Edward, however, was not convinced by that casuistry which held," that, to bestow the title of King on his antagonift, was a matter of indifference." He remonftrated against the conceffion which the Pope was willing to make; he said, that it was a thing difhonourable to the church, and highly prejudicial to the claims of the English crown: and he added, with great fhew of reafon," that the Scottish nation would naturally conclude, that the Pope intended to acknowledge the right, where he had given the title." Neither did Edward omit to retort the maxim of Papal policy, "that no alteration in the condition of the parties ought to be made during the subsistence of the truce."

In the first volume of this work, the Author led the Public to expect that he defigned to continue the Annals of Scotland till the restoration of James I. He has, however, concluded his performance at the acceffion of the Houfe of Stewart; and he obferves that there are various and invincible reasons which have influenced him to take this refolution. What these reafons are we inquire not. But we cannot help approving his conduct; for if he had followed his original intention, he muft have broke off abruptly after having given but an indifferent fpecimen of the monarchs of the Stewart line, in the adminiftrations of Robert II. and Robert III. Robert II. did not maintain the reputation which he had acquired in his youth; and Robert III. was infirm in body, and feeble in mind; fo that the Duke of Albany actually ruled Scotland during the greater part of his reign, under the title of Governor or King's Lieutenant.

From the additions and corrections, which appear at the end of the fecond volume of the Annals, we perceive that Sir David Dalrymple has taken advantage of the obfervations communicated to him by friends and correfpondents. His readiness to admit of criticifms, and to liften to information, is to be confidered as very commendable and candid. It is infinitely perferable to the fupercilious neglect, and the haughty averfion with which writers in general are fo apt to receive them.:

To conclude: it is with pleasure that we recommend this work to the attention of the Public; and we hope, that the example of the Author will induce other learned men of his nation to inquire into its hiftory, and to court distinction by adorning its more important events, and by removing the dif ficulties with which it is almoft every where perplexed.

ART.

ART. III. A Trip to Kilkenny, from Durham, by way of Whitehaven and Dublin, in the Year 1776. Containing Remarks on the Situations and Distances of Places; the Cuftoms and Manners of the People, interfperfed with fhort Digreffions, and fome Obfervations on the Climate, Productions, and Curicfities of Ireland. In a Series of Letters to a Friend. 12mo. 2 s. fewed. Stockton printed, and fold by Goldfmith, London. 1778.

TR

a.

RIPS, and Tours, and Excurfions, and Sentimental Journeys, are become fo much the ton, that every rambler, who can write (tolerably or intolerably), affumes the pen, and gives the Public a journal of the occurrences and remarks to which his preregrinations have given birth.

In the number of these inquifitive and communicative perfons, Mr. Elftob will not, we fear, hold a very diftinguifhed rank. He is not a Johnson, nor a Pennant, nor does he even attain the excellencies of Mr. Wraxall, or Mr. Twifs*.-As a writer †,

he

* Gentlemen whofe Tours have been reviewed in our Journal. + Such expreffions as the following, ought by no means to appear in a work addreffed to the public; they would fcarce be excufed in a private letter. By being too attentive on the different fcenery around me,' p. 12. The people feemed to have just rifen and to be making on their fires,' p. 40. This, indeed, may be an error of the prefs.

The very moment I entered the Choir (of St. Patrick's, Dublin), I fixed my eye on the priest.-" Dearly beloved Roger," leaped infiantly into my head-Poor Swift! that was once thy place :-I caft fteadily about for Roger-but, in a little time, I recollected my mistake-the beloved Roger did not belong here, p. 96. I believe it will concord with the general opinion of the people,' p. 195.

་

6

To these we may add the following uncommonly figurative, myfterious, or occult paffages: A few miles from Barnard caille, quick hedges begin to decay; the fences change into flone walls,' p. 19. Should this defcription deceive the curious naturalift of Crane court, or Leicester fquare, and prompt him to make a Northern tour, in the fond expectation of beholding fome new and wonderful procefs of petrefaction, we think he would be lawfully entitled to call upon Mr. Elftob for the expences of his journey.

