Romans became mafters of the Indian trade, they were not only (as I have already observed) in that stage of fociety, when men are eager to obtain

every thing that can render the enjoyment of life more exquifite, or add to its fplendour, but they had acquired all the fantastic tastes formed by the caprice and extravagance of wealth.-They were of confequence highly delighted with thofe new objects of gra-. tification with which India fupplied them in fuch abundance. The productions of that country, natural as well as artificial, feem to have been much the fame in that age as in the prefent. But the tafte of the Romans

* From "Dr Robertson's Historical Disquisition concerning Ancient India.”

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in luxury differed in many refpects from that of modern times, and of courfe their demands from India differed confiderably from ours.

In order to convey an idea of their demands as complete as poffible, I fhall in the first place make fome obfervations on the three great articles of general importation from India.1. Spices and aromatics. 2. Precious ftones and pearls. 3. Silk. And then I fhall give fome account (as far as I can venture to do it from authentic information) of the affortment of cargoes, both outward and homeward bound, for the veffels fitted out at Berenice for different ports of India.

1. Spices and aromatics. From the mode of religious worship in the heathen world; from the incredible number of their deities, and of the temples confecrated to them; the confecration of frankincenfe and other aromatics which were ufed in every facred function, must have been very great. But the vanity of men occafioned a greater confumption of thefe fragrant fubftances than their piety. It was the cuftom of the Romans to burn the bodies of their dead, and they deemed it a difplay of magnificence, to cover, not only the body but the funeral pile on which it was laid, with the most costly spices. At the funeral of Sylla, two hundred and ten burthens of fpices were ftrewed upon the pile. Nero is reported to have burnt a quantity of cinnamon and caffia at the funeral of Poppoa, greater than the countries from which it was imported produced in one year. We confume in heaps thefe precious fubftances with the carcafes of the dead (fays Pliny): We offer them to the gods only in grains. It was not from India, I am aware, but from Arabia, that aromatics were firft imported into Europe; and fome of them, particularly frankincenfe, were productions of that country. But the Arabians were accuftomed, together with fpices of native growth, to fur

nish foreign merchants with others of higher value, which they brought from India, and the regions beyond it. The commercial intercourfe of the Arabians with the eastern parts of Afia, was not only early (as has been already obferved) but confiderable. By means of their trading caravans, they conveyed into their own country all the valuable productions of the Eaft, among which fpices held a chief place. In every ancient account of Indian commodities, fpices and aromatics of various kinds form a principal article. Some authors affert that the greater part of thofe purchafed in Arabia were not the growth of that country, but brought from India. That this af fertion was well founded appears from what has been observed in modern times. The frankincenfe of Arabia, though reckoned the peculiar and moft precious production of the country, is much inferior in quality to that imported into it from the east; and it is chiefly with the latter, that the Arabians at prefent fupply the extenfive demands of various provinces of Afia for this commodity. It is upon good authority, then, that I have mentioned the importation of fpices as one of the moft confiderable branches of ancient commerce with India.

II. Precious stones, together with which pearls may be claffed, feem to be the article next in value imported by the Romans from the caft. As thefe have no pretenfion to be of any real ufe, their value arifes entirely from their beauty and their rarity, and even when ellimated moft moderately is always high. But among nations far advanced in luxury, when they are deemed not only ornaments but marks of diftinction, the vain and the opulent vie fo eagerly with one another for the poffeffion of them, that they rife in price to an exorbitant and al moft incredible height. Diamonds, though the art of cutting them was imperfectly known to the ancients, held an high place in eftimation a

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mong them as well as among us. The comparative value of other precious itones varied according to the diverû ty of tattes and the caprice of fashion. The immenfe number of them mentioned by Pliny, and the laborious care with which he describes and arranges them, will aftonish, I fhould fuppose, the most skilful lapidary or jeweller of modern times, and thews the hign request in which they were held by the Romans.

But among all the articles of luxyry, the Romans feem to have given the preference to pearls. Perfons of every rank purch fed them with eager nefs; they were worn on every part of drefs; and there is fuch a difference, both in fize aud in value, among pearls, that while fuch as were large and of fuperior luftre, adorned the wealthy and the great, fmaller ones, and of inferior quality, gratified the vanity of perfons in more humble ftations of life. Julius Cæfar prefented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl, for which he paid forty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty-feven pounds. The famous pearl ear-rings of Cleopatra were in value one haudred and fixty-one thousand four hundred and fifty-eight pounds. Precious ftones, it is true, as well as pearls, were found not only in India, but in many different countries, and all were ranfacked in order to gratify the pride of Rome, India, however, furnished the chief part, and its productions were allowed to be moft abundant, diverfified, and valuable,

Ili. Another production of India in great demand at Rome was filk; and when we recollect the variety of elegant fabrics into which it may be formed, and how much these have added to the fplendour of drefs and furni ure, we cannot wonder at its being beld in fuch eftimation by a luxurious people. The price it bore was exorbant; but it was deemed a drefs too expenfive and too delicate for men, and was appropriated wholly to women of E VOL. XIV. No. 79.

eminent rank and opulence. This, however, did not render the demand for it leis eager, especially after the example of the diffolute Elagabalus introduced the afe of it among the other fex, and accuftomed men to the difgrace (as the feverity of ancient ideas accounted it) of wearing this effeminate garb. Two circumftances concerning the traffic of filk among the Romans merit cbfervation. Contrary to what ufually takes place in the operations of trade, the more general ufe of that commodity feems not to have increafed the quantity imported, in fuch proportion as to answer the growing demand for it, and the price of filk was not reduced during the courfe of two hundred and fifty years from the time of its being firit known in Rome. In the reign of Aurelian, it still continued to be valued at its weight in gold. This, it is probable, was owing to the mode in which that commodity was procured by the mer chants of Alexandria, They had no direct intercourfe with China, the only country in which the filk-worm was then reared, and its labour rendered an article of commerce. All the filk which they purchased in the different ports of India which they frequented, was brought thither in fhips of the country; and either from fome defect of skill in managing the filk-worm, the produce of its ingenious induftry ar mong the Chinese was fcanty, or the intermediate dealers found greater advantage in turnishing the market of Alexandria with a fmall quantity at an high price, than to lower its value by increafing the quantity. The other circumftance which I had in view is more extraordinary, and affords a ftriking proof of the imperfect communication of the ancients with remote nations, and of the fender knowledge which they had of their natural productions or arts. Much as the manufactures of filk were admired, and often as filk is mentioned by the Greek and Roman authors, they had not for

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