merchants of Liverpool are more citizens of the world, and better graced with worldy accomplishments. In this respect they stand first, perhaps, in Britain. But, energetic though they are, they want the eager industry of the people of Glasgow. It was here the steam-engine was first applied to the propulsion of floating vessels; here that the substitution of iron for timber in the construction of shipping, first made us independent of imported materials in the production of these prime agents in civilisation; here that the inhabitants of an inland city first set the example of opening a way for the sea and its heaviest burthens to their doors, through a distance of twenty miles of shallow river, so that first-class frigates now lie at their wharfs, receiving their engines out of the machinemakers' yards, where twenty years ago would hardly have been water for a frigate's tender. Perhaps in the whole course of centralising interference, there never occurred a more monstrous instance of presumption than in the authorities at Somerset House claiming to transfer the management of the Clyde to London. Glasgow, it is true, measured by population, is but a sixth part of London; but measured by the wealth they respectively produce, London is not a sixth part of Glasgow. The one has grown great by the absorption of the wealth of the provinces; the other, without depriving the country of a single rich resident, of a single profitable trade or beneficial institution, has grown rich by the conversion of the gifts of nature into new forms of value and utility, which it adds from year to year to the national stock of wealth. If ever a community have given practical evidence of the capacity to manage their own affairs with advantage to themselves and the country, it has been this of Glasgow. the midst of their prosperity and just elation, however, surgit amari aliquid. A population, in great part composed of the dregs of the Irish workhouses, has sprung up amongst them, and they groan, like ourselves, under an oppressive poor-rate. Of £65,000 poor-rate levied off one parish in Glasgow, £45,000 is consumed by Irish. They ship these wretches back to Belfast, and Belfast reships them to Glasgow; unprofitable commerce! The odour in which the Irish at large are held in Glasgow is not ren

In

dered the less pungent by these interchanges. We are regarded as beggarly, proud, lazy, Popish, and disaffected. We cannot all, however, be ironworkers, or even cotton-spinners; and it must be owned that a more just and temperate judgment of our demerits would probably be formed by a community less busy and more reflective. The weak side of prosperity is its intolerance of the ill success in life of others. They have a similar contempt and dislike for the Highlanders. Democratic in a high degree-republican even, if a republic could be compassed without a disturbance-they have, nevertheless, a strong sense of the dignity of titles, and regard individual noblemen with singular consideration. The Duke of Atholl, however, was near being roughly treated when he lately descended from his Grampians to lay the foundation stone of their new bridge. The Duke is a Celt and a Freemason; both characters involving a kind of sentiment with which the Glasgow people-though three-fourths of Celtic origin themselves-have little sympathy; and he came amongst them, laden with the odium of that unhappy right (or rather wrong) of way, through Glen Tilt. There seems little doubt that the passage through Glen Tilt had become dedicated to the public before the Duke sought to revive the privilege formerly exercised by his father and grandfather, of stopping the passage on the occasion of great hunting matches. It seems that it is the nature of deer to fly even from the scent of man; and that once, when the Duke had projected a grand hunting match for the entertainment of the Queen and Prince Albert, and had got the deer assembled in Glen Tilt, some unsavoury traveller passed up the defile, and the herd getting wind of him, went off in disgust. When the royal huntress came to Glen Tilt next morning, there were no deer to catch, and the Duke's disappointment was excessive, as well as his annoyance, at what he considered an intrusion on his rights. Hence the prohibition, the assertion of the counter-right, the collision, and the lawsuit, which is still pending. In the meantime, and we believe ever since the first assertion of the Duke's claim, every one who is not above asking, obtains permission to pass, as a matter of course. It seems no more than justice to say this much on the

to be so proud a man that he disclaims the services of all apologists, and would not even condescend to disavow the forged letter, bearing his signature, which was published by the Times. He may be proud, and in the matter of Glen Tilt he probably is wrong; but whether he resent the liberty taken with his name or not, he cannot help the fact being here recorded, that while other Highland proprietors have turned their once cheerful straths into sheepwalks and solitudes, he has not allowed a single man of his tenantry to leave his estate. It is a thousand pities that the public and such a man do not understand one another better.

An instructive lesson may be derived from noticing the names over the shop-fronts of Glasgow. A large proportion are those are of men of Highland descent. It is, in great measure, a Celtic population; though here the Celts are in such disrepute. Quam temere in nosmet ! Surely there must be as much in soil, air, and occupation, as there is in blood, that makes distinctions between classes and families of men. The slothfulness and imaginativeness of the Highlander are here converted into an immitigable activity and positiveness. One-half, probably, of the most prosperous men of business in the city are of High

alike indulge a liberal love of whiskey, which they carry off with exemplary steadiness. We here in Ireland neither drink so much nor spend so much as these thriving and sober-minded people; yet we are accused of drunkenness and extravagance. It is consolatory to think, that, after all, there is nothing in the blood of three out of four of our countrymen which need impede them in the pursuit either of wealth or knowledge. But it is time to remember that we went into these digressions opposite Dunoon.

The style of building in Rothesay, and the other lower towns on the Clyde, has less of the villa character than in those we have passed by. The shipping, scattered over a broader surface, no longer crowd the river. The mansions and parks on the shore are more widespread, secluded, and aristocratic; and, as in Banvard's Panorama of the Mississipi, the appearance of the blue water below New Orleans indicates that the exhibition draws to a close, so the swell that meets us as we pass beyond the Lesser Cumbray, and come in sight of the Craig of Ailsa, tells that we are out of the Clyde. We leave the scene of much enjoyment, of many kindnesses, and, let us hope, of some instruction, with a hearty aspirationlet Glasgow flourish!

No. CCXXVIII.

THE present state of geological knowledge, with its possible application to purposes of economic utility, is a subject well worthy of consideration. It is not absolutely necessary to understand a thing ourselves, in order to be convinced that it may be serviceable to others, or beneficial to society at large. The interest attached to this diversified, romantic, and highly fascinating science, is not confined to the student, who collects minerals and fossils for private instruction or amusement; or to the solitary philosopher, who buries himself in books and museums, dreaming away existence in the acquirement of information, which often perishes with himself. It extends to the engineer, the agriculturist, the miner, the mechanic, the artisan, the architect of the palace, and the labourer who cultivates the soil-to nearly all who are engaged in the practical avocations of ordinary life, with many of the simplest of which its most. important discoveries are connected.

In devoting a short article to this topic, we propose to occupy the space allotted, in general remarks and a few general deductions, rather than in a minute or connected review of the books named at foot, referring to them (and others) as occasion may require. These works are among the most recent, and may be classed with the most valuable contributions to a

Since that date, with the progressive advancement of the science, the illustrative publications have increased in a tenfold ratio.

A great proportion of the standard works on geology are inaccessible to the general reader, from the expensive form in which they have appeared. Others from having been privately printed. The latter practice seems both ill-judged and inconsistent (not to say, selfish) on any subject embracing general utility. A particular instance may be named in Professor M'Coy's "Synopsis of the Carboniferous, or Mountain Limestone District of Ireland;" an admirable treatise (and the only one) on a most important formation, teeming with organic remains to such an extent, that it may be said, almost without exaggeration, to be entirely composed of them. A very li mited impression was struck off, and the copies were either distributed in public libraries, or given to a few favoured

12mo. 1849.

VOL. XXXVIII.-NO. CCXXVIII.