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Punishment of their cruelty and rapacity.

The first well-authenticated ac. count which we have of the population of Dundee, is immediately previous to the last mentioned siege, when it appears to have contained somewhat more than eight thousand inhabitants. Notwithstanding the loss it then suffered, the numerous garrison placed in it by Monk, kept up for some time the population to that number. On its removal, a great decrease became immediately visible, and continued during the reign of Charles II. Under his successor it amounted to 1420. Nor had the union apparently any effect in reviving it. For a certain period, indeed, this event seems to have been rather injurious to the Scottish commercial towns, which depended great. ly on their intercourse with France.

Even in 1746, the population does not appear to have exceeded 5302. At that time, the town was built almost wholly of wood the highest shop rent was 31.: and two churches, and a small independent meeting were found more than sufficient. A most rapid increase seems to have now taken place; for in 1755, the number returned to Dr Webster was 12,477; this, however, includes the parish, which might contain about a thousand. In 1766, 12,426; in 1781, 15,700; in 1788, 19,329; and in 1792, 22,000. Since that time it has risen to above 26,000, the amount in 1801.

Linen, the old staple of Scotland, has been always the chief manufac-, ture of Dundee. That of Osnaburghs, and other coarse linens, in 1792 amounted to 3.181,990 yards, valued at 80,000l. Sail-cloth was naturally encouraged by its maritime situation, and at the above-mention. ed periods was rated at 704,000 yards, value 32,000l; but the de. mand occasioned by the war has greatly increased this manufacture,

and made it the principal one in Dundee. Sack-cloth, bagging, and other coarse fabrics, to a considerable amount. Coloured thread is also manufactured to the extent of above 30,000l.; but the spinners live at a distance, in the cheaper parts of the country. Tanned leather, soap, and glass, are also considerable articles. The total number of looms in Dune dee, employed in all different bránches, is calculated by Dr Small at

1800 or 1900.

It is now a considerable time, since the brilliant example of Glasgow, Paisley, and other towns on the west coast, led to an attempt at establishing the cotton manufacture at Dundee. Dr Small, in 1792, speaks of it as in a promising state. In 1793-4 there were seven spinning mills, the carding machinery of which was driven by horses, and the hand jennies were wrought by men or wo

men.

The yarn produced was valued at about 20,000l. But this branch of business, which had brought such wealth to the western counties of

Renfrew and Lanark, was found here to be not only unprofitable, but ruinous. All those, who had no other dependence, became bankrupt; while the rest, after losing part of their money, were happy to save the rest by dropping all concern in the business. The easy communication with the West Indies, which furnishes both the materials, and the best market for this manufacture, seems to be the circumstance which gives Glasgow so striking a superiority.

Dundee, however, has found ample compensation for the loss of her cotton manufacture, in the great extension of that of linen, particularly Osnaburghs, cotton bagging, and canvas. Instead of cotton, lint spinning mills are every where rearing their heads, not only in Dundee, but throughout all Angushire; and in erecting these, a much greater capì

tal

tal has been sunk than in the fruitless attempt to establish cotton spinning. Three flax spinning mills are already in motion within the town of Dundee, and the foundation of another has been laid, on a much larger scale, and of the newest construction, which will cost 22,000l. The quantity of coarse linen manufactured in 1805, was 3,900,000 yards.

The inhabitants of Dundee still retain, in a great degree, the old mercantile character-sober, industrious, and frugal-social without profuseness, and hospitable without ostentation. In 1792, Dundee contained only nine male servants, and of these none belonged to persons engaged in trade. Their attachment to religion is zealous, though perhaps, as in most manufacturing towns, somewhat tinctured with a gloomy and sectarian spirit. Seceders, Antiburghers, and Independents, amount altogether to about 3000. However, as the flaming zeal of their ancestors in ancient times is now quite extinguished, this disposition may be rather useful to the low er orders, by giving them an aversion even to those innocent amuse. ments, which might lead them into expence, and to the neglect of their occupations.

The ingenious author of the statistical account of Dundee complains that, in 1792, there did not exist, with the exception of the grammar school, a single institution for public instruction in the simplest and most necessary branches of human knowledge. This is a defect common indeed to Dundee, with most other large towns in Scotland. Yet, it must be confessed, that a town purely commercial does not in general afford a soil very favourable for the growth of the arts and sciences. Profit is there naturally the leading object; and every article, which cannot be converted into hard cash, is in danger of being little valued. We

have heard of an honest citizen of Dundee, who, before introducing his son to the class of moral philosophy, insisted upon being informed "what good it would do him in his business." This town, however, now experiences the good effects of that general diffusion of knowledge by which the present age is honourably distinguished. Its value begins to be felt; liberality of sentiment gains ground among the opulent and middling classes; and several institutions for education have been lately formed, which it is hoped may be attended with the best effects.

