in the next chapter; and in the fixth, he treats of the veget able acids procured by fuch a degree of heat, as to destroy the union of the ingredients, or by the action of nitrous acid. In this chapter our author explains the near relation of all the vegetable acids, and refers them, as we have formerly done, to combinations of vital and inflammable air; in other words, to fixed air. The acids produced from fugar, &c. by diftillation, differ in their properties from thofe feparated by means of the nitrous acid, as may be expected from the empyreumatic oil neceffarily combined with them. The acid of camphor is little known.

The acid of camphor is produced by diftilling the nitrous acid eight fucceffive times from camphor. It is of a concrete cryftalline form, of a bitter taite, and reddens the tinctures of violets and turnfole. It differs from the acid of fugar in not feparating lime from the marine acid. With vegetable alkali it forms a falt in regular hexagons; with mineral aisalı, a falt in irregular cylals; with volatile alkali, priimatic or needleformed crystals; and with magnefia, a pulverulent icluble falt. It diffolves feveral metallic fubftances. But fubfequent enquiries are wanting to establish the peculiar nature and properties of this acid.'

The most deftru&tive diftillation of vegetable fubitances is next defcribed, with the products, of which charcoal is one of the most curious. This fubitance gives phlogiston instead of receiving it; and our author justly obferves, that if there are any metallic fubftances more combuftible than charcoal, they must remain unknown to us, as we have no means of reducing them. The ultimate ingredient, a refractory earth, may, in his opinion, be probably a phosphorated lime.

Fermentation, the various kinds of vinous liquors, and the properties of ardent fpirit, are next defcribed; and the confi deration of vegetable fubftances is concluded by the explanation of æthers of different kinds, the various proceffes for making them, and the nature as well as the combinations of the acetous acid. Each of the acids, from our author's account, feem capable of forming an ætherial fluid.

The animal fubftances and their analyus conclude the work, and in the Appendix are various ufeful tables. On the whole, this volume contains a valuable abstract of the science, fo far as it is hitherto understood; and we can fafely recommend it, not only as an useful compendium for the younger ftudents, but` as a fyftem, to afcertain the prefent state of chemistry, and for the fervice of the proficients, to which they may refer on those parts of the fcience which are lefs known and lefs readily recoi

The

MR.

The Antiquities of Scotland. By Francis Grofe, Efq. F. A. S. Folio. Large Paper 31. 45. Small 21. 35. 6d. Boards. Hooper. R. Grofe's Antiquities of England and Wales having been received with general approbation by the public, it must afford great pleasure to all readers of tafte, to know that he has continued his industrious researches into Scotland. After all the havoc committed by the English, under the two firft Edwards in particular, in purfuit of an ideal fuperiority, there ftill exift in that country a number of ancient caftles which have escaped the fury of civil commotions, and hitherto more or less refifted the dilapidations of time. An account of those venerable buildings, by reviving the remembrance of diftant years, and of celebrated characters and tranfactions, muft always be pleafing to the imagination, efpecially when accompanied, as in the work before us, with accurate and beautiful plates. Confirmed in this opinion, we fhall proceed with alacrity to give our readers a concife detail of this interefting volume.

Mr. Grofe begins with Edinburghshire, or Mid-Lothian, where, defervedly at the head of the antiquities of Scotland, ftands Edinburgh-Caftle on a rock, the area of which measures feven acres. It is elevated 294 feet above the level of the fea, and accefible only on the eastern fide, all the others being nearly perpendicular. Our author juftly obferves, that a fituation like this must have been occupied as a strong-hold from the earliest times, though history does not record the different fortreffes which have been conftructed on it. In the first account extant of a fortrefs at this place, the rock is by Boetius called. the Hill of Agnes; whence fome have inferred that the town of Edinburgh did not at that time exift, or was not then of fufficient confequence to give name to the spot. Were the fuppofition well founded, that the Agnes just now mentioned was the faint of that name, it would carry the antiquity of the fortrefs no farther back than the Christian æra. Long after this period, according to Fordun, the fortress was called the Virgin's Castle, from the daughters of the Pictish kings and chiefs being educated and kept there as a place of fafety in those barbarous times. By others, the origin of this appellation is derived from a nunnery, faid to have been established at this place before the foundation of Holyrood-abbey. From its height it was alfo ftyled Caftrum Alatum, or the Winged Caftle.

Mr. Grose afterwards recites a variety of historical facts relative to this caftle, which has often been the fcene of memorable transactions. One of thofe mentioned is the following:

During the conteft for the crown between Bruce and Baliol, this caftle was, A, D. 1296 befieged and taken by the English,

and

and remained in their hands near twenty years; but was, in 1313, recovered by fit Thomas Randolph, earl of Murray; when king Robert caused it and the other fortreffles recovered from the English to be demolished, that they might not again be occu pied by them in cafe of future incurfions. It was in ruins in the year 1336, when it ferved for the retreat of part of the count of Namure's forces, defeated by the earl of Murray, who held it but one day. King Edward III. on his return from Perth in his way to England, vifited Edinburgh, and gave orders for the rebuilding of this caftle, in which he placed a strong garrifon; it was nevertheless, in 1341, furprised by William Douglas, who, for that purpofe, made ufe of the following Stratagem: Douglas, with three other gentlemen, waited on the governor. One of them pretending to be an English merchant, informed him he had for fale on board a vessel then just arrived in the Forth, a cargo of wine, strong-beer, and bifcuit exquisitely fpiced; at the fame time producing as a fample, a bottle of wine, and another of beer. The governor tafting and approving of them, agreed for the purchafe of the whole, which the feigned captain requested he might deliver very early the next morn ing, in order to avoid interruption from the Scots. He came accordingly at the time appointed, attended by a dozen armed followers difguifed in the habit of failors; and the gates being opened for their reception, they contrived juft in the entrance to overturn a carriage in which the provifions were fupposed to be loaded, thereby preventing them from being fuddenly fhut. They then killed the porter and fentries; and blowing a horn as a fignal, Douglas, who with a band of armed men had lain concealed near the caftle, rushed in and joined their companions, A fharp conflict enfued, in which most of the garrifon being flain, the castle was recovered for the Scots, who about the fame time had alfo driven the English entirely out of Scotland.'

