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merit, at least that of truth and nature; but it will not be interesting, and will ever create regret that such a subject should have cost so much labour; unless a Wouverman had treated it with his exquisite taste, and the natural graces of his pencil, and thus made it a subject that must interest the mind as well as attract the eye. But, in my opinion, the art of choosing objects, and that of representing them correctly, are two correctly, are two principal requisites, the union of which alone constitutes a great painter.

"I am very desirous, my dear father, of knowing your ideas and decision on these points, which are of such material importance to me, although I flatter myself I can already guess your opinion. Trippel is, like me, convinced, that every one should continue firm to the

first impulse of his genius. Ealso reanimates my ardour for the style I have adopted, and strongly encourages me to persevere in that line which I have hitherto preferred.

"The study of the human figure, and of anatomy, will henceforth be my principal object; at the same time I shall not neglect working from nature and from the antique, and I shall also occasionally make some finished studies from Raphael. Thus, by redoubling my efforts, I flatter myself I shall be able to reap some advantage from my residence in Rome, and to approach nearer to the great object of my ambition, that of rendering myself worthy, as an artist, of the title of your son.

"I have many kind wishes for you from Angelica, Trippel, Meyer, &c. &c.

"C. GESSNER."

"THE

DESCRIPTION of SPORTS in the NORTH.

[From COLONEL THORNTON'S SPORTING TOUR.]

"FASCALLY.

HE situation of this place is extremely romantic, and had been admired by us some time before we reached it. A scene near the bridge is particularly fine; and I could not help wondering how it escaped Mr. Pennant, for it is certainly far superior to his view. The road from hence to Blair we found excellent, running along the banks of the Gary; it extends for a very considerable way, and was made entirely at the expense of lord Braedalbane, who, to facilitate the travelling, has erected, over the torrents that rush from the mountains into the lakes, a great

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though it is certainly very commodious. The walls are wonderfully thick, as all old castles are, but have been much reduced in height since the rebellion in 1746, when it was strongly fortified, and held out a close seige. I have heard many circumstances of this event when conversing with Mr. C. a lieutenant, who attended my father's volunteers in the year 1745. This gentleman was taken prisoner by the rebels besieging this castle, by whom being neglected, he with some others escaped and joined sir Andrew Agnew, then blocked up in it with his troops, and has often mentioned the great spirit with which it was defended.

"I remember to have heard him say, that, in order to save a favourite horse they had taken in with them, grass was pulled from the ramparts, where it grew in some quantity; and though the men so employed were frequently in danger of being shot, and very often fired at, they carried their point.

"The most singular piece of furniture here is a chest of drawers made of broom, most elegantly striped in veins of white and brown. This plant grows to a great size in Scotland, and furnishes pieces of the breadth of six inches. We saw several guns belonging to his grace, chiefly rifles, which we thought in general too unwieldy.

"Having seen the house, we walked through the plantations, and passed some time in drinking a few bottles of our landlord's best claret, sent us with some biscuits to the hermitage. This hermitage is far preferable, in point of simplicity, to that of Dunkeld. The evening being fine, we went up to the York Cascade, which seemed to me calculated for a drawing, but is

as well executed in Pennant's Tour as the subject admits.

"Our landlord, who attended us, we found to be a very intelligent man, and were not a little pleased, in the course of the evening, to find, that by his means the gardener had procured us a few small perch, with which we hoped to be able to stock some of the lochs in Badenoch, where, as yet, they are unknown. Went to bed highly pleased with the recep tion we had met with.

"July 9.-Morning delightful, but very cold. The perch being examined, were found very lively, and I had no doubt, that in the tin kettle brought from London, having this object always in view, I should be able, by giving them fresh water at every brook, to keep them alive, and get them safe to Raits.

"Our party proceeded two miles together, and then stopping at a snall bridge near a mill, we separated; the carriage being sent on to Dulnacardock. We left our horses in a cabin, and, attended by the landlord as our guide, were conducted, after walking about a mile, to the first view of the Falls of Brewer; having previously passed by several beautiful cascades, and excavated rocks of divers forms.

