Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

C

VIEWS IN SCOTLAND.

Defcription of the View at CRAIGIE-HALL.

RAIGIE-HALL is well known as one of the most beautiful places in Scotland. It is fituated on the banks of the Almond, about fix miles Weft from Edinburgh; on the confines of the counties of Edinburgh and Linlithgow. The river, after winding gently for above three miles thro' a rich vale, runs thro' Mr Hope's park, till it arrives at the place from whence the prefent view is taken. Here the banks become rocky and confined; and the river, after forming a delightful cafcade, runs rapidly for fome time, and then spreads into a deep and gloomy pool; where it divides into two branches, leaving between them an island covered with wood. Mr Hope has added, in the moft judicious taste, to the natural beauties of this fcene. The banks, which were formerly naked rocks, are now richly clothed with wood to the water's edge.

On the left hand, directly overhanging the cafcade, stands a grotto built by Mr Hope, conftructed of rough ftone, and thatched with reeds. It contains a handfome circular room, covered with fhells, mofs, petrifactions, roots of trees, and fragments of antique marbles; from the windows of which the fenfes are at once delighted with the roaring of the cascade, and the view of the bridge and island. This bridge, which is in front of the view, was likewife built by Mr Hope; and is in the fame ruftic ftyle as the grotto, which admirably correfponds with the nature of the ground. The fprings of the arch are entirely hid by the wood on the adjoining banks, fo that the bridge looks almost like a continuation of the rocks on each fide, hollowed out by the violence of the waters. The river, which in general contains no more water than is neceffary for the beauty of the landscape, fometimes comes down in dreadful floods, and, notwithstanding the rapidity of the current at this place, has been known to rife 17 feet perpendicular below the arch. Under the bridge is seen the island, covered with wood, which fills up the sky, and forms the back ground of this delightful scene; than which nothing can be more picturefque, unless it be the view of the bridge and cascade from the island; with which we may perhaps present our readers in a future Magazine.

Extract from an Oration, by M. de Hauy, concerning the Education of the Blind. Tranflated from the French.

I

GENTLEMEN,

F I have reafon to applaud my of the light of heaven, by teaching felf for having conceived the them to read, it is chiefly when I project of inftructing those unfor- an allowed to fubmit, with veneratunate beings, whom nature has con- tion, my ideas concerning that fubdemned to the perpetual privation ject to the worthy magiftrates who

Q 2

fuperintend

fuperintend this affembly, to the respectable strangers who render it interefting, and to the worthy members of whom it is constituted. When a design is conceived, it is neceffary to fhew that its execution, if not eafy, is at least practicable; and that it will confpicuoufly be productive of real utility. That which I have the honour of fubmitting to your confideration, unites, if I miftake not, both thefe advantages.

Its execution is practicable. To demonftrate this, I will not have recourfe to a long and elaborate chain of reafoning. After you have honoured this weak effay with a moment of your attention, I fhall difplay the experiment in your fight; and if, as my confidence flatters me, it fhould have the good fortune to answer your expectations, I fhall efteem myself recompenfed with intereft for my anxiety and my zeal. That with refpect to this our most fanguine hopes may appear founded on reafon and experience, it is only neceffary to afcertain the happy refults which crowned the attempts of the celebrated Bernouilli, who, by means unpractifed before, and fuppreffed by his biographers, taught a girl to write who had loft the ufe of her eyes two months after her birth. It would even be fufficient to recollect many fuccessful attempts already made by different perfons deprived of fight, fome from their birth, and others by accident.

Some reflections, which I fhall add, and which come in as auxiliaries to thefe hopes, will convince you, without difficulty, with what eafe the blind may be taught to

read.

Every one must have obferved the delicacy of Touch acquired by individuals, who from their infancy have been obliged to use that fenfe as a fuccedaneum for the avenue of perception which nature has re

fufed them. The furface of objects which to the naked eye appears moft even, prefents to their touch inequalities and diverfities which escape the detection of our visual powers; which, however, are capable of difcerning stars removed to the greatest distance in the boundlefs expanfe of heaven. The mind being difincumbered from that croud of external images whofe impreffions are inceffantly reiterated and multiplied in our brain, it is univerfally known in what degree the blind enjoy that delightful tranquillity, fo propitious to contemplation and ftudy; an advantage which it is never in our power to improve, unless in profound folitude, or the filence of night. On one hand, in fhort, it is known how tenacious and extenfive that memory is with which the blind fo fecurely retain those ideas which they fo eafily acquire: on the other, what pregnancy of conception is difcovered by the greatest number of them, concerning the most abstract and difficult operations of the mind. A difpofition fo astonishing, that one might almost remain in fufpenfe, whether nature has been more parfimonious towards them in the gifts fhe beftows, or liberal and anxious to recompense them for the faculties which fhe has denied.

