Literature.

To encounter man or woman , boy or girl , in Sutherland , and pass on ivithout speaking , would be to proclaim yourself a misanthrope . A " Goocl clay " on both sides was quickly followed by conversation . We were both going so Eiconieh , where 1 purposed sleeping ; we would go there together , ancl so we were companions for the clay . JBut who is your companion ? you will perhaps ask . Well , dear reader , I can tell you now , though if you hacl put this question to

me at the close of my walk with the wayfarer I could not have tolcl yon , so ill did I succeed in ascertaining the calling , business , or pursuit of the strange figure . He was a "Man . " Why , of course he was , you answer . Put on your spectacles , my friend , and look at that informing substantive again . Observe how it is embraced by two commas , which means , in this case , that my companion belong to the religious sect ivho call themselves ' ' The Men" and was therefore a " Man . " And as

, yon have probably never heard of these people , whose proper habitat is the north of Scotland , I will tell you something- about them . The peculiar feature of the sect is self-election . They repudiate all ecclesiastical discipline ancl authority , detest prelacy , liturgies , and Erastianism , and consider that they alone are judges of their spiritual progress , which is poured upon them by God's grace . All theological learning is held in utter contempt , and the languaa-e of

the -most ignorant "Man , " if he asserts that he speaks by Divine inspiration , passes for Gospel truths among their followers . The " Men" wear , during summer and winter , a cloak , which they wish to be considered apostolic ; black garments , if they can obtain them , and through Caithness and Sutherland , where they abound , a cotton cap or handkerchief . This possesses great significance . The more it approaches pure ivhite , thc more blameless and holy does the wearer desire himself to be consideredand

, , strange to say , is considered by the sect . The great object of these spiritual mountebanks appears to be to excite the people who are foolish enough to listen to them , to a frenzied hatred of all other religious sects . " One , " says Investigator , ' ' amid the breathless silence of a multitude of listeners , rose ancl declared that a word had been sent to them which he could not but speak , ancl it was , that whatever might be the marks of

grace , none were to be found in those big parish ministers who fed themselves and not their flocks ; those idle shepherds , into ivhose ilock the true sheep would not enter ; those carnal worldlings , who , unlike the apostles , wore hoots —( deep groans from tiie old women ) —ancl travelled in gigs ! " ( Here expressions of horror were heard in every part of the meeting . ) " JBut , ho ! ye devils , ye cannot make me silent ; I will lift up my testimony against yon in this meeting , and will warn the simple , lest they fall into your snares . "

Another "Man" drew up what he called his dying testimony , leaving a blank for the insertion of the date of his death . In this precious document are the following passages : —• "I , Alexander Campbell , as a dying- man , leave my testimony from first to last against the Reformed Presbytery ; they are false hypocrites . Heave my testimony against the letter-learned men , that are not taught in the college of Sinai and Zion , but in the college

of Babylon . ' ' I , as a dying man , leave my testimony against paying unlawful tributes and stipend , either in civil or ecclesiastical courts , not according to the word of God—if otherwise , they shall receive the mark of the beast . " I , as a dying man , leave my testimony against the low country , as it is not kind to strangers . ' ' Ias a dying man , leave my testimony against men and women

, conformed to the world in having dresses , parasols , and vain headsails , and men having whiskers , like ruflian soldiers , as wild as Ishnniel , not like Christians , as Jacob—smooth . " And that there may be no mistake respecting his unchristian antipathy to all other sects , he says"I , as a dying man , leave my testimony against Quakers , Tabernacle folkHaldcansIndependentsAnabaptistsAntiburghers

, , , , , Burghers , Chapeis-of-Ease , Kelief , Eoman Catholics , Socinians , Prelacy , Arminians , Deists , Atheists , Universiilists , JXew . Terus : ; - leinites , Unitarians , Methodists , liareans , Glassites , and ail sectarians . " After this we draw breath , and thank God Alexander Campbell has no jurisdiction , spiritual or otherwise , over us . Why , the most zealous member of the Holy Office , in its palmy auto-da-fe days ,

was a lamb compared to this " Man . " The habitually frigid Highlander is easily excited by religious fanatics , and when you hear that the "Men" are regarded as divinely inspired , you will have no diirieulty in believing that they easily eke out the qttoi vicre . Going from house to house , praying in some , exhorting in others , they are rarely allowed to depart empty-handed , or at least unrefreshed . My " Man" hacl been for an eight weeks' spiritual cruise through Caithness , making Wick his head-quarters , and was returning to his home , hung about , as , L

