prietors, had attempted to fet it afide, and to fubftitute their owd. This is one of the many monuments which prove, that in antient times there flourished in Ireland a very eminent perfon of the name of Patrick. The veneration for this name must have been very great, fince, even on this fide of the water, it has prevailed over that of Montgomery. Situation and Surface.-The fituation of the town and parish is well known, being the nearest point of the whole island of Great Britain to Ireland, and the best place for crofling from the one kingdom to the other, the paffage being only twenty miles over. It is fituated in the prefbytery of Stranraer and county of Wigton. The parish is of fmall extent, being only about three Scots miles fquare. The greater part is moor land, and it abounds with moffes, not only in the lower grounds, but even on the tops of fome of the highest mountains, where the mofs is frequently fix or seven feet deep. The common fuel is peat, which is in fuch quantities, that from thirty to forty carts, drawn by two horfes each, are regularly employed during the fummer feafon in bringing peats to the neighbouring towns of Portpatrick and Stranraer. Town of Portpatrick.-The town is admirably fituated. It enjoys a fouthern expofure, with a femicircle of hills on the north, which at the fame time defends it from all the cold winds, and concentrates the rays of the fun, fo that few places in the fame latitude can boaft of a warmer climate. The common water which pours from the hills is excellent; and there is a mineral well, which has been found of fervice in common, but particularly in flomachic diforders. But above all, the fea-bathing is admirable. water is peculiarly strong, and the tide rifes to fuch a height close to the fhore, that a man, as well as a veffel, may be inftantly launched into any depth he pleafes. In fhort, no fituation can be better calculated for a watering place, fhould the rage for them continue to prevail as generally as at prefent. The The Harbour.-Formerly the harbour was a mere inlet between two ridges of rocks which advanced into the fea; the effect of this was, that as there is a prodigious weight of waters thrown in here when the wind blows upon the fhore, and as there was no elbow to protect a veffel, he was always obliged, when he took the harbour, to run aground; and the next operation, which neceffarily followed, was, that the whole inhabitants, men and women, ran down, and by main force, dragged her up the beach, out of the reach of the waves, which would otherwife have dafhed her to pieces. This again had another effect, that none but fat bottomed veffels could navigate here. It is but lately that two of these large flats, which had formerly been government packets, were to be feen on our fhore, as monuments of ancient barbarity. These were times of mifery, though the inhabitants were the happiest of mortals. Their continued exertions in launching and drawing up their veffels, excited wonderful fpirits, which they knew how to recruit when exhaufted. Every day that a vefiel either failed or arrived was a felliyal. • There There is now on the fame fpot one of the finest quays in Britain, with a reflecting light-houfe; and inftead of a few flatbottomed boats, above a dozen of trading veffels, of from 40 to 60 tons, which fail and return regularly, befides a number of veffels which occafionally come from other ports. The larger veffels are navigated at an average by fix men each. The light-house is particularly useful, and as there has long been another light-houfe on the Irish fide, it renders the paffage, even in the darkest night, convenient and comfortable, like a street well lighted on both fides. The fea rifes confiderably along this coaft. At low water you can walk round the point of the pier, which at high water is from ten to fifteen feet deep at the entrance. This being the narrowest part of the Channel, has naturally the effect of accumulating the fluid upon the fhores, when there is a fwell from a ftorm. What is farther deferving of remark is, that at Donaghadee, which is almost directly oppofite, the fea ebbs and flows near an hour fooner than at Portpatrick. There are alfo (which is ftill more remarkable) fome particular parts of the coaft, well known to our feamen, more efpecially one about two miles from the fhore of Portpatrick, where the fame fact is obferved. Within three or four miles of the Irish fhore, when the flood returns, there is a regular current which fets off strongly for the Mull of Galloway. It runs at the rate of feven knots an hour, and is fo forcible, that when the wind oppofes it, it exhibits, for a great way, the appearance of breakers. It is called the Race of Strangers, and is a very curious spectacle.' Having spoken of the packet-boats to Ireland, of the manufactures, of the commerce, and particularly of the trade in Irish cattle, Mr. McKenzie proceeds as follows: Fisheries.