"The Falls of Brewer are superior to Pennant's boasted York Cascade. Had he seen this, I am confident he never would have mentioned the other.

"To gain a drawing was not only very difficult, but exceedingly dangerous. Mr. Garrard was very shy; but after gently reproaching him for his timidity, he was at length persuaded to follow me to a stone overhanging a precipice,

where,

where, had his foct slipped, it would have been his last sketch.

as

"Waterfalls, in my opinion, are subjects that no pencil can draw with the force they convey to a spectator, the chief astonishment being excited by the roaring sound of the water, which is inexpressible. Mr. Garrard has succeeded well, under these circumstances, as any artist could possibly have done; and I am certain, few professional men who are chiefly educated in the metropolis, where Constitution Hill is thought a difficult ascent, could have been easily induced to go where he did, or to surmount the many obstacles which, even in proceeding thus far, we had to encounter. The morning was severely cold, and Mr. Garrard's sedentary occupation made him feel its effects more sensibly than I did,, though I was engaged, part of the time, in writing.

"We proceeded, after thanking our landlord for his attention, to the cabin, and, mounting our cavalry, trotted on to Dalnacardock, where we found a good breakfast, as ready for us as we were to sit down to it; and my next care was to inquire about the perch, which were reported to be in perfect health, and lively.

"Liquors and provisions of all kinds, at Dalnacardock, were plentiful and excellent; and Mr. P. and myself, finding our quarters so agreeable, determined to stay here the evening, and fish a lake next day, abounding with trout and

char.

"Set out the following morning at eleven, taking Sappho with us, with the intention of killing some snipes; the servants, with our fishing tackle, provisions, liquors, &c. following. Fished, and killed

some very fine trout; but they did not rise eagerly. Attempted, though near three o'clock, to go to a famous lake, a Scotch mile further. Arrived here, and killed some fish; but they were little superior in size to the former, and in quantity inferior. We lost by this means a good deal of time, but killed, on our return, thirty trout and one char. One trout I saw coming at me, which I think might weigh five pounds, or thereabouts; but could not rise him.

"Had not the evening foreboded rain, which now began to fall, I think I could easily have killed three dozen more, as they now began to rise freely; but were obliged to pack up our tackle, and return to the auberge, where we arrived about eight o'clock, and found dinner just ready; and, to give an idea how we starve in the Highlands, take the following table: Hodge podge,

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Claret, good.-Port, ditto,

limes, Jamaica rum, and incomparable porter from Calvert's.

"July 10.-Morning hazy. Proceeded for Raits. The kettle having been found very inconvenient, on account of the water splashing out at every jolt, which was unavoidable, I wished much to hire a person to carry it on foot, the next stage, only ten miles. I proposed it to several peasants; but taking advantage of our necessity, they had the conscience to ask me eight

days'

days' wages. I offered four; but was not able to induce them to comply under their first demand, and disappointed their unreasonable expectations very completely, by taking the fish on as we had hitherto done, and should have carried them with very little inconvenience, if the day had not been so warm, as to oblige us to supply them with fresh water at every brook. We had the precaution to take two quart bottles filled with water, to give them where brooks were wanting, letting them have the quantity of air requisite. The delays this business necessarily created, retarded our journey; but the hill of Drumorter, which we should otherwise have been induced to walk over, made us regret the less our keeping below. At length, we arrived at Dalwhinny, where our fish were plunged into the river, and recovered their sprightliness. A party of soldiers being at work, while dinner was preparing, I entered into conversation with the serjeant, wishing to know from him, if there was not amongst them, as it was probable there might be, a soldier who was a fisher, to whom I could safely intrust the fish; for, having brought them with so much trouble, so far safe, I was particularly anxious that all our labour might not prove in vain, by any accident happening to them so near Raits. He soon found a soldier, and I agreed to give him half-acrown; and, having also repeatedly directed him to be sure to give the fish fresh water, following the mode we had done, which I described, we saw him fairly on his journey, and then sat down to dinner.

"After dinner we proceeded for Raits, where we were very anxious to arrive, the curiosity of my brother travellers being much raised;

added to which, we wanted to be at a settled abode, after so much travelling.