Literature.

told you , with bundles ; and how well his purse was lined I cannot say-Some geological notes about Burgh-head give occasion for the introduction of a capital story of the late Dr . Bnckland . Mention is made of the question , relating to fossil marks showing the fact of marine and amphibious animals migrating overland , and Mr . Weld says : —•

This , I remember , was a subject of grave discussion one evening at the Geological Society when the meetings were enlivened by the observations of the late * Dr . Buckland . What could have possessed the animals—they were fossil tortoises , I believe—to be all travelling in the same direction ? That was the question ; one , be sure , of great importance—at least yon ivould have thought so hacl you heard the keen manner in which it ivas discussed . At length the Dean solved the problem . "You said , I think , " quoth he , "that the

footprints indicated that the beasts ivere travelling- from north to south ? " " Yes , " replied the author of the paper , as gravely as if a barrister had asked ' him whether he had seen a man murdered . "Then , " said the Dean , "they were Scotch tortoises on their way to England to better their condition . " The account Mr . Weld gives of his return , by tho last coach for the season , is a graphic illustration of ono sicte in tbe character of a people , who pride themselves on being the most righteous and religious on the earth : and with . this wo must conclude our long extracts . Oar author

says : — I left the steamer at Baunavie , passed the night in the excellent hotel , simpecl with one tourist , an American , ivho was in ' raptures with the ' Highlands , and had seen them leisurely and well , and the next morning dressed by candle-light and left by the huge van-like coach for Loch Lomond , eld Glencoe . It was its last journey for the season , and a strange journey it was , for , at every place between Bannavie and Loch Lomond where we stoppedwe took up various

, articles belonging to tho coach establishment ; brushes and buckets , horse-cloths and " harness , with an enormous quantity of whisky contained in living barrels , said barrels being the ostlers . The fact is , the coach was returning to its winter quarters to he laid up in ordinary until the ensuing season ; and , as no passengers were expected , ' everybody considered that he hacl full licence to get drunk . How the coach got through Glencoe is a mystery to me . I walked

, and arrived at King ' s House long before the coach reeled up to that lonely abode . Here more ostlers full of whisky were taken up , with the result , of course , of increasing the drunken confusion of evervbodv ; and so we galloped down that long hill across the shoulder of the Black Mount , and through Lord JBrcacuilbane ' s forest , to Tyndriun , scattering , to the dismay of their shepherd ,-: , thousands of sheep that werctieiiig driven to Falkirk Cattle Tryst ,

and which whitened the road for many miles . That the coach , with its motlev ancl tremendous load , arrived whole at Tynciram , is highly creditable to its builder , for so erratic , were its motions that I momentarily expected to find myself sprawling on the road , pud see the vehicle break up into innumerable fragments ,

Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

We give tiie following' bit of private history , with tho correspondence of the Duke of "Wellington and Lord Bimiloiiald , as received from Dr . Wright , son of the ingenious gentleman whose tale it tells : — 23 , Soinc-r .-et-st-rcet , Dec , 1 , 18 G 0 . _ The acconipanviiirr letters arc characteristic , and 1 chink there is nothing in them of -: o persona ! a kind as to make mo he-dtato about

their publication , jiuch , indeed , of their interest depends upon a knowledge of the circuuistaiices under which they were written ; and I acid thc short history , believing that tills " may , of itself , possess a special interest to that large . ; , umber of your readers who are volunteers or sport-men . In IS 29 , the percuss-on had well nigh superseded the old flint lock , rait th .-re were certain practical objections to the innovation which , wc nu ' v he sure , the -steady old shots with which

of that dav made the most of Thc uetouating powder caps were then charc-c-d had chlorate of potass as its chief ingredient , usually mixedVitli gunpowder from which the nitre had been previously washed . Its disadvantages ivere , that it rusted the lock aud barrel , bv producing rapid oxidation of the metal , that it was affected by damp , and that tiie charcoal ( from the gunpowder ) dirt that late fathera keen sportsman ancl

generated . In year , my , an excellent chemist , was ' led to turn to practical account some experiments he had made with fulminating mercury as far back as the year 1805 , soon after its discovery . He primed some caps with a preparation of this powerful detonator , mixed with a . solution of benzoin , to afford a varnish as protection against damp , and he and his friends were convinced , by a winter's trial , of their superiority .