and I felt repaid for all the dangers and troubles I had undergone. Many of the streets are nearly two miles in length, perfectly level and straight, and with the ends terminating in the view of the mountains that surround the valley. Most of the houses are of the same height, generally three stories, highly decorated, and

ornamented with two rows of balconies of wrought iron, painted or gilt, and some of bronze. The stories are very lofty, the apartments being from fifteen to twenty feet high. The first or groundfloor is entered by a pair of large folding gates, ornamented with bronze, often thirty feet in height. These lead into the court-yard, surrounded by the house, filled with trees and flowers, producing a very pretty effect, and having a gallery to each floor, offering so many separate promenades under shelter from the sun and rain.

The lower apartments are generally occupied by the porter and other servants; the floor above is often let off; but the highest, which is the principal, is occupied by the family themselves, having a separate stone staircase of great magnificence leading to it. Nothing can be better calculated than these residences for the delightful climate, in a country where change of temperature is scarcely known, where perennial spring reigns, where fire-places are never seen, and where it is scarcely necessary to have glass windows to exclude the night air from the bed-rooms. All that is requisite is a strong roof, against the heavy rains that occur at certain seasons, and lofty rooms to afford a free circulation of the air; and nothing can be better adapted for this purpose than the style of architecture introduced by the Spaniards

into Mexico.

Numbers of the houses are entirely covered with glazed porcelain, in a variety of designs and patterns, which gives them an extremely light and brilliant appearance. The walls of the great staircases are also ornamented in the same manner, mixed with a profusion of gilding, which has a splendid effect. The roofs of the houses are nearly flat, and bricked. Many of them are covered with flowers, affording a pleasant place of resort in a fine evening, as the prospect is delightful, and the air refreshing, and uncontaminated with smoke. Owing to this species of ornament, the city, seen from an elevation, presents a far more beautiful appearance than those of Europe, where the red-tiled and deformed roofs, and

shapeless stacks of chimnies, are the principal features in the prospect.

The late convulsions and disorders, the invariable consequence of political changes, which have befallen this country, have not been favourable to its improvement. Ultimate good will no doubt spring out of present evil; but the immediate consequences of the Revolution have been unfavourable, and have wrought a visible and melancholy change in the state of the capital. One effect of the civil contests of which the country has been the scene, has been the closing up of the rich mines, which gave employment to a numerous class of labourers, and diffused wealth and comfort through the country. It is not that we suppose the digging for gold or silver to be more profitable than any other branch of industry; but this was the great staple produce industry must of necessity receive a of the country; and commerce and shock by the stagnation of the trade. During sixteen years of revolutionary warfare, also, almost all the old rich Spanish families have been expelled the country; great changes have taken place in the fortunes of others, who have been compelled to remain; and the community is just smarting under all those immediate evils. This is the price which must be paid for freedom. There is no getting quit of the old yoke without a struggle, and partial distress is the riving at the very time when all consequence of this struggle. these evils are in full operation,when society is reeling, as it were, under the revolutionary shock,when the nauseous draught has been just swallowed,-when its evil only, and not its good, is seen, it is extremely natural to draw inferences rather unfavourable to the Revolution; and this impression seems to have been strongly made on the mind of our travellers by the aspect of existing distress. There appeared, according to Mr Bullock, a visible decay in the capital of Mexico, from that splendour which it exhibited to Humboldt immediately previous to the Revolution. "The superb tables," he observes, "chandeliers, and other articles of furniture, of solid silverthe magnificent mirrors and pictures, framed in the same precious metal,

Ar

have now passed through the mint, and, in the shape of dollars, are circulating over Europe and Asia; and families, whose incomes exceeded half a million per annum, can now scarcely procure the means of a scanty subsistence." These are, no doubt, grievous evils; but the question just comes to be, whether the Mexicans, in dread of the consequences of a revolution, were bound to submit to the intolerable evils which oppressed them, were bound to submit to every interdict which the caprice or tyranny of the mother country should lay on their industry? Were they bound-the whole population of this extensive country-to be mere pack-horses, to bear whatever burdens the insolent inhabitants of the mother country should fasten on their backs? Were they bound to be quiescent under such miseries, from a fear of those temporary convulsions attendant on political changes? We think not. They had a stormy strait before them, over which they must pass to the land of light and liberty; and they chose rather to brave its dangers, than to remain on the opposite and dismal shore of darkness and misery. These dangers are now surmounted; the evils of revolution have been endured, and the benefits of freedom are now come; and we cannot doubt, that, as they have sown the seed, they will now reap the harvest. There is no doubtt hat industry, being set free from its shackles, the produce of the country will be increased, and there will be a more equal diffusion of wealth. There will not be, as heretofore, such distant extremes of overflowing wealth and extreme wretchedness. Labour will be open to all classes, in whatever line they may think most pro fitable. There will be a similar encouragement to the free employment of capital; wealth will circulate freely through all its natural channels; and the aggregate riches of the community, without, perhaps, such overgrown fortunes, the consequence of the monopoly of property by the rich and the great, will, upon the whole, be greater, and will be more equally divided. So that though there may not be the shewy and dazzling spectacle which immense wealth never fails to present,

