ous occasions, and you have always desiderated the propriety of it, and I think have departed from it in some instances. I remember the circumstances of the case well. Helen Chalmers lived in Musselburgh, and the Defender, Mrs. Baillie, lived in Fisherrow, and at that time there was much intercourse between the genteel inhabitants of Musselburgh and Fisherrow, and Inveresk, and likewise Newbigging, and there were balls and dances or assemblies every fortnight, and also sometimes, I believe, every week, and there were likewise card assemblies once a fortnight or oftener, and the young folk danced there also, and others played at cards, and there were various refreshments such as tea or coffee, and butter and bread, and I believe, but I am not certain, porter and negus, and likewise small beer, and it was at one of these assemblies that Mrs. Baillie called Mrs. Chalmers a whore or an adultress, and said she had lain with Commissioner Cardonnel,* a gentleman whom I knew very well at one time, and had a great respect for, he is dead many years ago, and Mrs. Chalmers brought an action of defamation against her before the Commissioners, and it came by advocation into this Court, and your Lordship allowed a proof of the veritas convicii, and it lasted a long time, and in the end answered no good purpose even to the Defender herself, while it did much harm to the character of the Pursuer. I am, therefore, for refusing such a proof in this case, and I think the Petitioner and his Beetle have been slandered, and the Petition ought to be

seen.

LORD METHVEN.

If I understand the Interlocutor, it is not said that the

* Mansfield Cardonnel, Esquire, one of the Commissioners of the Customs, who had a residence in Musselburgh. He was a married man at the period of the alleged intercourse, which was represented as having taken place so far back as the year 1748. This gentleman is said to have been the father of Adam Cardonnel, Esq. known to the Scotish Antiquary as the author of a series of descriptions of ancient buildings in Scotland, illustrated by etchings, and who afterwards succeeded to an estate in the north of England, and changed his name to Lawson.

E-a-a-gyptian lice are Beetles, but that they may be or resemble Beetles.

I am, therefore, for sending the Process to the Ordinary to ascertain that fact, as I think it depends upon that whether there be a-a-a-convicium or not. I think also that the Petitioner should be ordained to a-a-a-produce his Beetle, and the a-a-a-Defender an Egyptian Louse, and if he has not one, he should take a diligence to a-a-a-recover lice of various kinds, and that these be remitted to Dr. Monro or a-a-Mr. Playfair, or to some other Naturalist to report upon the subject.— AGREED TO.

XVI.

QUESTION OF COMPETITION, KESWICK v. ULLSWATER.

Generally ascribed to the same accomplished Gentleman to whose pen we are indebted for the report of the Diamond Beetle case.

In a compétition amongst the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, after sustaining the preferable claim of Windermere, it came to be disputed, whether Kyswick ought to be preferred secundo loco, or brought in pari passu with Ullswater.

Pleaded for Kyswick,—Primo, This piece of water is circular, and retains the form of a lake in every point of view. On the contrary, Ullswater is narrow and winding, and it deceives the spectator, by assuming the appearance of a river. It's claim to beauty ought therefore to be repelled, as founded upon a simulate right; and although a broad expanse of water is often less interesting than a contracted stream, yet this is not the case where there is evidently dolus dans causam contractui.

Secundo et separatim.-From the top of Skiddaw, the first object that arrests the attention is Kyswick, with its surrounding vale, and its triti juris, that arrestments are

preferable according to their dates. Erskine, B. III, tit. 6, § 18.

Tertio, The islands in this lake are more numerous and varied, and some of them are covered with fine wood, not a sylva cadua, like that on Ullswater, but grown timber, which could not be cut by a liferenter, even if he were infeft cum sylvis, though perhaps he might use it to keep the houses in a habitable condition.-26th July 1737. Fergusson.

C. Home.

Lastly, The distant mountains are more magnificent, and they disclose, in the back-ground, more picturesque and romantic scenes, particularly in the pass of Borrowdale, towards the black-lead or wad mines, all of which are to be held part and pertinent of Kyswick, according to the maxim accessorium sequitur principale.

