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life. From this fource fpring many of those diftreffes in which young adventurers in agriculture are often fuddenly involved before they are aware of it, and out of which they are never able to extricate themselves. Several hints relative to this fubject occur in this work, from which we felect the following: MANAGEMENT OF SERVANTS.

Mankind are by NATURE undoubtedly equal; but by chance they are, at prefent, widely diftinct.-Mafters and Servants are unavoidably neceffary to the prefent ftate of Agriculture.-Subordination is effential to good government, whether public or private.Anarchy and fubordination are allied, as light and darkness; when one increases, the other decreases; when one wholly fuccumbs, the other wholly predominates.

If one man hire himself-fell himself temporarily to another, unconditionally, he is, by the law of right, wholly fubordinate to his equitable commands: if conditionally, the conditions are of courfe reciprocally binding.

The Mafter who is bound to fatisfy the cravings of his Servant with wholesome food, is equally bound to feed his mind with whole. fome morals. He has two motives to it; his own fatisfaction tem◄ porarily, and his Servant's welfare during life.-Youth calls particularly loud for this mental aliment; and a parfimony in its fupply is more heinoufly criminal than are fcanty meals and a bed of clods.

About two years ago, I took a lad, who was puny and unfit for hard labour, from the plow, and placed him in the house.-The first year he behaved very well; the second tolerably; but a fallingoff was obvious. His brother, the preceding year, had fuffered much for want of correction, and I clearly faw that he was ftriding away apace to the fame path.-I therefore, though reluctantly, began to adminifter the neceffary difcipline; and during that year it had the defired effect.

His vice commenced with idle excufes ;-from these he crept on to falsehood; and, perhaps, this may be held as a general maxim:

The first step to deftruction is evafon;-the fecond, lying;-the third, pilfering;—thieving,—murder, and the gallows, follow of courfe cunning or impertinence is generally an accomplice.

This, the third year, he has behaved very ill.-I was aware of evil counsellors, but could not identify them.-At length the horsewhip totally loft its efficacy; and I, tired of correcting, fent to his friends: but he, in the mean time (by the advice of his council) went to a magistrate, under the pretence of recovering his liberty and wages.

The magistrate, whofe head is as good as his heart is honest, prefently faw through the rafcality, and fent him home; and gene. roufly affilled his friends in difcovering the incendiaries. Aftonish. ing one of them, a man who has worked for me upwards of two years, and whom I have, lately, been daily endeavouring to serve; the other (the principal) a fellow whom I have employed near twelve months, and who, in the height of his tutorship, fetched his fon out of a distant county, to enjoy from me the advantages of conftant employment and good ufage! Nor is the boy, though he promises implicit obedience in future, free from guilt; for if the advice had

not

not been palatable, he would not have fwallowed it fo greedily; and him I have been particularly affiduous to ferve: I have not only taken upon myself the difagreeable task of beating him, but have rendered him other benefits which must laft him his life. And I am under the most disagreeable neceffity of drawing an inference, which muft inevitably deprive me, in future, of a very great fatisfaction; and I will not fmother my fentiments, when I believe that they were kindled by truth;-and I am at prefent clearly of opinion, that

GOOD USAGE MAKES BAD SERVANTS;

I speak generally; and by good ufage, I mean extraordinary good ufage.'

The conclufion feems a little harfh. The inference will not in all cafes hold, though it will in many. Good fervants, who are attached to their mafter from the pure principles of gratitude and affection are fometimes, we know, to be found; but never, unless the mafter has judgment to difcern and to diferiminate; if this is wanting, thefe gentle emotions are repreffed in their minds, and they remove to fome other mafter, in queft of a congeniality of difpofition. Genuine beneficence of heart, with a fteady firmnefs of temper, capable of refenting without paffion, and inflicting, without abatement, those punishments which reafon points out as neceffary, are the qualities moft likely to attach the virtuous fervant, and to difguft the profligate. Without tenderness for a fervant's intereft, no mafter deferves, nor ever will obtain, his hearty good will; but when that tenderness degenerates into weakness, all is loft.

