_Wonders of Art_.
Among the last we notice the model of a boat for aerial navigation,
lately sent to the French Academy from Rome; and the patent taken out
at Paris for a coach with one wheel only, to accommodate 30 or 40
passengers. The perfection of the latter scheme in England would
render indispensable a complete revision of our Turnpike Acts.
* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
* * * * *
SCOTTISH INNS.
_By Sir Walter Scott_.
The courtesy of an invitation to partake a traveller's meal, or at least
that of being invited to share whatever liquor the guest called for, was
expected by certain old landlords in Scotland, even in the youth of
the author. In requital, mine host was always furnished with the news
of the country, and was probably a little of a humourist to boot. The
devolution of the whole actual business and drudgery of the inn upon the
poor gudewife was very common among the Scottish bonifaces. There was
in ancient times, in the city of Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family,
who condescended, in order to gain a livelihood, to become the nominal
keeper of a coffee-house, one of the first places of the kind which
had been opened in the Scottish metropolis.
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