with regard to this point can be founded. The epidemic diseases to which children are liable, varying in the extent to which they prevail and the character which they assume, are always more or less present in the town. To make some record of these, from time to time, and to give an account of the state of the healthiness of the town, and of the circumstances which appear to affect it, are objects of interest and importance. Much valuable information is contained in the annual reports of the diseases of Edinburgh, which were published by Dr Monro, primus, in the Medical Essays of Edinburgh, early in the last century; and an excellent account of the epidemics of Edinburgh, which it is to be regretted has not been continued, was published by Dr Duncan, senior, in the year 1811. More recently, quarterly reports of the diseases treated at the New Town Dispensary have been regularly given, containing information much more minute concerning the diseases prevailing in Edinburgh, than is intended to be given in those which we are now commencing.

Edinburgh, June 1, 1817.

J. W. T.

Swiss tradition, that without further comment, I extract the latter from my journal, and send it for your perusal. It relates to an ancient family, now extinct, whose names I neglected to write down, and have now forgotten, but that is a matter of little impor

tance.

"His soul was wild, impetuous, and uncontrollable. He had a keen perception of the faults and vices of others, without the power of correcting his own; alike sensible of the nobility, and of the darkness of his moral constitution, although unable to cultivate the one to the exclusion of the other.

"In extreme youth, he led a lonely and secluded life in the solitude of a Swiss valley, in company with an only brother, some years older than himself, and a young female relative, who had been educated along with them from her birth. They lived under the care of an aged uncle, the guardian of those extensive domains which the brothers were destined jointly to

inherit.

SKETCH OF A TRADITION RELATED BY A MONK IN SWITZERLAND.

MR EDITOR,

In the course of an excursion, during the autumn of last year, through the wildest and most secluded parts of Switzerland, I took up my residence, during one stormy night, in a convent of Capuchin Friars, not far from Altorf, the birth-place of the famous William Tell. In the course of the evening, one of the fathers related a story, which, both on account of the interest which it is naturally calculated to excite, and the impressive manner in which it was told, produced a very strong effect upon my mind. I noted it down briefly in the morning, in my journal, preserving as much as possible the old man's style, but it has no doubt lost much by translation.

Having just read Lord Byron's drama, "Manfred," there appears to me such a striking coincidence in some characteristic features, between the story of that performance and the

on the mind of their father, and finally produced the most dreadful result. The fear of a similar tendency in the minds of the brothers, induced their protector to remove them, at an early age, from the solitude of their native country. The elder was sent to a German university, and the younger completed his education in one of the Italian schools.

"After the lapse of many years, the old guardian died, and the elder of the brothers returned to his native valley; he there formed an attachment to the lady with whom he had passed his infancy; and she, after some fearful forebodings, which were unfortunately silenced by the voice of duty and of gratitude, accepted of his love, and became his wife.

"In the meantime, the younger brother had left Italy, and travelled over the greater part of Europe. He mingled with the world, and gave fall scope to every impulse of his feelings. But that world, with the exception of certain hours of boisterous passion and excitement, afforded him little pleasure, and made no lasting impression

"His spirit, though mighty and unbounded, from his early habits and education naturally tended to repose; he thought with delight on the sun rising among the Alpine snows, or gilding the peaks of the rugged hills with its evening rays. But within him he felt a fire burning for ever, and which the snows of his native mountains could not quench. He feared that he was alone in the world, and that no being, kindred to his own, had been created; but in his soul there was an image of angelic perfection, which he believed existed not on earth, but without which he knew he could not be happy. Despairing to find it in populous cities, he retired to his paternal domain. On again entering upon the scenes of his infancy, many new and singular feelings were experienced he is enchanted with the surpassing beauty of the scenery, and wonders that he should have rambled so long and so far from it. The noise and the bustle of the world were immediately forgotten on contemplating

"The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills." A light, as it were, broke around him, and exhibited a strange and momentary gleam of joy and of misery mingled together. He entered the dwelling of his infancy with delight, and met his brother with emotion. But his dark and troubled eye betokened a fearful change, when he beheld the other playmate of his infancy. Though beautiful as the imagination could conceive, she appeared otherwise than he expected. Her form and face were associated with some of his wildest reveries, his feelings of affection were united with many undefinable sensations, he felt as if she was not the wife of his brother, although he knew her to be so, and his soul sickened at the thought.