The following reflections on this subject shew that the Author has ftudied it, and contain much truth :

:

• The Author was more embarrassed in the selection of the MrNUTES ON SERVANTS, than in the choice of thofe on any other fubject. On the one hand, he was aware of the irksomeness which muft ever accompany a recital of domeftic bickerings on the other, it would have been truly inconfiftent in a Man who profeffedly becomes public to hold out lights to the inexperienced, to have obfcured the Beacon which ought, of all others, to be rendered confpicuous: for on a proper management of Servants depends in a great measure the Profits and Pleafures of Agriculture. He therefore felected for publication fuch, and fuch only, as he thought might convey some useful hint to the Novitial Agriculturist.

For the want of the knowledge of a few fuch facts as are to be found in the Minutes on Servants, the Writer is confcious that he has experienced many uneafy moments: and he believes, that had he fet out with the ideas he is now poffeffed of, he should have been efteemed a better Mafter (and to be thought a good Mafter is a laudable ambition, which Matters in general afpire at) and fhould have had the fatisfaction of paying wages to better Servants.

It is true, the Author may have been (he hopes and believes he has been) unfortunate in the neighbourhood he happened to fix in ; yet he cannot help thinking that the feeming ingratitude of Servants is not confined to any particular district; but is an universal frailty

founded

founded in Human Nature; and depends principally upon their ma.

nagement.

SELF-LOVE is the fovereign of Mafter and Servant; and SELFESTEEM is a fomenter of public and private difcord.

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By way of illuftration; I am a Servant.-I receive a favour, which I did not expect.-I reason thus: "This favour must proceed either from my Master's generofity or from my deferts;-my Mafter, it is true, is generous, and fo am I deferving;-how many good offices have I done him? How often have I done thofe things which many other Servants would have left undone? He must have perceived this, and thus he requites me." I value myself on this, but continue to do my duty; and my Mafter (who probably has put no Small eftimate on his generofity) continues to give me good ufage: but he does not repeat his extra favour, at the time when in my own esteem I deferve it, and of courfe expect it. I fancy myfelf flighted, and grow indifferent;-my Mafter perceives it, and treats me with referve.- begin to fancy my good offices thrown away, and grow neglectful of my duty; my Mafter fees this, and becomes authoritative. I, fancying myself too important to be difiniffed, refent it; and he, to difburden himself of an incumbrance, difcharges me. Now, and not till now, I perceive my mistake; it was not my defervingnefs, but folely my Master's generofity which conferred on me the favour. I did, or endeavoured to do, my duty; and my Mafter, by way of encouraging me in the perfeverance of it, and to gratify his own good difpofition, unfortunately conferred on me that which has been the cause of many unhappy hours, and has at length brought me to this difgrace. Had I not received a favour which I did not expe, I fhould still have been the dutiful Servant of an indulgent' Matter.

The Writer is fo fully convinced of the mifchievoufnefs of granting unexpected favours to Farming-fervants (and to ignorant Servants in general), that he has more than once got peaceable riddance of a troublesome fellow by exalting him above his fellow-labourers.

This is a piece of philofophy which may feem to ftrike at the root of the firft Chriftian virtues. God forbid that it should clofe the hand of CHARITY, where charity is due! But it is a PROPER CHOICE of the object, not the GIFT, which conftitutes BENEVOLENCE: it is not the NUMBER OF PIECES given, but the HOURS OF WRETCHEDNESS alleviated, which gives the SUM of CHARITY. And how Chriftianly-foever a due proportion of well-applied Charity may be, the Author has been lately convinced, from daily experience, that it is the most uncharitable thing in the world to be too charitable.

Nothing could be more abfurd than to lay down particular RULES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SERVANTS; as the tempers and difpofitions of both Mafters and Servants are as different as their features: the Author will, nevertheless, risk the following general guide: Treat them as MEN; but not as I TIMATE; nor yet as MACHINES.

For although the Wretches who have forfeited their liberty, may be reduced to the Laws of Mechanifm, in the Field of War; Men, who retain one fpark of the celeftial fire, will not brook fuch treatment in the Field of Agriculture. For in a country tolerably free,

let

:

let Fate and Fashion fay what they will, Mankind-as Men-are nearly on an equality and in this country, how Machine-like foever a day-labourer may appear, under the immediate eye of an austere Mafter, he is a Free-Agent, at his own Fire fide, and an Englishman, at the Ale-house.'

(To be concluded in our next.)