In support of the argument, various authorities may be referred to. Gray's Letters, p. 18; Gilpin's Tour, p. 39. And so it was decided by Mr. Avison, organist of Durham, 30th June 1772, who pronounced the following judgment "This is beauty lying in the lap of horrors."

Answered for Ullswater,-Nothing can be more formal and insipid than the figure of Kyswick, which is almost an exact circle, while this lake resembles the letter S, which is the true line of beauty; nor can it be mistaken for a river, because it does not flow et rivus est locus per longitudinem depressus quo aqua decurrat cui nomen est a пg id est a fluendo.-Dig. lib. 43, tit. 21, 1. 1, § 2. De rivis. Besides, in point of size, it equals or exceeds Kyswick, and the quantity of water in the one may be set off against that in the other, which, it will not be disputed, is a compensatio de liquido in liquidum.

Secundo, The solitude that reigns along the bold and precipitous shore of Ullswater, is peculiarly romantic and pleasing, for, amidst a scene of broken banks, one naturally looks for a sequestration, but the sides of Kyswick are covered

with houses, and if two lovers had an assignation there, it would soon be intimated all over the country.

Tertio, As to the islands,- Vicar's Island spoils the effect of the rest, for it is covered with corn fields, which are certainly out of place there, corn being parsonage, and not vicarage. Forbes on Teinds, p. 39. Not to mention that its banks are quite deformed by Mr. Pocklington's fortifications, l. 1, § 6. De ripa monien, &c.

Lastly, It is impossible to enter Borrowdale with personal security, from the suspension of loose rocks which are constantly tumbling down, so that few travellers have orderly proceeded to the top of it, whatever diligence they may have used. Besides, the wad mines are in lease, and therefore form a proper wadset, which has nothing to do with the lake.

With regard to the authorities cited, the organist Avison was an inferior judge, and not, competent to decide the question, being in the special service of the Bishop of Durham, and proceeding to Carlisle in a retour.

Replied for Kyswick. The fertility of Vicar's Island is in its favour, and the beauty of the scene will be increased quantum locupletior facta, while the islands of Ullswater are denuded, not only of trees, but of grass, and even the goats on them have been allowed a separate aliment. Mr. Pocklington's buildings have done no harm et domum suam reficere unicuique licet, l. 61, d. De reg. besides they are nova opera, which will look better when the lime is blackened by the weather.

Duplied for Ullswater.-It will never improve, quod ab initio vitiosum, &c.

The travellers preferred Kyswick by their first interlocutor, but a second bottle being presented and discussed, they could see no difference between them, and found accordingly.

XVII.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY.

Proposals for publishing by subscription, a new, elegant, and splendid edition of the Decisions of the Court of Session on the plan of, but greatly superior to, the celebrated editions of Shakespeare, Milton, Hume, and Thomson.

CONDITIONS.

1. This work will be comprised in one hundred volumes huge folio, at the moderate price, to subscribers, of fifty guineas each volume, and as only 20,000 copies are meant to be thrown off, the price to non-subscribers will probably be greatly raised.

2. It will be printed on a superfine wire-wove double atlas paper, about 5 feet long, by 3 feet broad, made on purpose, and with an elegant new silver type, cast for the occasion, and never to be used again.

3. It will be ornamented with five hundred most exquisite copperplates of the subjects expressed in the work, nicely chosen, painted by the first-rate artists, and engraven by the most eminent masters.

4. The first volume will contain the form of process, beginning from the first rudiments of the business, and advancing to the final consummation in the victory of our party, and the mortification of the other.

5. Every separate decision will be adorned with a vignette, descriptive of the subject, and a tail-piece exhibiting the consequences of the determination to the contending parties.

6. When the book is finished, all the pictures painted for the work will be given to the public in the following manner:-The Parliament House will be stuck as full of them as it can hold.-Part of the remainder will be sent to the Council Chamber, and part to ornament the walls of the new