"He passed the night in a feverish state of joy and horror. From the window of a lonely tower, he beheld the moon shining amid the bright blue of an Alpine sky, and diffusing a calm and beautiful light on the silvery snow. The eagle owl uttered her long and plaintive note from the castellated summits which overhung the valley, and the feet of the wild chamois were heard rebounding from the neighbour

ing rocks; these accorded with the gentler feelings of his mind, but the strong spirit which so frequently overcame him, listened with intense delight to the dreadful roar of an immense torrent, which was precipitated from the summit of an adjoining cliff, among broken rocks and pines, overturned and uprooted, or to the still mightier voice of the avalanche, suddenly descending with the accumulated snows of a hundred years.

"In the morning he met the object of his unhappy passion. Her eyes were dim with tears, and a cloud of sorrow had darkened the light of her lovely countenance.

"For some time there was a mutual constraint in their manner, which both were afraid to acknowledge, and neither was able to dispel. Even the uncontrollable spirit of the wanderer was oppressed and overcome, and he wished he had never returned to the dwelling of his ancestors. The lady is equally aware of the awful peril of their situation, and without the knowledge of her husband, she prepared to depart from the castle, and take the veil in a convent situated in a neighbouring valley.

"With this resolution she departed on the following morning; but in crossing an Alpine pass, which conducted by a nearer route to the adjoining valley, she was enveloped in mists and vapour, and lost all knowledge of the surrounding country. The clouds closed in around her, and a tremendous thunder storm took place in the valley beneath. She wandered about for some time, in hopes of gaining a glimpse through the clouds, of some accustomed object to direct her steps, till exhausted by fatigue and fear, she reclined upon a dark rock, in the crevices of which, though it was now the heat of summer, there were many patches of snow. There she sat, in a state of feverish delirium, till a gentle air dispelled the dense vapour from before her feet, and discovered an enormous chasm, down which she must have fallen, if she had taken another step. While breathing a silent prayer to Heaven for this providential escape, strange sounds were heard, as of some disembodied voice floating among the clouds. Suddenly she perceived, within a few paces, the figure of the wanderer tossing his arms in the air, his eye inflamed, and his general aspect

wild and distracted-he then appeared meditating a deed of sin,-she rushed towards him, and, clasping him in her arms, dragged him backwards, just as he was about to precipitate himself into the gulph below.

"Overcome by bodily fatigue, and agitation of mind, they remained for some time in a state of insensibility. The brother first revived from his stupor; and finding her whose image was pictured in his soul lying by his side, with her arms resting upon his shoulder, he believed for a moment that he must have executed the dreadful deed he had meditated, and had wakened in heaven. The gentle form of the lady is again reanimated, and slowly she opened her beautiful eyes. She questioned him regarding the purpose of his visit to that desolate spota full explanation took place of their mutual sensations, and they confessed the passion which consumed them.

"The sun was now high in heaventhe clouds of the morning had ascended to the loftiest Alps-and the mists, into their airy elements resolved, were gone. As the god of day advanced, dark vallies were suddenly illuminated, and lovely lakes brightened like mirrors among the hills their waters sparkling with the fresh breeze of the morning. The most beautiful clouds were sailing in the air-some breaking on the mountain tops, and others resting on the sombre pines, or slumbering on the surface of the unilluminated vallies. The shrill whistle of the marmot was no longer heard, and the chamois had bounded to its inaccessible retreat. The vast range of the neighbouring Alps was next distinctly visible, and presented, to the eyes of the beholders, 'glory beyond all glory ever seen.'

"In the meantime a change had taken place in the feelings of the mountain pair, which was powerfully strengthened by the glad face of nature. The glorious hues of earth and sky seemed indeed to sanction and rejoice in their mutual happiness. The darker spirit of the brother had now fearfully overcome him. The dreaming predictions of his most imaginative years appeared realized in their fullest extent, and the voice of prudence and of nature was inaudible amidst the intoxication of his joy. The object of his affection rested in his arms in a state of listless happiness, listening

with enchanted ear to his wild and impassioned eloquence, and careless of all other sight or sound.

"She too had renounced her morning vows, and the convent was unthought of, and forgotten. Crossing the mountains by wild and unfrequented paths, they took up their a bode in a deserted cottage, formerly frequented by goatherds and the hunters of the roe. On looking down, for the last time, from the mountain top, on that delightful valley, in which she had so long lived in innocence and peace, the lady thought of her departed mother, and her heart would have died within her, but the wild glee of the brother again rendered her insensible to all other sensations, and she yielded to the sway of her fatal passion.