The hiftorical anecdotes are fucceeded by an accurate defcription of the cafle, accompanied with feveral views which are taken from the most advantageous fituations in every quarter.

The next object of the author's attention is the abbey of Holyrood-house. This was founded by king David I. in the year 1128, for canons regular of St. Auguftine, to whom he gave large endowments as well as privileges with an extenfive jurifdi&tion. By the munificence of that prince and fucceeding fovereigns, this abbey was deemed the moft opulent religious foundation in Scotland. The church belonging to this abbey, and which had been originally parochial, was fet apart by Charles the Second as a chapel royal. It appears to have been a magnificent ftructure; but by fome mifconduct in repairing it, the roof, with a great part of the walls, fell on the ircond of December 1768. In this chapel a throne was erected for the fovereign, and twelve stalls for the knights of the order

order of the Thistle. In an adjoining vault lay the bodies of James V. queen Margaret, and fome others. Since the year 1776, the head of the queen, which was then entire, and, according to our author, even beautiful, with the skull of Darnley, has been ftolen. But the thigh-bones of the latter ftill remain, and are proofs of the vaftness of his ftature.

The abbey of Holyrood-house was converted into a royal palace by James V. who, in the year 1528, erected upon the Spot a new building with a circular tower at each angle. This edifice was burnt by the English in the minority of queen Mary; but was foon after rebuilt and augmented much beyond its present dimensions. Great part of the ftructure have ing been burnt by Cromwell's foldiers, it was rebuilt in its prefent form in 1674, from a defign made by fir William Bruce, a celebrated architect of that time. It is a handsome ftone building, nearly square, measuring two hundred and thirty feet from north to fouth, but not quite fo much from east to west. It is decorated with piazzas and spacious walks. The west front confifts of two lofty double towers, joined by a beautiful low building, adorned with a double balustradę above, in the middle, where there is a magnificent portico, with large ftone columns, which fupport a cupola in form of an imperial crown: beneath is a clock Over the porch, at the entrance, are the royal arms of Scotland, as borne before the Union. The other three fides of the fquare are lofty and noble.

The great ftair-cafe and state rooms correfpond in point of grandeur to the rest of the building. The gallery on the north fide is one hundred and fifty feet in length, by twenty-seven and one half in breadth; its height eighteen feet. The walls of this gallery are adorned with one hundred and twenty por traits of the kings of Scotland, nineteen of which are whole lengths. Many of the portraits of the early kings are ideal; fome of the modern ones are faid to have been copied from other pictures. They were all painted by a Flemish artist named De Wit, who was brought over for that purpose by king James VII. when duke of York.

From the abbey of Holyrood-house we are conducted to Heriot's hospital; a magnificent edifice, founded by George He riot, goldfmith to king James I. of England. This perion was the fon of a goldsmith of Edinburgh of the fame name. On his marriage with the daughter of a merchant in 1586, his paternal fortune, added to the portion of his wife, amount, ed to two hundred and fourteen pounds fterling. With this small beginning, and another portion of three hundred and thirty-three pounds with a fecond wife, he, by his industry

and

and economy, accumulated hifiy thoufand pounds fterling, at that time a prodigious fum. Dying without any legitimate children in 1624, after leaving confiderable legacies to two natural daughters, he bequeathed the remainder of his fortune to the town council and minifters of Edinburgh, in trust, for building an hofpital for the maintenance and education of indigent boys, the fons of burgefies of that city. According to different records and other authentic memorials, this refidue amounted to 23,6251. 10s. 31d. and not to 43,6081. 115. 3d. as affirmed by Maitland.

The plan of this building is faid to have been drawn by Inigo Jones. The governors began the work in July 1628; but the public commotions which took place in 1639, for fome time interrupted the progrefs. It was renewed in 1642; and finished in the year 1650, at the expence of thirty thoufand pounds, which was far more than the original receipt. This increase was the produce of the interest, at that time generally ten per cent.

When Cromwell took poffeffion of Edinburgh after the batile of Dunbar, he converted this edifice into a military hofpital; and it continued to be appropriated to that ufe, until the year 1658, when general Monck, who then commanded the English forces, removed them, on the governor's providing them another hospital.

On April 11th, 1659, this houfe was opened for the purpose prescribed by the founder, when thirty boys were admitted. In 1763 the number was increased to one hundred and forty; but at the time of our author's vifit to the North, there were only one hundred and ten. The revenues of this hofpital confift of a real eftate of about 1800l. per annum. The income, however, being corn rents, and depending on the price of grain, is liable to fome fluctuation.

In this hofpital the boys are inftructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Latin tongue: fuch as prefer a courfe of academical learning, have annuities of ten pounds per annum each for four years. Others are put out to trades, and have each thirty pounds given with them as an apprentice fee.

The building confifts of a square, each fide of which meafures one hundred and fixty-two feet, leaving in the middle an area ninety-four feet each way. This court is paved with fquare ftones, and has a well in the centre. The north and eaft fides are decorated with piazzas, and a well fix feet and one quarter in breadth. On the north fide of the square, and fecond ftory, is an effigy of the founder, George Heriot, cut in ftone and painted; which the boys, on the first Monday in June, ornament with Bowers, and keep the day as a festival