family. The house is spacious, but the recent death of Sir Richard, its late possessor, has closed the doors of the villa, and prevented me from secing its fine collection of paintings, and of Roman and Grecian antiquities.

LESSON LXXV.

Society in Edinburgh.

THE state of society in Edinburgh is such, that it is, possible for a stranger, under favouring circumstances, to become an inmate.of family scenes, and, in some measure, a partner in domestic confidence. It has been my fortune to be familiar in several families, and almost domesticated in one. I came here with the cast of feeling and deportment which had been naturally induced by being for some time conversant with the reserved and cautious manners of London; nor was I prepared to expect any other welcome than that of civility and general politeness. It happened that one of my earliest introductions was at a house where there were ladies. At my first visit, the mother, only was at home, and although I should not have been disappointed had it been otherwise, I was much gratified by an unexpected cordiality of manners which produced assurance and ease. At a subsequent visit I was introduced to an interesting young lady, a daughter of the matron whom I had seen before. I had no idea of any thing more than a respectful and somewhat distant civility, and bowed accordingly, as she entered the room from the opposite side; but when she advanced with the same air of ease and frankness as her mother had exhibited, and offered me her hand in token of welcome, I felt at once gratified by the circum

stance, and still somewhat ashamed of the reserve which I had manifested. Yet I had no reason to consider this deportment as being in the least peculiar, but only as a fair specimen of the cordial and gratifying manners so common among those families in Scotland, which have not been tinctured with foreign ideas and fashionable

ceremony.

A few days after, I was invited to take tea and supper in the same family; I found a mixed circle of their friends, principally young people, and the evening was passed in dancing Scotch reels to the music of the piano, upon which the young ladies performed successively. The utmost affability, ease, and cordiality, characterized the manners of the company, and it was pleasing to see parental dignity going hand in hand, with that degree of familiarity which makes parents not the severe censors, but the companions of their children.

The party retired at a seasonable hour, and when they came to bid good night, which the Scotch always do in an affectionate manner, they joined hands in a circle, and sung in concert a little farewell song. It was impossible to be present at such a scene with feelings of entire indifference.

From that time I was so familiar in this family that the usual observances of ceremony were, in a great measure, dispensed with, and my visits were made without a very punctilious regard to fashionable rules. In short, I found their manners almost identified with those which prevail in New-England, and if I was sometimes disposed to smile at their Scotch words and Scotch pronunciation, it was still more frequently in their power to retaliate, by puzzling me with questions and phrases which have rarely been heard by a transatlantic ear. It was never done, however, unless I had provoked it, and then it was always accompanied by sportiveness and good nature. This

was a religious, family; their seat at church was always at my service, and when I supped with them I was occasionally present at the family worship. Among religious families here, it is usual, before supper, to attend prayers; a hymn is previously sung besides reading a chapter, and all the family kneel upon the floor, while the master of the house prays.

I was present to-day at a dinner in this family with an American friend; we met a large party, and were much gratified with their cordial manners. "Perpetual peace and friendship between Great Britain and the United States," was given as a toast, by the head of the family, and was promptly echoed by the company. The Scotch appear to be very averse to the idea of war with us, and all those with whom I converse, express their wishes that the existing differences may be amicably adjusted. Our host, alluding to my companion and myself, remarked that it was a very delightful thing to see people born and educated three thousand miles from each other, sitting down in friendship at the same table, and finding a common language, mutual feelings, and identical manners.

LESSON LXXVI. ·

Solon and Publicola compared.

THERE is something singular in this parallel; and what has not occurred to us in any other of the lives which we have written, that Publicola should exemplify the maxims of Solon, and that Solon should proclaim beforehand the happiness of Publicola. For the definition of happiness which Solon gave Croesus, is more applicable to Publicola than to Tellus. It is true, he pronounces Tellus

and

happy, on account of his virtue, his valuable children, his glorious death; yet he does not mention him in his poems as eminently distinguished by his virtue, his children, or his employments. For Publicola, in his lifetime, attained the highest reputation and authority among the Romans, by means of his virtues; and, after his death his family was reckoned among the most illustrious: the houses of the Publicolæ, the Messalæ, and Valerii, eminent for the space of six hundred years, still acknowledging him as the fountain of their honour.. Tellus, like a brave man, keeping his post, and fighting till the last, fell by the enemy's hand; whereas Publicola, after having slain his enemies (a much happier circumstance than to be slain by them), after seeing his country victorious through his conduct as consul and as general, after triumphs and every other mark of honour, died that death which Solon had so passionately wished for, and declared so happy. Solon, again, in his answer to Mimnermus, concerning the period of human life, thus exclaims:

Let friendship's faithful heart attend my bier,
Heave the sad sigh, and drop the pitying tear!

And Publicola had this felicity. For he was lamented, not only by his friends and relations, but by the whole city; thousands attended his funeral with tears, with regret, with the deepest sorrow; and the Roman matrons mourned for him, as for the loss of a son, a brother, or a common parent.

Another wish of Solon's is thus expressed :

The flow of riches, I desire,

And fain would life's true goods acquire;

But let me justly them attain,

Lest vengeance follow in their train.

And Publicola not only acquired, but employed his riches honourably, for he was a generous benefactor to the poor :

so that if Solon was. the wisest, Publicola was the happiest of humankind. What the former had wished for as the greatest and most desirable of blessings, the latter actually possessed, and continued to enjoy.

Thus Solon did honour to Publicola, and he to Solon in his turn. For he considered him as the most excellent pattern that could be proposed, in regulating a democracy; and, like him, laying aside the pride of power, he rep dered it gentle and acceptable to all. He also. made use of several of Solon's laws.; for he empowered the people to elect their own magistrates, and left an appeal to them from the sentence of other courts, as the Athenian lawgiver had done. He did not, indeed, with, Solon, create a new senate, but he almost doubled the number of that which he found in being.

His reason for appointing questors or treasurers was, that if the consul were a worthy man. he might have leisure to attend to more important affairs; if unworthy, that he might not have greater opportunities of injustice, when both the government and the treasury were under his direction.

Publicola's aversion to tyrants was stronger than that of Solon. For, the latter made every attempt to establish arbitrary power punishable by law; but the former made it death without the formality of trial. Solon, indeed, justly and reasonably plumes himself upon having refused. absolute power, when both the state of affairs and the inclinations of the people would have readily admitted it : and yet it was no less glorious for Publicola, that finding the consular authority too despotic, he rendered it milder, and more popular, and did not stretch it so far as he.might have done. That this was the best method of governing, Solon seems to have been sensible before him, when he says of a republic,

The reins nor loosely held nor strictly tied,
Safely the car of slippery power you guide.