-A very extenfive fifhery might be eftablished at Portpatrick, particularly of cod; as the Channel is there the narroweit, and the tide the strongest, none but the healthiest and beft fish can live in it. The late Sir John Hunter Blair propofed the establishment of a fishing company, and, had he lived, he would probably have effected it. After his death, fome fishermen came and planted their lines, but the rapidity of the tide repeatedly carried them away. Unfortunately they had not kill enough to increase their anchorage, nor fagacity to difcover, that two ftone weight was heavier than one. "Population.-The return to the inquiries made by Dr. Webster, regarding the population of the parish of Portpatrick, about forty At this, as well as at every ferry or pallage of great resort, there are a fet of people who make themselves ufeful to paffengers, but who diftinguish themselves alfo by the impofitions which they practife. There are about twenty perlons of that defcription at Portpatrick, who are known by the name of the Robbery, from their fuppofed depredations on the public. They are abfolutely neceffary at this port, and another body of the fame fort are equally ferviceable on the other fide of the Channel; but the manner in which their fees are exacted, particularly when they meet with any difficulty in the payment, is rather harsh and difagreeable.' years years ago, was 551 fouls. It has fince. confiderably increased. It appears from an enumeration recently made, that there are in the country part of the parish, 484, and in the town, 512 fouls, fo that the whole population amounts to 996, being an addition, in that space of time, of 445 fouls. The births, deaths, and marriages, as entered in the parish regifter, for the last eight years, are as follows: Rent of the Parish.-About the year 1761, the whole parish was valued, for the purpofe of afcertaining the amount of the teind, or the value of the tythes, and it was then estimated at 4721. fterling. But as the increafe has fince been very confiderable, the land rent alone is about cool. per annum; the town rent is at leaft zool. more; the dues of anchorage, and a duty of 2d. per head on all cattle and horfes exported or imported, payable to the Blair family, may alfo bring in about 1201. so that the rent of the parish is rather better than 1300l. a year. Stipend.-The ftipend has lately received an augmentation, and now yields about 8ol. a year, with the addition of a manfe, and a glebe of about twelve or thirteen acres. The church was built anno 1629, and has lately been repaired. Sir John Hunter Blair is patron. At prefent there are but three heritors in the parish. There are feldom above twelve perfons on the poor's lift. The funds for the maintenance of the poor arife chiefly from weekly collections at the church door, and cannot be calculated at more than 10l. per annum. Language. The names of places in this parish are faid to be of Gaelic original, but no perfon living remembers the time when that language was fpoken here. It is, however, more than probable, as Portpatrick was included in the ancient kingdom of Galloway, it was of confequence inhabited by a tribe of the Celts. Antiquities and Natural Curiofity.-The caftle of Dunfkey is the only remarkable building in the parish. It stands upon the brink of a tremendous precipice on the edge of the Irish fea, and has been fecured on the land fide by a ditch and draw-bridge, the remains of which are flill visible. It was certainly built as a place of fecurity against fudden incurfions in the days of violence, and in former times muft have been eafily defended. A cave in the neighbourhood of Durfkey ought alfo to be mentioned, on account of the great veneration in which it is held by the people. At the change of the moon (which is fill confidered with fuperftitious reverence), it is ufual to bring, even from a great diftance, infirm perfons, and particularly ricketty children, whom they often fup pole pofe bewitched, to bathe in a ftream which pours from the hill, and then dry them in the cave. The Cairnpat, which rifes 800 feet above the level of the fea, and is fuppofed to be the fecond or third mountain in Galloway, merits alfo to be noticed. It bears all the marks of having been a military ftation, being furrounded by three ftone walls or intrenchments, with very ample spaces between them, and commands a