"Our horses were very fresh, though they had already come twenty-four miles over very steep roads. We could not avoid, however, stopping a few minutes to admire the falls of Truem, notwith standing our haste, and got to Pitmain in the afternoon, which is thirteen miles from Dalwhinny, in fiftynine minutes.

"Took a cup of tea with my old landlord, M'Lean, of whom I made inquiries concerning the families I knew, and then went on to Raits.

"We had scarcely sat down to supper, when we were told that the soldier was arrived with the perch, though we did not expect him till eleven at night. We now dreaded, that, by his hurrying on, he had not obeyed the order, to stop at the. different brooks, to refresh the fish, and, on examination, were greatly mortified to find them all apparently dead.

In hopes, however, of their recovering, we had them immediately plunged into the river, with orders for them to remain there all night; but the morning proved this experiment vain, and we were all equally concerned for a misfortune occasioned entirely by the soldier's obstinacy.

"Raits.-July 12.-Day warm. Took a turn before breakfast, and examined the dogs, all of whom, after their sea-bathing, were fresh and vigorous. Fired, and killed two brace of ducks, and a brace and a half of snipes; but cut one of the tendons of my heel with the hard seam in my fen boots, and was obliged to hobble home before nine o'clock.

"After breakfast, all the apparatus was unpacked, and we now

received

received a dismal account of the voyage. It seems that the cutter, which I had engaged, was deeply laden with the stores, &c. but sailed very safely to Hull, where flour, corn, beans, biscuits, oatmeal, &c. were stowed properly, and they again set sail with a fair wind. About two o'clock in the morning, and now in the main ocean, the housekeeper was alarmed with the unpleasant sensation of the trickling of water in her cot; but not quite satisfied with the cause, had given no alarm; when, on feeling a similar sensation, which had also been felt in another cot, the alarm was given, and the crew were not long before they discovered that they had sprung a leak.

sel with crowded canvass on the same tack, and, coming near her, they did not fail to make what signs of distress they could: nor was Mrs. C.deficient; for, having hoisted what white linen she could procure on the oar of the little jolly boat, they perceived the vessel bear up to them, which proved to be a smack bound for Whitby: the master of her lending them the assistance of two hands, and taking charge of the female, kept near the cutter, and at length got them safe into the harbour, where they unanimously took care that the vessel should at least undergo a thorough repair before they again trusted themselves in her.

"This operation took up two days, and they then sailed, and were safely landed at Forres.

of sledge, which, with four horses, might transport the two boats over the mountains to Raits, and they were to be forwarded as soon as the horses employed returned.

"The servants, with one voice, inveighed against the expedition, and would gladly have forfeited their "Their next concern was to proyear's wages to have been on terra cure carts to convey the cargo; and firma. The pumps were set to so little do these people carry in work, and male and female used their small carriages, that it took their best endeavours to free the no less than forty-nine, independent hold; but they found that their ut- of the boats, which were left to the most exertions made no impression care of the captain, who pleased in reducing the water, which ap-himself with having invented a kind peared rather to gain upon them; and they very justly conceived that, should the weather not continue so favourable, they must all inevitably perish. Part of the little crew, with hasty epithets, blamed the captain for having brought them out in so crazy a vessel: others fell to prayers: however, on day-light appearing, the leak was at length fortunately discovered, and with difficulty so far stopped, that one hand, working every other hour, kept the hold tolerably dry. The wind still continued favourable; but the pump, not being made of the best materials, soon became in a manner useless, and the water once more gained upon them: in this dreadful dilemma, they saw a yes

"July 12.-Raits. Day fine. Examined my pasture. I had grass indeed for above twenty horses, but liable, with heavy floods, to be spoilt: in some parts it was boggy+ and a better pasture for a snipe than for poor Sampson, who, though above seventeen hands and a half high, had been abîmé, and with difliculty saved.. This horse, in contrast with a Highland pony, seemed a different species of ani mal, and was held in the country to be a perfect curiosity. Arrive at the house at Raits to breakfast

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