large and magnificent, and the hall or guard-chamber is hung with various implements of war. The Duke has now completed the design which had been formed by his predecessor, of removing the old village of Inverary. It formerly occupied a great part of the space between the castle and the lake, and, like most of the Highland villages, consisted of a number of miserable huts; but is now erected at a convenient distance, on a handsome and an extensive plan. Having amused ourselves in the grounds during the afternoon, we set sail about ten in the evening; but the faint breeze of which we had taken advantage soon died away, and a calm succeeded. Our progress was consequently slow, and we lost the view of but a small portion of the loch. During the night our vessel passed through a very large shoal of herrings, which were seen playing near the surface for some hours, and exhibiting colours of the most beautiful and vivid appearance. Tuesday, 28th.-A slight breeze carried us slowly down the loch, and it was evening when we reached the point of Otter, where we cast anchor in a kind of bay, formed by that remarkable sand-bank, which stretches half way across the mouth of the lake, and shelters the upper part from the turbulent billows of the lower reach. Great quantities of fish resort to this bank, of which we had a convincing proof; our seamen having taken about four dozen of fine codlings, in the short time we were on shore on a visit to the Laird of Otter. Loch Fine, though in general it does not rank very high as to the beauties of its scenery, has yet sufficient, in parts, to claim our notice; and the seats of several gentlemen, decorated with young plantations, pleasingly diversify the natural uniformity of its appearance. The lower part extends to a broad expanse of water, in which we lose ideas of lake scenery: the screens become remote, and consequently tame. In this mountainous region we are, however, seldom at a loss for some pleasing effect, when the landscape fails in elegance of form, from light and shadow, mists, clouds, and brilliant gleams of sunshine, whose tints blend, harmonize, or oppose each other, in endless varieties and combi nations, and often give rise to the most sublime and wild effects. Instances of this, we had more than once already experienced. Wednesday, 29th.-Left Otter by five in the morning, but, as the calm weather still continued, we made but little progress during the morning. We therefore took to the boat, and amused ourselves with fishing, and with our usual success, taking about half a hundred in a short space of time. On the right, up Loch Gilp, we observed the eastern end of the canal, now cutting across the promontory of Cantyre to Loch Crinan, a work which, from the safe and short communication it will afford between the Western Ocean and the Frith of Clyde, by cutting off the circuitous and (to boats) the dangerous passage round the Mull of Cantyre, will doubtless contribute greatly to promote the commercial advantages of Scotland, more particularly of the Fisheries; a branch of commerce which, I hope I may safely say, is yet in its infancy. To a nation engaged, as Great Britain is, in a widely-extended intercourse both with the East and West, it may perhaps not seem so wonderful, that this apparently trifling business should be overlooked or neglected. A. more lucrative, or at least a more splendid, traffic has absorbed all her mercantile speculations and resources; and this mine of individual and national wealth has been left almost untried by us. The Dutch, a people proverbially quick-sighted in whatever regarded their interest, did not however, in their foreign connections, overlook the advantages arising from this trade: long have they continued to draw immense wealth from it; and long did they, from the produce of our own seas, supply this nation with a part of its provisions. When we take a view of the immense number of vessels and of men which they have employed in these fisheries, our own inattention and indifference cannot fail to strike us more forcibly. "In the year 1618, the Dutch sent out 3000 ships, and 50,000 men, to take herrings, and 9000 more ships to transport and sell the fish; which, by sea and land, employed 150,000, besides those first-mentioned." The exertions of the Dutch at length roused the languid spirit in our Government. Some faint attempts were made, and a bounty was granted to the busses employed; but the former were weak and ineffectual, the latter irregularly and ill paid; and little good has hitherto arisen from it. It is hoped, however, that Administration will yet turn its attention to this important branch of commerce, as well with a view of forming a nursery of hardy and healthy seamen, as of general emolument to the nation. In the afternoon, we passed the point of Skipness, and entered the sound of Killrannin. On the left we had another view of the Isle of Arran, rising in wild and craggy precipices, and exhibiting, in this view, few traces of vegetation. Sailing on, we soon opened Loch Ramsay Bay, with the ruins of a small castle at its entrance. The mists which hung on the summits of the interior rocks scarcely permitted us to take a view of their spiry and indented forms, which rose with a degree of wildness uncommon even in this Alpine region. In the evening we saw a basking shark playing in the channel, its back fins rising above the surface like the pointed sails of a boat; from which circumstance they have obtained the name of the Sail-fish by the inhabitants. We afterwards passed, on the right, the ruins of a Danish fort or castle, situated on the promontory of Carradale; but the darkness prevented our having a perfect view of it. [To be continued.