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Dundee has produced a considerable number of eminent meu, mong whom are, Alexander Scrymseour, a companion of Sir William Wallace, and two of his descen→ dants, who distinguished themselves in the civil wars; Hector Bocce the / historian, and Mar, an intimate friend of the great Napier; George Yeaman, member of Parliament at the time of the Union, to whom Scotland is indebted for many beneficial regulations. The families of Fletcher of Salton, the celebrated patriot, and of the late Lord Loughborough, were both natives of Dun-dee. Lord Duncan, though not a native, received there the first rudiments of his education. Two of the first Mathematicians of our time have been clergymen of Dundee.

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smoking, and

part still inflamed and with stones and sand. A number of hillocks had risen at some distance from each other; the highest had taken the place of the gulf that I had seen for the first time; they were covered with scorias sprinkled with a very fine dust of sal-ammoniac and sulphur; there issued from it fumes of a suffocating smell.

Behind these hillocks, towards the walls of Attajano, I counted five new jets of fire and stones, which darted upwards with noise and impetuosity, fell back sometimes into their own gulfs, and were presently repelled with whirlwinds of smoke and ashes. Notwithstanding the quantity of caloric which must be developed in so great a conflagration, the temperature of the atmosphere did not appear to me to be sensibly altered, although I was at the distance of only 1000 palms from the sources of the lava; the thermometer, which at my departure from Naples marked 24°o, descended here to 19°. The electrometer indicated a great degree of electricity, much more sensible when I placed it on the earth than when I suspended it in the air.

I advanced to the very banks of the fluid lava which flowed from the crater; it resembled crystal in a state of fusion; it had the same colour, lustre, and consistence. I threw over a large stone, which made only a slight impression and was carried to the surface. I threw a second, to measure its motion, and with the watch in my hand I saw that it run over at least two palms in a second. The thermometer, placed at the distance of six palms, rose in two minutes to the degree of boiling water. To my great regret I could not ascertain the intensity of the caloric of this lava, for want of a pyrometer proper for such an experiment.

The 2d and 3d there was nothing remarkable. The currents continu. ed their march.

On the 4th, a violent storm came from the east, and lasted more than two hours. The fire encreased this night and the day following; the throwing out of stones was more frequent, new and copious streams of lava were seen descending from the crater.

On the 6th notwithstanding this increase of matter, the currents did not advance. A more considerable noise was heard in the mountain, and the smoke redoubled.

He

On the 7th the currents resumed their course. The duke Della Torre mounted upon the borders of the crater, and did not find any great changes, the hillocks were a little raised; two mouths threw out fire, two others ashes, and the fifth, the largest and that which formerly vomited most flames, gave only a black smoke. He observed, upon blocks of cooled lava, a saline crust, composed of ammoniac and of muriat of Soda. found large pieces of this last salt in a lava decomposed by grains of earth. His opinion is, that this lava exists not in a fossile state in the heart of the mountain, but that it is furnished by the waters of the sea. This time in performing a circuit round the borders, he was able to advance to the very scource of the fluid lava. It issued from a grotto formed of the same substance hardened, and was collected in a little bason, whence it flowed by a canal along the cone.The author threw into the lava of the bason a stone which sunk altogether he was able without great efforts to push in the end of a staff more than a palm; after having been drawn back, the part immersed threw at first a bright flame, and then remained like coal,

On the 8th a new storm came on. The author observes, that every time rain fell, the streams of lava were more abundant, and he thence draws a new proof of the effect produced by

the

the decomposition of water in volcanic eruptions.

From the 9th to the 14th the current scontinued their progress; the ashes fell even in the bay of Naples, and the pillar of smoke, pushed by the winds, reached as high as the isle of Capri.

The 14th was one of the most awful days of this eruption. Vesuvius seemed in a general conflagration; all the rivers of lava, swollen by new streams, put themselves in motion, overflowed, and covered all the space between them with a thick and reddish smoke. The progress of the currents was rapid. Did they meet trees on their passage; they went round them, and continued their march. If these trees were dry, they were soon seen kindling and burning with a bright flame; if they were green, the leaves began by growing yellow, the trunks bent; then they were partly consumed, and remained like coal. As for those which were found only exposed to the heat of the lavas, a white and saline dust was collected upo their shrunk and discoloured leaves. Sometimes these lavas covered only trunks of trees which had been cut before it had reached them: then there rose from the point of immersion a flame bright and transient, or sparkling and coloured, which might arise from the burning of some part of the wood in putrefaction; or there is no doubt, adds the author, that phosphorus exists in putrid vegetable, as well as animal substances.

