hich ravaged the neighbouring countries; but,
enriched by a surprising augmentation of commerce, enjoyed all the
security of peace, and all the pleasures of taste and affluence. The
university of Oxford having conferred the office of their chancellor,
vacant by the death of the earl of Arran, upon another nobleman of equal
honour and integrity, namely, the earl of Westmoreland, he made a public
entrance into that celebrated seat of learning with great magnificence,
and was installed amidst the Encaenia, which were celebrated with such
classical elegance of pomp, as might have rivalled the chief Roman
festival of the Augustan age. The chancellor elect was attended by a
splendid train of the nobility and persons of distinction. The city of
Oxford was filled with a vast concourse of strangers. The processions
were contrived with taste, and conducted with decorum. The installation
was performed with the most striking solemnity. The congratulatory
verses and public speeches breathed the spirit of old Rome; and the
ceremony was closed by Dr. King, that venerable sage of St. Mary Hall,
who pronounced an oration in praise of the new chancellor with all the
flow of Tully, animated by the fire of Demosthenes.

We shall conclude the remarkable incidents of this year:*

* In the spring of the year the liberal arts sustained a
lamentable loss in the death of George Frederick Handel, the
most celebrated master in music which this age had produced.
He was by birth a German; but had studied in Italy, and
afterwards settled in England, where he met with the most
favourable reception, and resided above half a century,
universally admired for his stupendous genius in the sublime
parts of musical composition.

One would be apt to imagine, that there was something in the
constitution of the air at this period, which was
particularly unfavourable to old age; inasmuch as, in the
compass of a few months, the following persons, remarkable
for their longevity, died in the kingdom of Scotland.
William Barnes, who had been above seventy years a servant
in the family of Brodie, died there, at the age of one
hundred and nine. Catherine Mackenzie died in Ross-shire, at
the age of one hundred and eighteen. Janet Blair, deceased
at Monemusk, in the shire of Aberdeen, turned of one
hundred and twelve. Alexander Stephens, in Banffshire, at
the age of o