"There they lived, secluded from the world, and supported, even through evil, by the intensity of their passion for each other. The turbulent spirit of the brother was at rest-he had found a being endowed with virtues like his own, and, as he thought, destitute of all his vices. The day dreams of his fancy had been realized, and all that he had imagined of beauty, or affection, was embodied in that form which he could call his own.

"On the morning of her departure the dreadful truth burst upon the mind of her wretched husband. From the first arrival of the dark-eyed stranger, a gloomy vision of future sorrow had haunted him by day and by night. Despair and misery now made him their victim, and that awful malady which he inherited from his ancestors was the immediate consequence. He was seen, for the last time, among some stupendous cliffs which overhung the river, and his hat and cloak were found by the chamois hunters at the foot of an ancient pine.

"Soon too was the guilty joy of the survivors to terminate. The gentle lady, even in felicity, felt a load upon her heart. Her spirit had burned too ardently, and she knew it must, ere long, be extinguished. Day after day the lily of her cheek encroached upon the rose, till at last she assumed a monumental paleness, unrelieved save by a transient and hectic glow. Her angelic form wasted away, and soon the flower of the valley was no more.

"The soul of the brother was dark, dreadfully dark, but his body wasted

not, and his spirit caroused with more fearful strength. The sounding cataract haunted him like a passion.' He was again alone in the world, and his mind endowed with more dreadful energies. His wild eye sparkled with unnatural light, and his raven hair hung heavy on his burning temples. He wandered among the forests and the mountains, and rarely entered his once beloved dwelling, from the windows of which he had so often beheld the sun sinking in a sea of crimson glory. "He was found dead in that same pass in which he had met his sister among the mountains; his body bore no marks of external violence, but his countenance was convulsed by bitter insanity." P. F.

ACCOUNT OF A MS. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND; BY SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE OF ROSEHAUGH;

Communicated by the Reverend DR M'CRIE.

MR EDITOR,

AT your request, I send you an account of a MS. which lately came in to my possession, and which I consider as part of a History of Scotland, by Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh. The fact of Sir George having left such a history is already known. It is mentioned in the following advertisement, prefixed to the the second volume of his Works:

"Whereas, in the list of the Author's manuscripts, there is mention made of an History of the Affairs of Scotland, from the restauration of King Charles II., 1660, to the 1691, which subscribers might have readily lookt for in this second volume, but that manuscript being in the hands of some of the author's relations, who think it not ready for the press until it be carefully revised, they have reckoned it more proper to have it printed by way of appendix to this second volume, how soon they have it revised and transcribed by a good hand."

This is the only notice of the work that I have met with. It does not appear that the author's relations carried their design of printing it into execution; and I have not, upon inquiry, been able to learn that a copy of the manuscript exists in any library, public or private.

I literally found the MS. which I mean to describe to you,

-in vico vendentem thus et odores; and unfortunately it had suffered to a considerable extent before I rescued

it from the hands of the merchant, who had purchased it as waste paper. It is a quarto volume, bound in vellum, and written in a fair hand about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Nearly 300 pages of it remain. It is entitled, "The Historie of Scotland from the year 1660;" begins with an account of the " happie restauration" of Charles II., and ends with a letter, dated 27th October 1677, from the Privy Council to the Earl of Glencairn and Lord Rosse, preparatory to the calling in of the Highland Host upon the western shires. maining part of the history, extending from 1677 to 1691, is of course a-wanting. In consequence of the mutilations before referred to, there is a large chasm in the MS. including the history from 1663 to 1669. There are also a number of blanks left for the insertion of public papers.

The re

My reasons for thinking that thisMS. forms part of Sir George Mackenzie's history are entirely of an internal kind, but they are such as leave no doubt on my mind. This might be presumed from the circumstance of its detailing, with great minuteness, those transactions in which Sir George was personally concerned, and giving at length the speeches which he delivered in Parliament. But there is more direct evidence. In the introduction, the author says:

"I may without vanitie promise, that no man hath wrote ane historie who knew more intimatlie the designes, and observed more narrowlie all the circumstances, of these actions he sets down, than myself, having been either actor in, or witnes to, all the transactions which I mention; especially since y year 1677, at qch time I was made his Majestic's advocat."