profpest of Loch Ryan and of Luce Bay, which form the peninfula in which Portpatrick is fituated; England alfo, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and part of the Highlands of Scotland, are feen rifing at a distance.' From the above extract, thofe cf our readers, who have not vifited the north, may form a tolerably exact notion of a Scottish parish. One advantage, already refulting from Sir John Sinclair's exertions, feconded by the difinterefted zeal of the clergy of Scotland, is to ascertain, more accurately than has ever hitherto been done, the thriving ftate of that country. In fifty parishes, taken indifcriminately, there appears to be an increase of population fince 1755 amounting to upward of 10,500 fouls; which will give 400,000 for the total increase in less than forty years, in the whole country; and will make the whole population amount to 1,700,000 persons. We moft ardently with that this great and ufeful undertaking may be concluded as fuccefsfully as it has hitherto been. carried on; not doubting that even more beneficial confequences will refult from it, than are yet foreseen by its warmest promoters. There are long oblivious ages of the world, in which the human mind feems to have remained in torpid inactivity; there are other periods, in which the faculties of man awaken in full vigour; and, as if refreshed by a long and undisturbed repofe, exert themselves with a redoubled energy the times in which we live certainly belong to the latter defcription. Gil...ş. ART. XI. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, M.DCC.LXXXIX. HAVING given an account of the feveral articles under the The utility of the art, which engages Dr. Kearney's attention, is fuch, that perhaps it is not wonderful to find both REV. JULY 1792. X heathens heathens and Chriftians who have afcribed its origin to divine power. Dr. K., however, is not one of those who trace it to Adam, nor even, with more moderation, to the time of the promulgation of the Mofaic law. His opinion is that which is moft prevalent, viz. that a fucceffion of inventive powers might have raised it from the lowest beginning to the most aftonishing excellence. Still, he obferves, though much ingenuity and erudition have been exerted in detailing the gradual expanfion of this art, feveral chafms in the progreffion feem to remain. To fill up thefe, and to exhibit a connected history of alphabetic writing, are the objects of the prefent paper. Dr. K.'s remarks are very few, and fhort. After mentioning the opinion of Warburton, that alphabetic letters, which, at first, were the reprefentation of things, came in process of time to denote founds; and afterward, according to Mr. Goguet, were used to denote fyllables, or the more compound elements of words' he adds, To this fyllabic alphabet, it appears to me, that one entirely compofed of confonants fucceeded. The mind being now accuftomed to analyfis, the refolution of words into fyllables would in time be followed by that of fyllables into their component elements. But the variety of fyllabic founds chiefly arifing from organic articulations or confonants; and the number of vowels or fimple breathings being few, men would be contented to give marks to the first, leaving the others to be furnished by the reader. This conjecture becomes more probable, if, according to the opinion of Lord Monboddo, fyllables in the primeval languages contained, each only one confonant. It is alfo fupported by, and accounts for the nature of the Hebrew and fome other oriental alphabets, which have no characters denoting vowels, the Maforetic punctuation being novel. In all the Wettern alphabets both confonants and vowels have letters appropriated to them; because the art of writing was not imported from Afia into Europe, until the want of vowel marks had been found to be inconvenient. The addition of fuch marks brought this wonderful art to its present ftate of per fection.' Brief Strictures on certain Obfervations of Lord Monboddo_refpecting the Greek Tenfes. By Arthur Browne, LL. D. Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, &c. Dr. Browne prefaces his ftrictures with fome judicious remarks on aorifts, or indefinites: Aorifts, or indefinites,' he obferves, are fometimes, fo called because they are ufed for many tenfes indifferently, pafts, prefents, and futures. Sometimes, because they do not mark any precise point of time when an action happened, but only exprefs that it did happen. Sometimes, becaufe the verb when ufed in thefe tenfes doth not exprefs whether the action fignified be perfected or imperfect. In this laft fenfe only is the word applied in the follow |