Why fhould it not be allowed me, Gentlemen, to conclude from individuals to the fpecies? With this conceffion, I would mention as an example of my affertions the young man in whofe education I am at prefent engaged.

François le Sueur, of whom I fpeak, having been deprived of fight at the age of fix weeks, in confequence of convulfive affections in his nerves, had not, when arrived at the age of feventeen and upwards, acquired any ideas relative to letters. Born of honest parents, but entirely deprived of all

the

concerning the Education of the Blind.

the gifts of fortune, he was neceffitated to importune the means of fubfiftence from a rank of people which is leaft capable of imparting them. The young victim of dark nefs scarcely felt the dawn of reafon, when he was afraid of being burdenfome to his relations: prefently he impofed on himself the humiliating constraint of appearing at the gates of our temples, there to ask that momentary and feeble affistance, which the indigent frequently extort with difficulty from the rich, who avoid their importunities. Transported with joy at having made the fmalleft acquifition, he flew with ardour to divide the pittance acquired by his importunities with those to whom he owed his existence; with three fifters and two brothers, of whom the laft is still upon the breaft. Yet amidst a life of penury, darkness, and sufferings, as little calculated to infpire as to favour a tafte for learning, le Sueur was informed that a fociety existed which was wholly employed in procuring and promoting the happiness of mankind; that among the number of beings whom they vouchfafed to patronize and relieve, were included these unhappy children to whom the ineftimable bleffing of light had been denied without redrefs; and he immediately prefented himself to the venerable Philanthropift who prefides over that society. The admiffible number of those who at once were blind and indigent was already compleat; they could not, therefore, receive François le Sueur: but this liberal friend of men, ingenious to alleviate the painful fenfe of repulfe, which his fociety did not inflict without the moft fenfible reluctance, offered his patronage to the young man, if he would enter into the plan of ftudy which I had projected for their cul

tivation.

Prefently a noble enthusiasm pof

131

feffed him; he divided into different portions each day. From the continual neceffity of endeavouring to procure fubfiftence, he, with difficulty, abstracted fome moments which he eagerly devoted to intellectual improvement. Already the twenty-four letters of the alphabet, impreffed on paper, fo as to rife a little above the furface, forming a thousand different combinations, realized, even in his mind, the wonders of the art of writing fo much extolled by the Poets. Already, under his ocular fingers, if I may use the expreffion, abftract ideas became embodied.

He admired the genius of Saunderfon in the invention of his Palpable Arithmetic; but that he might make a more rapid progress in that fcience than the plan of Saunderfon feemed to promife, for the uniform pegs and their positions employed by the English profeffor, he fubftituted the impreffions and fituations of those Arabian characters which we still use. 'Tis thus, that to facilitate his study of geography, of mufic, and of the other objects of culture, my young pupil, though deftined to perpetual darknefs, adopted the fame means which are in common ufe among thofe who have the full advantage of light, to obtain with greater promptitude the ends which he propofed.

I will not, however, conceal from you, Gentlemen, that in reducing my plan to practice I found formidable obftacles; but I was happy enough to explore the means of removing them, at least in a confiderable degree.

In vain is the human genius exerted; in vain are its inventions, equally wonderful in their nature, and indefinite in their number, configned to the fidelity of national records if they are not useful to mankind; they cannot procure to their authors that ineffable fatisfaction of

foul

foul which is the only real and adequate recompence of patriotic labours. Convinced of this truth, Gentlemen, I next endeavour to prove, that, by teaching the blind to read, and transfer their ideas to paper, an ineftimable benefit is not only conferred on themfelves, but on fociety in general. It is ufeful to the greateft number of the blind themselves, that they should be taught to read. Amongft thofe who are configned to perpetual darkness, two claffes may be diftinguifhed: Thofe whofe cruel destiny is alleviated by eafy circumstances; and those who feel their misfortunes enhanced and exafperated, by being exposed to the rigour of inexorable indigence. The firft, banished to convents, or to country retirements, pafs their lives in a languid and painful indolence, which almost renders existence burdenfome even to themfelves: the other, obliged to felicit from door to door a miferable and ineffectual relief, often find a part of thofe dearbought acquifitions embezzled by those who are neceffary to guide their steps; happy if they do not leave the greatest part of them in thefe places, where every day hirelings exhauft the refources effential to their fubfiftence, in the midft of the fallacious delights of a liquor which, when taken in excefs, is equally fatal to reafon and to health. Heaven grant, that by carrying one day to its utmost perfection a plan, the end of which is the happiness of fuch as labour under this affliction, I may be able to reicue them at once from the perfidy of their guides, from the effects of their imprudence, and from the infupportable preffure of poverty at the fame time that, concealing from the eyes of the humane the humbling fituation in which thefe unfortunate objects are obliged to beg the fcanty neceffaries of a miferable exiftence, I may reftore them to the privileges and