Now, it is known that Sir George Mackenzie became Lord Advocate in the course of that year. It is unnecessary to quote other passages, in which the author is described in a manner which cannot be easily mistaken, although in terms less precise than the above. I shall, therefore, merely add, that there are a number of marginal alterations, in a handwriting different from that of the rest of the manuscript; and from a comparison of these with letters and signatures of Sir George, preserved in the Register House, it appears that they were written with his own hand: so that the MS. in my possession was corrected by the author himself.

The sentiments which Sir George Mackenzie entertained on the public transactions of his time are well known. But it may be proper to state, that in the history he expresses himself with greater freedom and impartiality than in his Vindication of the Government in Scotland during the reign of King Charles II. He does not scruple to condemn several of the court measures, and exposes the selfish and mercenary disposition of some of the chief statesmen. Not having seen the latter part of his history, I cannot speak of the manner in which he has related transactions during the period in which he held an important situation under Government.

I cannot say that this manuscript contains much information which can properly be called new. It does, however, state facts which I have not found elsewhere; and it certainly throws light upon the transactions which it relates. A history of that period, by a person of such intelligence and opportunities of information as Sir George Mackenzie, must deserve to be preserved and consulted.

In general, the view which the author gives of the characters of the principal statesmen in Scotland after the Restoration, of their intrigues for supplanting one another, and of the causes of their elevation and their fall, agrees with that which has been given by Bishop Burnet. Considering the wide difference between the principles of the two writers, this coincidence corroborates the truth of the Bishop's statements. Sir George is more favourable to Middleton than Burnet is. He gives the same view of Lauderdale's vices; but his narrative sets the talents of that statesman in a stronger light.

I shall now furnish you with a few extracts from the work, which will be more satisfactory than any description of its contents. Having shewn how the principal offices of state were filled up at the Restoration, the author

says,

"Bellenden was created Thesaurer De pute in place of Sir Daniel Carmichael, who got that employment in anno 1649, but was fallen in some disgust with his Maj. because he had refused to advance the king some inconsiderable soume in 1650. Whereas Cranstoun M'Gill was continued a Senator of the Colledge of Justice, because he assisted his Maj. in his necessities at that time. Sir

Fletcher, because of his alliance to

toun, was employed to be his Maj.

Advocat; which drew upon both of them the odium of the ablest lawyers, who, because of their senioretie and abilities, thought it their owne dew; and upon that accompt Middletoun's interest was much opposed by all that societie, whose friendship in Scot land, especiallie dureing parliament, ought to be much valued. Sir William Bruce gott the office of the Clerk of the Bills by the favour of Sir Robert Murray; and in the nomination of the Colledge of Justice, each great man was allowed a friend or two, till the list was compleat. But because the Earle of Lauderdale charges Tarbet with ingratitude, for opposing him who had prefer'd him to one of these chairs, I thought fitt to tell that he was nominated by the Earle of Rothes. The greatest number of rivalls were those who sought for the place of Clerk of Register. But Sir Archibald Prymrose, then Clerk to the Council, did openlie profess that none but himself was able to serve in that employ he told me, that this was the surest method ment during parliament; and I remember in competitions of that nature; and it did reallie advance much his designe at that time, for no lawyer was on the list with him, and no gentleman was sufficientlie qualified for it. But to secure his clame, he payed doun a considerable soume to Sir Wm Fleeming, who had a grant of it from his Maj. dureing his exile, and hee swore a constant dependance upon the Earle of Midletoun."

Of the passing of the Act Rescissory the author gives the following account:

"The Commissioner (Middleton), instigated by Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbet, who was a passionat Cavaleer, resoly'd to rescind all the parliaments since the year 1640, because they were but a series of rebellion. Albeit at first this overture displeased the Commissioner, yet Tarbet urg'd, they would never secure his Majestie's prethat without rescinding these parliaments, rogative in calling and dissolving parlia ments; and since this parliament had declar'd that to have been his Maj. preroga tive, it followed necessarily, that these par liaments which sate after his Maj. had dissolv'd them, and without his Commis sioner, were unlawfull. The force of which argument prevail'd with Midleton to send sult his Maj. in this affair. But how soon Mungo Murray, brother to Atholl, to con Chancellor Hyde did read his letters, he dispatch'd immediatlie ane express to Midletoun, chiding him for scrupling to pass that act, and entreating him to pass it immediatlie, as most conducive for his Maj. interest. How soon it was inform'd that the Commissioner had intended to urge this acts rescissorie, Mr James Wood, professor of divinitie in St Andrewes, did, out of ane indiscreet zeal, go to the Commissioner, and told him, that if he offer'd at it they would let loose the people upon them. But it