ting
celebrity, or book of travels written which shall attain to durable
fame. The native vigour and courage, indeed, of the Anglo-Saxon race,
is perpetually impelling numbers of energetic young men into the most
distant parts of the earth, and immense is the addition which they are
annually making to the sum-total of _geographical_ knowledge. We have
only to look at one of our recent maps, as compared to those which
were published fifty years ago, to see how much we owe to the courage
and enterprise of Parry and Franklin, Park and Horneman, of Burckhardt
and Lander. But giving all due credit--and none give it more sincerely
than we do--to the vigour and courage of these very eminent men, it is
impossible not to feel that, however well fitted they were to explore
unknown and desert regions, and carry the torch of civilization into
the wilderness of nature, they had not the mental training, or varied
information, or powers of composition, necessary to form a great
_writer of travels_. Clarke and Bishop Heber are most favourable
specimens of English travellers, and do honour to the great
universities of which they were such distinguished ornaments; but they
did not possess the varied accomplishments and information of the
continental travellers. Their education, and very eminence in their
peculiar and exclusive lines, precluded it. What is wanting in that
character above every thing, is an acquaintance with, and interest in,
a _great many and different branches of knowledge_, joined to
considerable power of composition, and unconquerable energy of mind;
and that is precisely what our present system of education in England
renders it almost impossible for any one to acquire. The system
pursued in the Scottish universities, undoubtedly, is more likely to
form men capable of rising to eminence in this department; and the
names of Park and Bruce show what travellers they are capable of
sending forth. But the attractions of rank, connexion, and fashion,
joined to the advantage of speaking correct English, are fast drawing
a greater proportion of the youth of the higher ranks in Scotland to
the English universities; and the education pursued at home,
therefore, is daily running more and more into merely utilitarian and
professional channels. That system is by no means the one calculated
to form an accomplished and interesting writer of travels.

In this deficiency of materials for the formation of a great body of
male travelle