But England and Ireland having awoke to new exertions in improving their soil, we in the North must open our eyes too. We must, if possible, keep the name we have acquired. If our practice is faulty, let us amend it--if our science is defective, let us enlarge it. "Science with practice," is the well-conceived motto of the Royal Agricultural Society of England; such a motto, we hope, all Scottish farmers will adopt. Let them conjoin the science of the books of Johnston with the practice of that of Stephens, and they may still hope, as a body, to occupy the foremost rank among the agriculturists of Europe.
With every joy we haste to meet, In hopefulness or pride, There comes, with step as sure and fleet, A shadow by its side; And ever thus that spectre chill With each fair bliss has sped, And when the gladden'd pulse should thrill, The stricken heart lies dead!
The poet's brow the wreath entwines-- What weight falls on the breast! Upon the sword where glory shines, The stains of life-blood rest. Lo, where the rosiest sunbeam glows, There lies eternal snow! And Fame its brightest halo throws, Where death lies cold below.
LORD MALMESBURY'S DIARIES AND CORRESPONDENCE.[30]
In a late number of this Magazine we took occasion, under a different title, to notice the two first volumes of this highly interesting work. We have seen how Lord Malmesbury conducted himself, in his diplomatic capacity, at the different courts of Europe under the _ancien régime_. It is difficult for the men of this generation--whose historic era, traditionary or remembered, commences with the outbreak of the French Revolution--to realize in imagination the exhausted, broken, and unhealthy state of Europe during the middle, and towards the end, of the last century. Balance of power there was none. The leading continental states, when not in actual arms, looked upon each other with eyes of the most bitter jealousy. When they did combine, it was for some unholy purpose, such as the partition of Poland; and no sooner had they brought down their quarry, than, like the _Lanzknechts_ of old--to use no more brutal simile--they began to bandy words and blows for their relative proportions of the spoil. Good faith was a thing unknown either to prince or to minister. To trick an ally was considered almost as meritorious a deed as to undermine or defeat an enemy. In short it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to point out any period when public morality was at so low and pitiable an ebb.