"A graver orator, Sir, would better become so great an action, as to welcome our great and most gratious soveraine; and a bashfull silence were a boye's best eloquence. But seeing wee read, that in the salutations of that Romane Cæsar,a sillie pye, amongst the rest, cried, Ave Cæsar, to: Pardon mee, Sir, your M. owne old parret, to put furth a few words, as witnesses of the fervent affections of your most faithfull subjects in these parts, who all by my tongue, as birds of one cage, crye with mee, Ave Caesar, Welcome most gratious Kinge.”

When Master Williame had made an end of speaking, another good thousand hexameters were produced in the shape of a Carmen Panegyricum.

At Hamilton, Sir William Mure, younger of Rowallan, presented a copy of English verses, which, in despite of their quaintness and classical affectation (which, it would appear, were characteristic of the times), possess no mean degree of poetical merit. We quote the following stanzas as a specimen :

"Great JAMES, whose hand a thre-fold scepter swayes,
By heavens exalted to so high a place,

Both crown'd with gold and never-fading bayes,
Who keps three kingdoms in so still a peace;

Whose love, cair, wisdome, grace, and high deserts,
Have maid thee monarch of thy subjects' harts.

"Thogh thou by armes great empyrs may'st surprise,
Mak Europe thrall, and over Asia reigne,

Yet at thy feet, despysed, Bellona lyes:

No crownes thou craves which bloody conqueis stain.
While others aim at greatness boght with blood,
Not to bee great thou stryves, bot to bee good.
"Whome snakie hatred, soul-conceiv'd disdaine,
Hart-rooted rancor, envy borne in hell,

Did long in long antipathie detaine,

To either's ruine, as they both can tell,

Uniting them, thou hast enlarged thy throne,
And maid devyded Albion all bee one."

At Sanquhar, and Drumlanrig, his Majesty was also greeted in Latin poems; and, returning by Dumfries to his English dominions, Mr. James Halyday, in the name of the town, scattered the flowers of rhetoric on the King's head, with a most lavish hand.

To the "Muses Welcome to King James, on his return to Scotland," are appended the " Planctus, et Vota Musarum in Augustissimi Monarchæ Jacobi, Magnæ Bri

tanniæ, Franciæ, et Hiberniæ Regis, &c. Recessu è Scotia in Angliam, Augusti 4, Anno 1617, 's εuxóλws

To di aμπpal тuxaι! Edinburghi, Excudebat Andreas Hart, Anno 1618." It is a collection of Latin poems, equally honourable to the loyal feelings and to the erudition of our ancestors, but of which our limits preclude us from exhibiting any specimen.

But we must make an end. What we have said and quoted is sufficient to convince our cotemporaries, both here and in Dublin, that it may be as difficult to imitate the expressions of the loyalty of King James's time, as it was at the coronation of George IV. to find patterns for the dresses of that age.

When his Majesty visits Scotland, we shall be quite content if the memorials which will probably be compiled of the event convey to posterity specimens, as honourable, of the genius, the taste, and learning, not only of the universities, but of the merchants, and other civil citizens, as the curious and amusing volume to which we have referred.

Blackwood's Magazine.

ON THE KNOWLEDGE, RELIGION, AND MORALS OF THE ENGLISH.

WHAT Constitutes the knowledge of a nation are sound political ideas spread through every class, and general information in science and literature. In the first respect, the English have no rivals in Europe; in the second, I know no people who can be compared to them, except the Germans of the north. Still the English would have an advantage which can belong only to their institutions, which is, that the first class of society devotes itself as much to study as the second. Mr. Fox wrote learned dissertations in Greek during his hours of leisure from parliamentary debates; Mr. Windham has left several interesting treatises on mathematics and

literature. The English have at all times honoured learning; Henry VIII., who trampled every thing under foot, yet respected men of letters, when they did not come in opposition to his ungoverned passions. The great Elizabeth was well versed in the ancient languages, and even spoke Latin with facility. The foppery of ignorance, with which we had reason to reproach the French nobility, was never introduced among the princes or nobility of England. One would think that the former were persuaded that the divine right, by which they hold their privileges, entirely exempted them from the study of human science. Such a manner of thinking could not exist in England, and would only appear ridiculous. Nothing factitious can succeed in a country where every thing is subjected to publicity.The English nobility would be as much ashamed of not having had a distinguished classical education, as men of the second rank in France were, heretofore, of not going to court; and these differences are not connected, as some pretend, with French frivolity. The most persevering scholars, the deepest thinkers, have belonged to that nation, which is capable of any thing when it chooses; but its political institutions were so defective, that they perverted its natural good qualities.