there will be more solid comfort and happiness; and as capital slowly accumulates from successful industry, splendid fortunes will again arise; the price, not of political monopoly, but of commercial enterprize, and a standing encouragement, therefore, to industry and good conduct.

The evils of the revolution were every where visible, not merely in the ruin of individuals, but in the decay of public institutions, established for the improvement of literature and the arts. Mr Bullock visited the theatre in Mexico, where the exhibitions were wretched in the extreme; the orchestra indifferent; the scenery, dresses, and machinery, inferior to the performances of Bartholomew Fair. The performers were in a style entirely corresponding. The aspect of the audience was greatly affected by the woeful change which has taken place among the inhabitants of this once gay city. Not a tenth part of the house was occupied, and there were but few females, and these but indifferently dressed. Two or three Canton crape shawls were the only coloured articles of dress to be seen. A gentleman mentioned to Mr Bullock, that he had visited this place of amusement forty years before, during the viceroyalty of Galvez, and he was strongly impressed with the miserably altered appearance of this once splendid place of amusement, which he had before seen crowded to excess by brilliant audiences. The Botanic Garden is one of the finest that can be seen. It is full of the most elegant plants and flowers unknown to the eye of a European, and all flourishing in the highest degree. Such, however, were the exigences of the state, that the pension to the Italian Professor, who had the care of this beautiful and useful establishment, was about to be taken away.

Mr Bullock gives a lively and amusing account of the general aspect of Mexico; of the inhabitants, and their manners and customs. Their markets form an interesting spectacle, particularly the markets for vegetables and birds, which are constantly arriving of a morning, in hundreds of Indian canoes, by the lake of Chalco. Mr Bullock mentions, that he was never tired of ex

amining the fruits and vegetables, they were so splendid, and in such variety, many of them scarcely known in Europe. For these details we must refer to the work itself, as they rather run to too great a length to be extracted. The Indians also bring to market a considerable quantity of a small delicate fish, not more than two or three inches long, which they take in nets, in the canals and ditches near the lakes.

There is no doubt, when we consider the state of this extensive country, as to industry and capital, that it will afford a great market for British manufactures. The muslins and calicoes of Great Britain, both printed and plain, are in great request; but the German linens sell better than the Irish. The blue and white earthen ware, manufactured in Britain, is also much sought after, and will, in a great measure, injure the domestic manufacture of those articles. The low-priced French woollen cloths seem to be preferred to the British fine ones, the glory of a Mexican dandy being to appear in a new coat as glossy as possible. Cotton stockings are in great demand; and Mr Bullock thinks, that if a few of our well-dressed country women were going over, as specimens of our manufactures, that it would greatly accelerate the change which is going on, and that Glasgow and Manchester might double their exportations in a few months. There are no optical instruments; and cast-iron, so generally useful and necessary in this country, is almost unknown here. Of its powers, as connected with steam, they have received such exaggerated accounts, that they generally disbelieve the whole as an idle tale. English beer and porter are in great demand, and sold sometimes for four or five dollars per bottle. Breweries are about to be established, for which they have a very fine barley. Medical and surgical knowledge is at a low ebb. Several young physicians from the United States had arrived, and were getting into practice.