capacity of focial beings; and form them to be links of the great chain which unites and confolidates the connections of focial life, by the utility refulting from their common labour! But let us return to our first topic. It is fufficient, Gentlemen, to know the charms and advantages of reading, to evince that the blind who are in eafy circumftances receive an inestimable benefit when they are put in a capacity of imbibing by touch, or of recalling to memory, thofe fluctuating and eva nefcent ideas, for which they mustotherwife depend on hearing alone, and on the precarious opportunities of fuch communications which occur.

O, you tender and refpectable parents, born in the fmiles of a propitious fortune; you whofe fon has just commenced his existence, but is for ever precluded from beholding. the fun, and all the charms of the vifible creation, reftrain the emotions of an exceffive grief! A new. plan of culture fhall presently, on one hand, reftore to your fons, already tenderly loved, the dearest prerogatives of an intellectual exiftence; and, on the other, shall furnifh you with the means of satisfying that defire which a tafte for the fciences and improvement of talents kindle. in your fouls, of procuring him an education fuitable to the fphere in which he was born to act.

But perhaps I give myfelf up with too much enthusiasm to the delightful hope of feeing my project realized, and confirmed by experience. Already objections have been formed, and difficulties fuggefted. What good purpose can it ferve, fays one, to teach the blind the figure and force of letters? To what end print books for their ufe alone? They will never be able to read fuch as are intended for ocular infpection. Permit me, in my turn, to afk thefe cbjectors, To what pur pofe is it that books are printed for

all

Manner of constructing Vitrified Forts.

all the circumjacent nations who inhabit the globe? Can you read the language of the Chinese, the Malabarians, the Turks, the Peruvian Quipos, and fo many other tongues fo neceffary to those who underftand them? You must then grant, that in China you would be no more than a blind man on the banks of the Ganges, in the Ottoman empire, or in Peru.

Let us make a tranfition to thofe advantages which may arise from the inftructions propofed for the blind, when imparted to fuch as are entirely deprived of fortune. They themselves, when taught, may fuccefsfully, in their turn, exercise the function of teachers; whether in cultivating thofe who are already blind, or even thofe who enjoy all the advantages of light. The knowledge of the power of letters, affociated with articulate and figni

133

an

ficant founds; the French grammar,
foreign languages, whether
cient or modern; arithmetic, mu-
fic; nothing will escape their enthu-
fiaftic ardour; and already by anti-
cipation, methinks I oblerve the
grandchildren of those who now
live, encircling one of our mathemati-
cal chairs, and liftening with infati-,
able avidity to the lectures of a fu-
ture Saunderfon.

Animated by the attention of fuch refpectable spectators, I will redouble my exertions to finish my work, in order to communicate to my pupil all the knowledge which is requifite to form his heart, or to adorn his mind. I will continue, with increafing zeal, to inculcate on his foul the inextinguishable love of piety, the inviolable obligations of duty, and particularly the most ardent gratitude towards his benefactors.

Of the Manner of Constructing the Vitrified Forts found in many parts of

Scotland.

HE Doun of Creech, in the pa

THE Dour of Cct rifh of Creech and county of Sutherland, is a conical hill, pro jecting into the Firth of Dornoch, about feven miles above the town of Tain. It appears evidently to have had its fummit defended by a vitrified fort. Pieces of the vitrified wall still remain in their original place; but much the greateft part of the walls have either been thrown down, or have fallen to decay by the injury of weather and time.

Mr John Williams, mineral furveyor, was the first who discovered thefe vitrifactions to be artificial. They had formerly been miftaken for volcanic matter: But our antiquarians have hitherto been left in the dark as to the method and date of their conftruction,

It is to the learned antiquarian Mr Thorkelen, Profeffor of Hiftory and Antiquities in the University of Copenhagen, we are indebted for a very important piece of information on this fubject; which is the more interefting, that no hiftorian has mentioned a fingle word refpecting thefe buildings.

The noble Proprietors of Dunroben Castle gave that gentleman accefs to the ancient records of their family. Among thefe, the Profeffor found a MS. hiftory of the family of Sutherland, written by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonftown, in the year 1630; wherein is contained the following paffage, relative to the Doun of Creech, which, for its curiofity, is tranfcribed verbatim:

Doun

« AnteriorContinuar »