The lower part is the theep-market (at Appleby), and the higher part, on the left, is the place for Galloways, Kiloes, &c. p. 20. Now, in the name of wonder, what are these Kiloes! Some animal, belike; but whether of the Horse, or Afs, or Ox kind, we Southern folk are left in vain to guess.

And now for a metaphorical flight! fpeaking of the mischievous effects of the Irish whiskey, when drank to excefs, as is too commonly the cafe, among the lower fort, the Author fays it is the parent of that favage, brutal temper, fo confpicuous in the common Irish, and is certainly the foundation of all their peculiar calamities and misfortunes. In short, it renders their minds unapt for serious thinking, and their bodies inactive in ufeful labour; reduces them

04

far

he is, perhaps, inferior to all his brother Trippers or Tourists, whose itineraries have fallen under our infpection; but, however, he is a man of fome obfervation; and there are paffages in his little volume, that will, at least, afford fome degree of amusement; though we do not perceive in it much new or important information.

As we have juft mentioned Mr. Twifs, who lately made the tour of Ireland, and offered fome remarks on that country, which have not a little difgufted the natives, we shall here extract what Mr. Elftob has obferved, relative to that gentleman,, and to his publication.

Speaking of the productions of the prefs in Dublin, and among other articles, of the Irifh edition of Mr. Twifs's Tour, he proceeds to tell us, that the number of times he was asked whether he knew Mr. Twifs, would appear incredible. None,' fays he, here thank him for his remarks, and few approve of his. book. I am afhamed of them when I reflect on their behaviour to his effigy.;-and their aukward farcafms thrown out at that. ingenious and worthy gentleman, fhew no good temper. I was indeed much entertained one day in a Pottery warehouse, on seeing fome chamber-pots, with a head enamelled on the bottom, having the mouth wide open, and these words below it,

"Come let us p

"On Mr. Twifs;"

which led me to conclude, that the head was a representation, or in the place, of Mr. Twifs's. These curiofities are, as I was told, in almost every house; and, I judge, are universally ufed. His mouth is open to receive the ftream-but his eyes too are open-and this it was that entertained me.-Mr. Twifs muft furely acknowledge his great obligation to the condescending ladies who use him fo freely, and deign to treat him with fuch showers of affability, or he is quite void of every species of gratitude. Was he to ftart up in perfon-he might immediately return the compliment, if the fudden emerfion did not too much ruffle the lady's-difpofition.

Travelling one day in company with a young lady, fomething introduced Mr. Twifs into difcourfe. I never heard him spoken of in Ireland with fo much candour and applaufe. She approved of every paragraph (fave one) in the book, either with regard to accuracy or intention (fhe prefumed). The paffages far below the dignity of their nature-and but too often urges to fuch offences, as juftly open the folding arms of the avenging law to hug them in endless eternity.' This feems to be a fpecies of hugging never yet defined. We have heard of the Cornish hug, the amorous hug, and the friendly hug; but this gallows bug is a fort that a man would not chufe to be better acquainted with.

* See Rev. vol. lv. p. 161, 2

which

which appeared harsh or fevere to most people, fhe hoped would have their intended ufe-produce good effects, and make them. better; but in one fingle point he had made too free-he had peeped too curiously-the could not forgive him- he had no business with the ladies' legs. The paffage the alluded to is this" As to the natural hiftory of the Irifh fpecies, they are only remarkable for the thickness of their legs, especially thofe of the plebeian females." This, the contended, was aimed obliquely at the ladies, or at leaft they were included (I be lieve they might-), but he could not fupport her opinion with any tolerable arguments, fo it dropt.'

To what we have faid in the note, concerning whiskey, we may add our Author's farther account of that coarse and pernicious dram.

