captain. He died as he had lived, with much cou rage and fortitude, only regretting and feeling for an amiable young lady he had lately married, daughter of Mr John Ferguson, a British gentleman long settled in Russia, who has had the anguish to see both his daughters left widows in the same war, by the death of another gallant countryman, to be mentioned afterwards in the course of these Memoirs. Captain Traveneon died regretted universally by his brother officers as well as the seamen; and her imperial majesty lost in him a zealous, brave, and fkilful officer. I cannot conclude this outline of so rapid a career in rank and honours, without pointing out to my countrymen a circumstance that afsisted it much. It is difficult to conceive the decided advantage one officer has over another of equal merit abroad, by possessing a fluency and ease in the common medium of Europe, whatever it may be at the time, by which we convey our ideas to one another; this was of infinite service to captain Traveneon, as it gave him an opportunity, when the Kamtchatka expedition procured him the honour of an interview with her imperial majesty, of displaying his knowledge of the subject, and of course secured her fu ture protection and favour. The French was that medium in his time, and is so still, although it probably will be changed, as it has become improper and even dangerous to teach a child a language where he must now find in every book principles destructive of all the bonds of civil society, subordination, religion, and morality, without which no state or government can exist, whatever our modern sophists may say to the contrary ;-a sect who have difhonoured the name of philosophy, and brought such an odium and derision on the title of philosopher, that every virtuous upright citizen, (who does not mean to scramble for the loaves and fishes, the bait held out,) is afhamed to wear it. Whatever then may become the general language of Europe, an officer should make himself master of it, before he seeks foreign service, if he wishes to rise as fast as his merit should entitle him, if properly known. ARCTICUS. 1 OBSERVATIONS AND OPINIONS OF J. W. SPENCER. Continued from vol. xiv. p. 253. THE best of the Scottish antiquaries observes, that Edward 1. entered Scotland by the western borders in the year 1300;-I did so in 1788. I went through the country by Douglas to Glasgow, and from Glasgow by Loch Lomond to Inverary. I there received such accounts of the inns to the northward, and in the western islands, that I gave up all thoughts of an excursion I had planned to the Hebrides, and resolved to go to Edinburgh by way of Taymouth. Travellers in these countries always lodge at gentlemen's houses; but although they be the most hospitable in all the world, it is necefsary for them to have some acquaintance of the families, or at least letters of introduction. Without either of these, how could I have gone to a gentleman, under a borrowed name too, and who had never heard of me even under my own name, and told him that I was come to stay all night, or a few days with him? The thing is not to be done! After spending two or three days in viewing the magnificent seat of the duke of Argyle, and the romantic beauties of the neighbourhood, I would infallibly have returned without going a step farther, had I not met with a young gentleman who lodged in the samne inn, and being pofsefsed of the like spirit of rambling, was going north on the same errand. We were much pleased with each other's conversation, and, except when we went to sleep, we never parted after our first meeting. He offered to take me with him, and prefsed me so much, and I was so sensible of the propriety of the measure, that I was prevailed on. He was not provided with any letters of introduction, but was well known to Mr Maclean of Coll, from whom he was certain of a hearty welcome, and letters that would be of service to us on the rest of our journey. My companion was as agreeable a young man as I ever saw; he was tall, and of a chearful temper; and spoke well, and with so much readiness on every subject, that one would have imagined he had been considering that very subject for hours before. This was all I knew of my fellow traveller when we left Inverary. He will appear in the sequel as the most accomplished of men. He had no more travelling equipage than I had; except an oiled great coat, in which he wrapped himself up, and slept on the ground when no bed was to be got. I bought a plaid and an old parapluie from the innkeeper, and away we marched. We crossed over to the isle of Mull. I never go to sea but I think of John Flavel's addrefs to seamen sailing heavenward, in which he says: "the art of navigation is an art of exquisite excellency, ingenuity, rarity, and mirability; but the art of spiritual navigation is the art of arts." There are five times more genius in Flavel's husbandry and navigation spiritualized, than is commonly imagined. It is a pity they are so little known. ९ From Mull we crossed to Columb Kiln, and from that to Coll. Mr Maclean welcomed my friend in the kindest manner, and fhook me heartily by the hand too. We were instantly domesticated in Coll's house, where the chearfulness of my friend's disposition, that approached towards levity, and his accommodating manner, made him be loved and carrefsed by all that surprising variety of company to be met with at the table of a Highland chieftan. There are few places in the world where manners have undergone so rapid a change as has happened in the Highlands since 1745. The ancient drefs is disappearing; the artlefs and simple manner is almost generally laid aside; plain fare is expelled from the plentiful board; and ceremony and cold reserve have in some cases taken the place of kind easy hospi tality. Old Mrs Macdonald bewailed the degeneracy of the present times, and with a tear in her eye fhe spoke of the days that are gone. My companion was taken with her sensibility, and attached himself warmly to her. I willingly embrace this opportunity of mentioning his virtues and accomplishments, and heartily regret that his modesty obliges me to conceal his name. So various and numerous were his talents, that it would be doing him injustice to attempt huddling them into one description; he must be decompounded to be properly known, as a certain lady said of a celebrated French wit. He was perfectly well bred, and his behaviour was so exactly suited to his company, that without an affected or awkward silence with his superiors, or a haughty taciturnity with his inferiors, any one' might have seen whether he was higher or lower than the person he conversed with. That man, he said, who avoided the conversation of his inferiors, in order to keep them at a distance, was like a cowardly admiral who fhunned a weaker fleet lest he fhould be beat. With an amazing memory, and more learning than the generality of folks he met with, never did I see him start a subject in conversation beyond their reach. He was so extremely good humoured and good natured, that, in the five months I lived with him, never did I see his temper ruffled, or his pleasant face disfigured by a frown. Amidst all his hilarity he digested and reflected on what he saw; he kept a regular journal; and if ever they are 1 |