the name of a certain game among the Scots, and said to be peculiar to their country.—Among them it has been very ancient; for there are statutes prohibiting it as early as the year 1457, lest it should interfere with the sport of archery. It is commonly played on rugged broken ground, covered with short grass, in the neighbourhood of the sea shore. A field of this sort is in Scotland called links. The game is generally played in parties of one or two on each side. Each party has an exceeding hard ball, some-what larger than a hen's egg. This they strike with a flender and elastic club, of about four feet long, crooked in the head, and having lead run into it, to make it heavy. The ball being struck with this club, will fly to the distance of 200 yards, and the game is gained by the party who puts his ball into the hole with the fewest strokes. But the game does not depend solely upon the striking of the longest ball, but also upon measuring the strength of the stroke, and applying it in such direction as to lay the ball in smooth ground, whence it may be easily moved at the next stroke. To encourage this amusement, the city of Edinburgh, A.D. 1744, gave to the company of golfers a silver club, to be played for annually by the company, the victor to append a gold or silver piece to the prize. It has been played for every year since, except the years 1746 and 1747. For their better accommoda- tion, 22 members of the company subscribed 30l. each in the year 1768, for building a house, where their meetings might be held. The spot chosen for this pur- pose was the south-west corner of Leith Links, where an area was taken in feu from the magistrates of Edinburgh, and a commodious house and tavern built upon it.

GOLIUS, JAMES, a celebrated professor of Arabic and the mathematics at Leyden, was descended from a very honourable family, and born at the Hague in the year 1596. He was put to the university of Leyden, where he studied under Erpinus; and having made himself master of all the learned languages, applied himself to the mathematics, physic, and divinity. He afterwards travelled into Africa and Asia; and became greatly esteemed by the king of Morocco, and the sultan of the Turks. He at length returned to Leyden, loaded with manuscripts; and in 1624, succeeded Erpinus in the Arabic chair. As he had been an eyewitness of the wretched state of Christianity in the Mahometan countries, he was filled with the compassion of a fellow-christian; and none ever solicited for a place of honour and profit with greater eagerness, than he for procuring a new edition of the New Testament, in the original language, with a translation into the vulgar Greek, by an Archimandrite; and as there are some of these Christians who use the Arabic tongue in divine service, he also took care to have dispersed among them an Arabic translation of the confession of the Protestants, together with the Catechism and Liturgy. In 1626, he was also chosen professor of mathematics; and discharged the functions of both professorships with the greatest applause during 40 years. He was likewise appointed interpreter in ordinary to the States for the Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and other eastern languages, for which he had an annual pension, and a present of a gold chain, with a very beautiful medal, which he wore as a badge of his office. He published, 1. The life of Tamerlane, written in Arabic. 2. The history of the Saracens, written by El-Imacin. 3. Alferganus's Elements of Astronomy, with a new version, and learned commentaries. 4. An excellent Arabic lexicon. 5. A Persian Dictionary. He died in 1667.