At a public house at Skerries, the landlady brought him a noggin of her plain whiskey, but he told him that gentlemen. always drank currant whiskey. This is a spirituous liquor made from malt; the plain fort taftes fomewhat like gin, efpecially in those parts where juniper-berries are to be had. The currant whiskey is made by infufing currants in the plain whiskey.' p. 56.-Again, p. 105, the out-fkirts of Dublin. confift moftly of cabins. Each cabin has generally a small piece of ground belonging to it, which produces a few potatoes, cabbages, and onions, the conftant food of the Irish poor all the year round. Flesh feldom enters their miferable dwellings, and bread not often. But whiskey they will have-they think it. almost impoffible to fubfift without it:-it is their darling, and their ruin-it contributes much to their prefent deplorable state of ftupidity and poverty. Their faculties are berumbed by the extravagant use of it, and their families are thereby plunged to. the very bottom of diftrefs.' We are afraid that this reflected view' of the fordid manner in which the poor Irifh cabiners live, affords but too just a picture of that claís of the inhabitants of our fifter ifland; hence it is the lefs to be wondered at, that so many of them come to the Irish hug * at last.

Mr. Elftob adds his teftimony to the common affertion that Ireland is freed from venomous animals of every kind.' The truth of this, exemption, he adds, has been queftioned, and by fome flatly denied, but, he roundly avers, it is a fact, beyond all doubt.'-None, however, of thofe who have admitted this fact, have ever pretended to account for it.

* Vide preceding note.

Beyond all doubt, with this Writer, it may be; but others have their doubts on this fubject. Among that number may bẹ ranked the Monthly Reviewers; who, however, have neither leifure nor opportunity, at prefent, for debating the point.

Some

Some particulars from our Author's account of St. Winefred's well, may be here felected, as fupplementary to the circumftances mentioned in the Review for January *, from Mr. Pennant's Welch Tour.

Holywell (the town of) confifts of three principal streets, which branch out from the market-place, as from a center. We entered the town at the Weft ftreet-turned a little to the right out of the market-place into the South-west street-leaving the North ftreet on our left hand. At the foot, or extreme, of the North street, is the celebrated fpring known by the name of St. Winefred's well. As this is the place where dinner is commonly provided for the paffengers, I employed a few leisure minutes in vifiting the well. I had no need of making much enquiry for the road to it-there are generally people ftanding ready about the inn to guide you in the way, if you are a ftranger, and have no idea of its fituation; but the fe conductors are not easily fatisfied for their trouble, though the labour might be abridged to ten words, and a flight motion with the right hand; but that is a fpecies of wit incompatible with avarice-the means would fubvert the ends. Avarice is always officious, and profufely lavish in words and little complimental actions-thefe are its peculiar characteristics-and by thefe it is always known, and eafily detected. But to return-many attendants are likewise conftantly ftationed at the well-one with a beaker glass prefents you with a draught of the water-another expatiates on its virtues-gives you a long detail of the many wonderful cures performed by the ufe of it, and concludes with a catalogue of the annual and cafual vifitants who come thither to bathe, and drink the water-and, in this account, you are sure of hearing the names of Dr. Solander and Mr. Banks perhaps more than once mentioned. A third perfon has papers explaining the origin, &c. of the fpring, and thefe they fell at fixpence (if poffible), or threepence (if you pleafe).-The following account is the fubftance of one of those defcriptive papers which are fold at the place.

The rife of St. Winefred's well is by fome accounted a miracle, and related as follows:-That in the year 700 lived Winefred, a virgin of extraordinary fanctity, who made a vow of chastity during life, and dedicated herself to the service of God:-A heathen prince named Cradoc, having often attempted Winifred's chastity in vain, met her fome time after upon the top of the hill near Holywell church, and ftruck off her head, which rolling down the hill, was taken up by the priest of Holywell, who being a favourite of the Almighty's, did, by divine affiftance, replace the head on Winifred's fhoulders,

+ P. 32.

who