of seeing _Sam_ Johnson at the very spot where _Ben_ Jonson
visited the learned and poetical Drummond. Accordingly, we drove on the
Saturday to Roslin Castle, surveyed the romantic scene around it, and
the beautiful Gothic chapel. After that we proceeded to Hawthornden and
viewed the caves, and then drove on to Cranston, the seat of Sir John
Dalrymple, where we supped, spent the night, and passed on to the inn at
Blackshields. There on Monday morning Dr. Johnson joined the coach for
London. Dr. Johnson told me on parting that the time he spent in
Scotland, the account of which I have now completed, was the pleasantest
part of his life.

JAMES BRUCE

Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile

_I.--The City of the Dog Star_

James Bruce was born at the family residence of Kinnaird
in the county of Stirling, Scotland, on December 14, 1730.
He was educated at Harrow and Edinburgh, and for five
years was a wine and spirit merchant in London. In 1762 he
went as British Consul to Algiers, and did not return to
England again until June, 1774. In the interim, having
travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Syria, some of the
islands of the Levant, Lower and Upper Egypt, and the
African and Arabian coasts of the Red Sea, he made his
famous journeys in Abyssinia, during which he discovered
the sources of the Blue Nile. On his return to Europe he
met with a great reception from Buffon the naturalist, and
the Pope at Rome, but was received with coldness in
England, where the stories of his adventures were received
with incredulity. His book, "Travels to Discover the
Source of the Nile in the years 1768-73," did not appear
till 1790, seventeen years after his return to Europe.
After the publication of his great work, Bruce spent the
remainder of his life in improving his Scottish estate. On
April 26, 1794, at Kinnaird, when going downstairs to hand
a lady guest to her carriage, his foot slipped, and he
fell headlong, dying next morning.

In 1762 Lord Halifax gave me the appointment of British Consul at
Algiers, as affording me the opportunity of exploring the countries of
Barbary, and perhaps of making, later on, a discovery of the sources of
the Nile. On arrival at Algiers I studied closely surgery and medicine,
modern Greek and Arabic, so as to qualify myself to travel without an
interpreter.

I remained in Algiers for three years, and started early in 1768 on my
travels thro