ART. II. Annals of Scotland. From the Acceffion of Robert I. furnamed Bruce, to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Stewart. By Sir David Dalrymple. 4to. Vol. II. 12 s. 6 d. Boards. Edinburgh printed; Murray, London. 1779.

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Na former Review we announced the firft volume of the Annals of Scotland; and as the work is now completed, it claims our farther attention: We proceed, therefore, to point out its purposes and merits, and to afcertain the degree of approbation to which it is intitled.

Before the reign of Malcolm III. †, we find the hiftory of Scotland involved in obfcurity and darknefs. The moft penetrating genius would feek in vain for truth amidst the fables which deform the earlier hiftory of this nation. Hence it is, we conceive, that our learned Hiftorian has contented himfelf with dating his performance from the age and administration of Malcolm III. The period included from the acceffion of this Prince to the advancement of Robert I. exercises his attention and ability in his firft volume. In his fecond volume he continues his narration from Robert I. to the advancement of the House of Stewart.

This field of hiftory, fo extenfive in itself, and fo memorable for many important tranfactions, has been furveyed with little accuracy by former writers. John de Fordun was but imperfectly informed, and was unacquainted with the true purposes of history. John Major is almoft every where fo much difpofed to trifle, that there is little in his work which deferves commendation, if we except his fpirit of liberty, and the refpect he discovers for the rights of the people. Hector Boece is the moft fabulous of all hiftorians and Buchanan, who in the elegancy of his compofition may vie with Livy and Salluft, is fo careless in his matter, that we read him with diftruft, while we admire his talents.

When men of learning wifhed with impatience for a folid and instructive work, on Scottish affairs, Sir David Dalrymple published the first volume of his Annals. The immenfe collections of Rymer were the most valuable fource of intelligence; and the ancient hiftorians of England had preterved a multitude

* Vid. Review, vol. liv. p. 491. June 1776.

Surnamed Canmore,

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of

of memorials concerning Scotland. To dig for the treasures which were concealed in these mines, to bring them forward to observation, and to attend at the fame time to the communications of Scottish authors and chronicles, were matters not lefs laborious than intricate. To this task our Historian has fubmitted; and while we give him the credit which is due to his induftry, we must do him the juftice to acknowledge that his fagacity and difcernment are ftill more worthy of praise.

It has been faid that this work is formed on the model of Henault's famous performance; but this was a mistake. Sir David Dalrymple purfues a method of his own, free from many of the imperfections which appear in that of the French author.The Prefident Henault, indeed, is uniformly inftructive, but he is uniformly dry; and his abridgment is not rendered agreeable by the arts of good writing. Sir David Dalrymple is directed in his execution by the fubjects he treats. Where his matter admits not of detail or ornament he is fimple and brief; where it is inviting, he is diffuse and defcriptive. He is the Annalyst and the Hiftorian by turns. Ardent to inftruct, he is difpofed to omit no topic of which he could inform himself. Defirous to pleafe, he is active to gather all the flowers that spring up in his way.

To chronology, which fo many modern authors affect to defpife, our Hiftorian has paid the moft exact attention. In authenticating his facts, he appeals every where to the most unexceptionable authorities: and, it must be mentioned to his honour, that the problematical parts of the Scottish story are regarded by him with that folicitude of investigation, which is never felt, or exerted, but by thofe who are paffionately devoted to the interefts of fcience and the propagation of truth. Hence it is that each of his volumes is concluded with detached and particular differtations: the critical acuteness of which will prove alluring to the ftudious; and, if there are readers who find them tedious, it may be pronounced that they have no great taste for historical accuracy and difquifition.

To particularize what our Hiftorian has collected, under the different reigns which he describes, would be to abridge his work; but if we were to confider them in a comparative view, we fhould prefer that of Robert I. as the most instructive and entertaining. It cannot be read, indeed, without a variety of emotions, and has fomething of the charm of romance. There is a paffage in Cicero's famous epistle to Lucceius, which is wonderfully applicable to this part of the Scottish. ftory. "Ordo ipfe annalium mediocriter nos retinet, quafi enumeratione faftorum. At viri fæpe excellentis ancipites varijque cafus habent admirationem, exfpe&tationem, lætitiam, moleftiam, fpem, timorem: fi vero exitu notabili concluduntur, expletur animus

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jucun