On the 15th a new mouth opened to the south-west of the crater, which poured forth fire and burning stones. The author wished to try the heat of a current of lava which had stopt in the territory of Camuldules he plunged the thermometer into a crevice in two minutes two seconds, the mercury rose from 24° to the rate of boiling water. Its impetuosity would have broken the

tube of glass if it had not been drawn back very quickly. The author collected some specimens of the lavas of this eruption; the following are the most remarkable.

1. Lava, hard, basaltic, of a black colour, containing olivines and mica in little lamina of an emerald green This is what flowed during the erup. tion.

2. Lava, similar to the preceding, detached from the current, shining and glassy within, scoriform in its surface.

3. Spongy lava, black within, reddish without, containing a quantity of olivines, of mica, of sulphur, and of iron. This lava has been thrown out by the volcano, and then carried along by the currents.

4. Lava, light, fibrous, almost reduced to the state of pounce, a little yellowish, interspersed with eightsided crystals of iron.

5. Lava, spongy, black, covered with sulphur, and with a greenish substance, having the appearance of an oxyde of copper. This specimen was collected upon the hillocks formed in the interior of the crater.

6. Spongy lava, with pure sulphur on its surface.

7. Lava with earthen grains, greyish, containing in its cavities muriate of soda.

The

8. Lava, containing sulphur and muriat, crystalized in six-sided shelves terminated by three-sided pyramids. 9. Lava, black, decomposed, with a grape fixed to its surface. specimen is curious only on account of this peculiarity. The grains of the grape have been rounded and hardened upon the lava, whilst the juice which issued from it has formed,by boiling,a sort of hard and solid foam.

10. A specimen similar to the preceding. Instead of a grape, this bears a still green, which has dried, hardened, and preserved its natural colour.

On

On the 26th the currents stopt. The trial of the thermometer renew. ed upon the lava of the Camuldules indicated still the degree of boiling water, but the mercury rose with somewhat less rapidity. It may be remarked that the electrometer never gave any sign of electricity near the currents of lava, whether they were in motion, or at rest.

On the 17th the author went anew upon Vesuvius; the whole crater was full of alkaline and sulphuric vapours; its area was filled up with sand, with stones, with smoking lavas,on the surface of which were formed crusts of sulphur, marine, and ammoniac salts. He heard horrible roarings under ground, three mouths vomited flames; two others threw up ashes and smoke; the hillocks were raised, the electrometer gave signs of high electricity; in short, nothing an nounced the termination of this erup

tion.

On the 18th a quantity of ashes was collected on the platforms of the houses at Naples. The author measured the distance which the lavas had run over from the crater to the point at which they had arrived this day, under Mount St. Angelo. He found that it was 22,600 palms.

The Duke della Torre, terminates here his journal by an affecting pic. ture of the calamities already expe rienced by the inhabitants of Vesuvius. He estimates the damage caused to the cultivated lands at 60,000 ducats, without reckoning the loss of the approaching harvests of fruits and grapes. He proposes to continue his journal till the end of the eruption, and to publish at greater length every thing remarkable that he has observed. This second part of his work will be accompanied by a plan of Vesuvius and the neighbouring fields, which will present the march of the currents of lava, and,by many plates, which will give iuteresting

views.

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THAT many contend for the excellence of morality, who display no personal zeal for the performance of its duties, is a melancholy, but incontestible fact: seclusion from the bustle of public life, in many instances, has allowed this inconsistency of character to pass undetected. But when admiration of genius has tempted some to a nearer view of the private deportment of those whose performances excited it, they have repeated their curiosity, and recoiled with indignation from the bare recital of their failings. The lives theyimagined were enlightened by principle and purified by virtue, have been sullied with imperfection, and degraded by vice. From this cause, the talents exerted in diffusing knowledge a. mongst mankind have lost their celebrity and reverence, when they have proved ineffective to regulate the conduct of those who possesed them; who seemed to have the clearest ideas of their duty, but were unable to discharge it; who encouraged others in the arduous paths of virtue, but have wanted fortitude to direct their own steps; who endeavoured to overturnthe influence of vice but, have secretly bowed at its inhallowed altar. The emotions excited by a review of such facts, extend their pernicious effects to the practice of the feeble and irresolute; and, if they do not extinguish the latent flame of principle,at leastsmother its vigour, and re tard its progress.

From this frequent incongruity of principle and practice, some individuals (especially D'Israeli) have been induced to establish as an aphorism in literature, that the natural dispositions of authors are diametrically op

posed

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