In England, on the contrary, the institutions favour every kind of intellectual progress. The juries, the administration of counties and towns, the elections, the newspapers, give the whole nation a great share of interest in public affairs. The consequence is, that it is better informed; and that, at a venture, it would be better to converse with an English farmer upon political questions, than with a great number of men on the continent, even the most enlightened. That admirable good sense which is founded on justice and security exists nowhere but in England, or in the country that resembles it, America. Reflection must remain a stranger to men who have no rights; since as soon as they perceive the truth, they must be first unhappy, and soon after filled with the spirit. of revolt. It must be admitted also, that in a country where the armed force has almost

always been naval, and commerce the principal occupation, there must necessarily be more knowledge than where the national defence is confided to troops of the line; and where industry is almost entirely directed to the cultivation of the ground.

Commerce, placing men in relation with the interests of the world, extends the ideas, exercises the judgment, and, from the multiplicity and diversity of transactions, makes the necessity of justice continually to be felt.In countries where the only pursuit is agriculture, the mass of the population may be composed of serfs attached to the soil, and devoid of all information. But what can be done with slavery and ignorance in a mercantile capacity? A maritime and commercial country is, therefore, necessarily more enlightened than any other; yet there remains much to be done to give the English people a sufficient education. A considerable portion of the lowest class can as yet neither read nor write; and it is, doubtless, to remedy this evil that the new methods of Bell and Lancaster are so warmly encouraged, because they are calculated to bring education within the reach of the indigent. The lower orders are perhaps better informed in Switzerland, Sweden, and in some parts of the north of Germany; but in none of these countries is found that vigour of liberty which will preserve England, it is to be hoped, from the reaction occasioned by the French revolution.

It being impossible in England to be minister without sitting in one of the houses of parliament, and discussing the affairs of state with the representatives of the nation, it unavoidably follows that such ministers bear, in general, no resemblance to the class of governors in an absolute monarchy. The esteem of the public is, in England, the first aim of men in power; they scarcely ever make a fortune in the ministry.

Ministers cannot favour their partizans unless the latter be sufficiently distinguished not to provoke the discontent of parliament. It is not enough to have the favour of the master to remain in place; it is necessary to have the esteem of the representatives of the nation;

and this can only be obtained by real ability. Ministers appointed by court intrigues, as we have seen continually in France, would not support themselves twentyfour hours in the House of Commons.

The science of liberty (if we may use that expression), at the point at which it is cultivated in England, supposes in itself a very high degree of information. Nothing can be more simple than that doctrine, when once the principles on which it reposes have been adopted; but it is nevertheless certain, that on the continent we seldom meet with any person who, in heart and mind, understands England. It would seem as if there were moral truths, amidst which we must be born, and which the sensations of the heart inculcate better than all the discussions of theory. Nevertheless, to enjoy and practise that liberty, which unites all the advantages of republican virtues, of philosophical knowledge, of religious sentiments, and monarchical dignity, a great share of understanding is requisite in the people, and a high degree of study and virtue in men of the first class. An English minister must unite with the qualities of a statesman the art of expressing himself with eloquence. It thence follows, that literature and philosophy are much more appreciated, because they contribute efficaciously to the success of the highest ambition.

The emulation which such a prospect naturally excites is one of the principal causes of the incredible extent of information diffused in England.

Thanks to toleration, to political institutions, and the liberty of the press, there is a greater respect for religion and for morals in England than in any other country in Europe.

English literature is certainly that in which there are the greatest number of philosophic works.

In what empire is Christianity more respected than in England? Where are greater pains taken to propagate Whence do missionaries proceed in so great numbers to every part of the world?

it?

In a religious country good morals also necessarily