From this account of the state of things in Mexico, it is clear that it presents a noble opening for the commerce of Great Britain. In this country we have an overflowing ca

pital, with a host of artizans admirably trained in every species of refined industry. We have capital and industry at command, in short; and such improved machinery, also, that we have increased, to an amazing degree, the powers of labour; and can, after paying the heavy expences of a tedious transport by sea, undersell the domestic manufacturer, of almost any country, in his own market, with all the advantage which he has of cheaper wages. The halfinformed countries of the new world are just precisely in that state in which we can pour with advantage into their markets a supply of our commodities. They are, in many parts, extremely productive; they have abundance of rude produce; but they are deficient in a supply of the finished manufacture. They want capital, and, still more, industry, of which we have a superabundant supply; and the two countries are, therefore, in respect to each other, in the most favourable situation imaginable for an extensive commercial intercourse. We consider the independence of these countries of vast importance to Great Britain; and that it is our policy immediately to recognise their independence, which is now notorious to all the world, by which we might possibly obtain some relaxation of the heavy duties which press on foreign commerce at the port of Vera Cruz, one of the chief inlets into the interior of this great continent, and at which, as we conceive, by a very injudicious policy, a heavy toll is levied on the passage of all foreign produce.

The improvements which are at present going on in Mexico, the free intercourse with this country, and the great probability that British ingenuity and capital will be transferred in great abundance to this (in a manner) new country, suggest various anticipations, not only as to the effects of this change on Mexico, but also on the world at large. The great staple, it ought to be considered, of these countries, has hitherto been the precious metals, of which the Mexican mines have yielded large supplies. But the machinery by which they have been wrought is very imperfect, and in consequence

THE literary taste of the public has of late been almost exclusively directed to the tracing out and painting the antiquated characters and customs of our Scottish ancestors; in consequence of which, many national traits and eccentric peculiarities which were on the eve of being for ever forgotten, have been caught while hurrying into oblivion, and fixed as permanent mirrors, wherein the present generation may behold shadowed forth a faithful picture of their less refined and more simple progenitors. This taste, by which all seem to be influenced, though perhaps carried a little too far, is by no means, with respect to national feeling, either a partial or fictitious one. There is something in the delineation of ancient character, which, while it amply gratifies our most eager curiosity, speaks also powerfully to the heart, and awakens within us so many kindred sympathies, that, to remain uninterested, would only argue our want of sensibility; and to decry them as untrue to Nature, our utter ignorance of what constitutes such a standard.

I would also add my humble mite to the general sum, by attempting the portraiture of a family at present in existence, who embody within themselves almost every thing now deemed eccentric in ancient Scottish character, and who are perhaps less tainted with the prevailing manners of the present day than any other family throughout the whole of Scotland. Born in the same parish in which they and their forefathers have for centuries rusticated, (a parish ly. ing in the western district of Dumfries-shire, and which Hogg, in his "Queen's Wake," denominates 66 green -," &c.), I have known them almost from childhood, and can aver, that however much the follow ing account of them may, in some respects, appear like caricature, it is strictly correct in every leading particular, and mixed with as little exaggeration as possible. Indeed it is to this circumstance alone that I trust for success; for though, in abler hands, they might furnish materials for volumes, in mine, the narrative

VOL. XV.

will be more indebted to sterling veracity, for what merit it may possess, than to the display of any graphic powers I am master of. For obvious reasons, I have drawn over them the veil of a fictitious name, which, however, takes nothing from the interest of the picture, for, whatever is natural, comes, with regard to interest, within the scope of the poet's line, "The rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet."

The members of this singular and truly original family, who, notwithstanding the many oddities attached to their character, are scarcely known beyond the limits of their native pa rish, consist of one man considerably above the middle age, who is laird of the farm they occupy, with three or four sisters, two of whom are older than himself, and wrinkled enough, as may be supposed, this being ge nerally the case with old forlorn maidens, whose tempers have become soured by want and disappointment. These are what may be called the old stock; then the laird has two sons, the fruit of his marriage several years ago, with a woman of a respectable and somewhat genteel family, who was ultimately obliged to separate from him, being unable to transport herself from the point of civilization to which society had then attained, backwards for at least a century, to "his own times," as Bishop Burnet hath it; or to keep her own side of the house with his Ámazonian sisters, who, to use an old phrase, "could have eaten all they liked of her." One or two of these sisters have also added, though not so economically as the laird, considerable additions to the family, some of whom, in their turn, have again enlarged it; so that the ancient house of Glenhowan contains under its roof no fewer than three generations.

In mentally sketching the picture of those who yet retain, without any mixture of modern refinement, the unsophisticated manners of our ancestors, we never fail to make an innocent and artless simplicity one of the most prominent features in their character; but such an Arcadian Ee