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL MAGAZINE. SIR,-The following interesting Anecdote of the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's, will, I am persuaded, gratify many of your intelligent and curious readers, as it relates a fact not generally known. J. C. It is related, that Swift felt a foreboding that his faculties would abandon him, and that, walking one day with a friend, he saw an oak, the head of which was withered, though the trunk and roots were yet in full vigour. "It is thus I shall be," said Swift; and his melancholy prediction was accomplished. When he had fallen into such a state of stupor, that, for a whole year, he had not uttered a word, he suddenly heard the bells of St. Patrick's, of which he was the dean, ring in full peal, and asked what it meant? His friends, in raptures that he had recovered his speech, hastened to inform him, that it was in honour of his birth-day that these signs of joy were taking place. "Ah!" "all that is unavailing he exclaimed, now:" and he returned to that silence which death soon after confirmed. MEMOIR OF THE LEARNED ANNA MARIA A SCHURMAN. [With a Portrait.] So long as genius and talents of the most exalted order can command respect, the names of Lee and Crichton, of whom we have given comprehensive memoirs in our preceding numbers, will be mentioned by posterity with profound respect and distinguished honour. Mr. Lee, as an Oriental scholar, still continues to shine, like a star of the first magnitude; and as the lustre of Crichton's fame remains undiminished, notwithstanding the lapse of two centuries, we may fairly predict, that the history of their respective acquirements will be perused with pleasing astonishment by generations that are yet unborn. To these celebrated names, we now feel no hesitation in adding that of a learned female, who has justly procured for herself an illustrious station among those prodigies of genius and talent, which occasionally arise to illuminate the intellectual world. "Whether the mental powers of woman were created in a state of inferiority to those of man," is a question which has been much controverted. An important branch connected with it, employed for some time the pen of this learned lady; but the following memoir of her life, will furnish those by whom it is still agitated with the most satisfactory answer. This eminent woman was born either at Cologne, or Utrecht, in 1606. At a very early age her genius for science began to appear. At six years old she cut all kinds of figures out of paper, with her scissars, without any pattern. When eight, she painted flowers admirably; and, when only ten years of age, she learned the whole art of embroidery in three hours. Afterwards Cernitis hic picta nestres in imagine vultus: Si negat ars formam, gratia vestra dabit. Publisha by Henry Fisher Caxton, Liverpool. June 30, 1819. she applied herself to music, painting, engraving, modelling, carving, and sculpture, and succeeded perfectly in each species. What she particularly excelled in, was miniature painting, and etching perfect likenesses on glass with a diamond point. She understood Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, so perfectly, and wrote in each language so correctly, that all the literati of Europe were astonished at her proficiency. To these she added the knowledge of the Chaldee, Syriac, Turkish, and Arabic. Besides the Low Dutch, which was her native tongue, she spoke French, Italian, Spanish, German, and English, with great ease and fluency. About the year 1650, she got acquainted with Labaddie, a famous French mystic, into whose spirit she drank so deeply, that she relinquished all her literary pursuits, except what tended to the proof and defence of the religious system she had embraced. To the learned world, her conversion to what was called Quietism, and which was probably the religion of Christ, (thus misnamed in order to discredit it,) was an inauspicious event. Her house, says Bruyset, which was before an academy of learned men, became now a school of religious controversy and mysticism. When Labaddie died, in 1674, she retired to Wieward, in Friesland, where she spent her time in correcting, revising, and continuing the works of him, whom she had received as an apostle of the Lord. In this place she died in 1678, aged 71 years. However Labaddie may have been stigmatized as a hypocrite and impostor, Calumny herself has not been able to shoot one dart against the moral character of Schurman. Her practice was pure, and her piety, however mistaken in some points, was fervent and sincere. She took her motto from Ignatius: os gws sσTavgwrαι -My Love is crucified: and she was faithful to it, for she never formed any matrimonial connections. The most learned men of her day felt themselves honoured by her epistolary correspondence, and several princes and princesses honoured her with their letters and visits: among the former were Rivetus, Lydius, Spanheim, Salmasius, Vossius, Huygens, Crucius, Gassendus, Vorstius, Heinsius, and Melesius, archbishop of Ephesus, &c. Among the latter, were Henrietta, queen of England, Anne of Austria, the Queen of Poland, the princess of Bohemia, the princess Anne de Rohan, Cardinal de Richlieu, and several others. When the Queen of Poland visited Utrecht, she wished particularly to have an interview with A. M. à Schurman. Of this visit, which was honourable to both parties, we have an interesting account, in a work entitled "Histoire et Relation d'un Voyage de la Reine de Pologne, 1648," by Mr. Le Laboreur, who was one of the queen's attendants, and of whose words the following is a literal translation." The following day, December 26, 1645, the Queen of Poland did an action worthy of the majesty of literature. Having heard of the excellent attainments of the celebrated Anna Maria à Schurman, who is a native of this city, and of the splendor of her study, she wished to pay her a visit, but without ceremony, to prevent that concourse of people which would have followed, had it been known. She left the Court, and went, incognita, into the Lady Marshal's coach, followed only by the Bishop of Orange, and four or five persons, of whom I was one. After passing the great church, she alighted, and entered the habitation of this tenth Muse, the miracle of this age, and the wonder of her sex. The Queen was struck with admiration at the exquisitely fine works wrought by the hands of this lady. They chiefly consisted in large paintings, miniatures, illuminations, engravings on copper, and etchings or diamond engravings on glass; which have justly acquired for her the reputation of great excellency in the most noble mechanic arts. But her Majesty was still more astonished to hear her speak so many languages, and answer questions in so many different sciences. To the Bishop of Orange, who interrogated her by the Queen's desire, she answered in Italian, and argued very logically in Latin, on several points in theology. I paid her a compliment in Latin, in behalf of the Lady Marshal, to which she replied, very elegantly, in the same language. She spoke Greek with Mr. Corrade, chief physician to the Queen. To be short, she would have conversed with us in several other languages, had we known them: for, besides the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Ger |
