don sent him permission to go to India, The marriage was concluded: soon after they sailed ; and are now established at Patna. Con Crossing the Tumel, where, near its confluence with the Tay, it forms the beautiful peninsula of Logerait,* the travellers, passing the venerable mansion of Ballechin, proceeded through the winding woods of StrathTay, to Taymouth, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, one of the most romantic and grandest scenes in the Highlands. tinuing their route by the banks of LochTay, towards Inverary, they one evening came to an inn, near a church-yard:amusing themselves with reading the inscriptions on the tomb-stones, they were addressed by a gentleman in a clerical habit, who, after some ,conversation, requested their company to drink tea at the parsonage-house. They Ꭱ Ꮞ * Heretofore a royal seat, and the residence of Robert II. a monarch, like his descendant Charles II. chiefly distinguished for the number of his progeny. complied, engaging their host to return with them to the inn to supper. They discovered Dr. M'Intire, the clergyman, to be a man of much information, excellent sense, and peculiarly conversant in the history and actual state of the Highlands. They perceived also, that he was well acquainted with the affairs of India, where he had a son in a high situation. Mr. Burke was amused with the idea, that in a remote and sequesterel spot, where there were so few inhabitants, he should accidentally light on the father of a man in high situation in a service, the late head of which he was endeavouring to bring to condign punishment. Burke, who understood the Irish language, spoke to Dr. M'Intire in that tongue. He was answered in Erse; and they understood each other in many instances, from the similarity of these two dialects of the ancient Celtic. The Doctor shewed him an Irish Bible; and informed him that there had been no translation of the Scriptures into Erse till about twenty years before: that there was a version of the Testament pub-` lished by the clergyman of the adjoining parish (through which the gentlemen had · passed), Mr. Stewart of Killin; and that that gentleman, in conjunction with two of his sons, and with the assistance of other clergymen, of whom Dr. McIntire himself was one, was preparing a translation of the Old Testament. * Burke expected, and perceived, that his hosts's notions concerning both the authenticity and merit of Ossian by no means coincided with the opinion which he himself had formed. Burke,, indeed, admitted that there might be songs in the Erse descriptive of heroes and their * The chief conductor is Dr. Stewart of Luss, in Dumbartonshire, son to the translator of the Testament. It may have, perhaps, received interruption from the death of his father and brother, but, with the assistance of Dr. Smith of Campbeltown, Mr. Macklagan, and other gentlemen competent to the task, is now said to be considerably advanced. It will be of peculiar advantage at the present momentous season to have a translation of the Bible into the Erse tongue, in order to counteract the malignant efforts of disseminators of infidelity, who have published among the Highlanders versions of Paine's works, and similar productions. actions, as there are in the Irish, and in all languages; but denied that there was any evidence to prove that a regular epic poem had ever appeared in that tongue; and denied also that the poems, asserted by Mr. Macpherson to be translated from it, in whatever language they had been originally composed, possessed that excellence which Scotch critics ascribed to them. He thought that these, in their strictures upon Ossian, were guided more by national prejudice than by that vigorous investigating genius by which they were generally distinguished. Mr. McCormick, in speaking of the trial of Hastings, endeavours to shew that Burke made a job of it for the benefit of his own particular friends. That Burke exerted himself to serve those whom he loved and regarded, no one will deny. He procured for his brother, Richard, the Collectorship of Grenada, during the first administration of Lord Rockingham, and the appointment of Secretary to the Treasury in the last. When member for Bristol, his influence got the Recordership of that city for his brother also. Richard Burke was a man of very considerable abilities: he was engaged in several publications, and had even by some person's been deemed one of the authors of Junius. Letters that appeared in the Public Advertiser, signed Valens, during the American war, were supposed to be written by Richard, with the assistance of William, who afterwards went to India. Meanwhile Richard was studying law, and was called to the bar the same year with Mr. Erskine. He was acquiring reputation, and was highly thought of by Lord Mansfield. His rising character, and the opinion of that eminent man, began to procure him considerable business, when he was appointed Secretary to the Treasury. The duties of his new office interrupted that close application to the law, which might in time have raised him to a high rank in his profession. But, as from his acceptance of that employment, it was presumed that political exertions more than juridical were his object, after his loss of office he did not recover his former busi |