Sept. 2 6 God, and the monks of this monastery, for a burial place in their church for himself and his family. But these monks, instead of fulfilling the testator's intention, by interring their benefactor in their church, are said to have thrown the corpse in a leaden coffin into the sea, as they were bringing it from Aberdour. The place where this infamous sacrilege was committed is called Mortimer's deep to this day. Some time after this adventure the lordship of Aberdour, about the year 1126, descended to the Viponts from the Mortimers, by marriage. After the destruction of monasteries, the island came to the Stewart family; and now, with the western half of the manor of Aberdour, belongs to the earl of Murray, descended from the well known regent of this kingdom.

The island itself is situated near the north side of the Forth opposite to Aberdour, scarcely two miles distant. It is of small extent, not exceeding, on the whole, half a mile in length from east to west; and the greatest width less than a quarter of a mile. It consists of two eminences, with a neck of low land between, where the island is nearly cut through by the sea. On this low neck the monastery is built. The soil seems to be abundantly fertile; but it is, at present, so overrun with rabbits, that no use can now be made of its produce.

Want link'd to vice may pity claim,
And ask an off'ring from thy hand,
Thy tears exprefs that still thy aim

Is to relieve, not yeprimand;

A sister hir'd from wirtue' needs a tear,,
For guilt and poverty are hard to bear.

The new made orphan's artless tale,
Pleads not with thee, blest friend! in vain;
Thy sighs are blended with the gale,

Thy healing balm relieves the pain;
And Innocence, enraptur'd, will intrude
Its May morn tears and smiles of gratitude.

Age, feeble, tottering to decay,

A-kin to childhood, near the tomb,
Awaken'd by thy fost'ring ray,

Forgets the grave, the future's womb;

And down the time-worn cheek of eighty years,
The grandsire's thanks descend in joy-dimm'd tears..

O Charity, benign! still spare

From thy rich store, with liberal hand,,
Comfort to ease the brow of care,

And scatter plenty o'er our land ;;

Give, for thou lend'st, sow, for the gain is seven;
Peace is the spring time, and the harvest heav'n!

MASCA.

1

GLEANINGS OF ANCIENT POETRY:

TO SLEEP, BY DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN, anno 1616..
SLEEP, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest!
Prince, whose approach peace to all mortals brings,
Indiff'rent host to fhepherds and to kings,

Sole comforter of minds with griefe opprest.

Loe! by thy charming rod, all breathing things.
Lie slumb ring, with forgetfullnesse pofsest,

And

yet o'er me to spread thy drowsie wings,
Thou spar s, alas! who cannot be thy guest..

Since I am thine, O come' but with that face
To inward light which thou ar. wont to show,
With fained solace ease a true-felt woe;
Or if deafe god! thou doe denie that grace,
Come as thou wilt, and what thou wilt bequeath
I long to kifse the image of my death.

ON THE CRINAN CANAL.

Ir is now once more magation to have a canal cut across the isthmus of Cantire, from Crinan to loch Gilp, an undertaking of such obvious utility, that it has been often proposed, but always abandoned for want of funds to carry it into execution. Whether these funds will now be found I cannot pretend to say; but Mr Rennie, so well known for his skill in undertakings of this sort, has been this summer employed to survey this, and some other places upon the west coast of Scotland, by order of the society for improving the British fisheries, from whose enterprises it is to be hoped some good will result to the community.

That our readers may form some idea of the utility of this enterprise, let them be informed, in few words, that Cantire, (with Lorn,) is a peninsula of nearly eight miles in length, which separates loch Fine, at the head of which the town of Inverary stands, from the Western Ocean. This peninsula, in scarcely any place, exceeds twenty miles in breadth; but at one place in particular, Tarbat, it is so far indented, by two arms of the sea from the opposite sides, as to leave a neck of land of one mile only between them, and in anoother place, Crinan, the distance acrofs is only five

miles.

The navigation on the west coast of this peninsula is more hazardous than on any other part of the west coast of Scotland, as it is in general a flat fhore without harbours; and the sea being boisterous round the Mull of Cantire it is particularly dangerous to open boats; and as all the little commerce of the Western Isles into the Clyde must at present be carried on in such boats, scarcely a year passes in which some of these boats are not wrecked, and the sailors drowned in this long and hazardous voyage.

Sept. 26. Were a canal cut across this isthmus, the voyage to these markets would not only be shortened nearly one half, but an opportunity would also be given to allow the fishermen in loch Fine, to prosecute their fisheries on the western coasts, when opportunities offered, as well as in loch Fine itself, to which they are at present entirely confined; and the fishermen on the west could in the same way have access to loch Fine, when the herrings cast up there, and not on their own coast; for it often happens that they may be caught in myriads on the one side of the peninsula, when not one can be found on the other side of it.

The smallest size of a canal that is ever made, would serve for these purposes; but were it made of a size fufficient to admit busses, and other decked vefsels that usually navigate on that coast, the benefits arising from it would be augmented to a tenfold degree; and the improvements this would occasion, cannot be at present, with any degree of accuracy, appreciated.

The general opinion at first was, that the canal could be easiest made at Tarbat, as there the neck of land was not only shorter, but the rise of ground between the two seas considerably lefs than at Crinan; but upon a nearer investigation, it has appeared to every person of skill who has examined it, that the cut ought rather to be made at Crinan.

The chief objections to that at Tarbat, are these: the mouth of west loch Tarbat runs considerably to the southward, so as to require a wind for navigating in that loch, different from that which would be wanted by vefsels in general which would pass that way.

The loch itself is fhallow, full of rocks, and the navigation in it by no means as safe as could be wished.

The whole track of land in this course to be cut, consists of a solid rock of granite, which could not be cut