(John Theophilus), a late eminent German metaphysician, was born at Rammenau, a village of Lusatia, on the 19th of May 1762. His father was a ribbon manufacturer, and carried on a small trade in haberdashery. A wealthy person in the neighbourhood, having been struck with the extraordinary genius which young Fichte displayed, put him to school, in order to give him an opportunity of cultivating his talents; but the boy becoming impatient of restraint, ran off, and was found sitting on the banks of the Saale, with a map, on which he was endeavouring to trace the way to America. From this period he seems to have prosecuted his studies in an extremely desultory manner; occasionally attending the lectures of the professors of Wittenberg and Leipsic, without devoting his attention exclusively to any particular science. Theology, however, appears to have been his favourite study; and this predilection is conspicuous in many of his subsequent writings, which are distinguished by a singular mixture of philosophical and religious mysticism. When he left the university, his situation was by no means enviable. He possessed no fortune to enable him to indulge in the luxury of philosophical speculation; and, in spite of his decided aversion to every kind of constraint, he was compelled, by the necessity of his circumstances, to accept of the situation of tutor in the family of a Prussian gentleman. His residence in that country enabled him to cultivate the acquaintance of the celebrated philosopher of Korningsberg, to whose judgment he submitted his first work, the Critical Review of all Revelations, which was published, anonymously, in 1792. In the literary journals, this production, which had attracted considerable attention, was ascribed to the pen of Kant, until the real author made himself known.

Having received fifty ducats from a Polish nobleman, in whose family he had been tutor, Fichte set out on a course of travels through Germany and Switzerland, and afterwards married a niece of Klopstock's at Zurich. In 1793, he published the first part of his Contributions towards rectifying the Opinions of the Public respecting the French Revolution. This book, which is written with considerable force and originality, created a great sensation in Germany, and was violently attacked, in consequence of a new and apparently dangerous theory which the author advanced relative to the social contract. The book, however, was perused with great avidity, but the attacks to which we have alluded probably prevented him from publishing the continuation.

The reputation of Fichte was now so well established, that he was soon after appointed to the philosophical chair at Jena, as successor to Reinhold, who had been called to the university of Kiel. Here he commenced his lectures by a programme, in which he endeavoured to give an idea of the Doctrine of Science (Wissenschafts-lehre), the name by which he distinguished the principles of that system of transcendental idealism, which he afterwards more fully developed. Besides the ordinary duties of his professorship, he gave a regular course of lectures, in the form of sermons, every Sunday, in the year 1794, on the Literary Calling, which were numerously attended. Having established the principles of his doctrine of science, he endeavoured to extend their application to the several departments of philosophy; and, with this view, he published, in 1796, his Fundamental Principles of the Law of Nature; and two years afterwards, his System of Morals. In conjunction with Niethammer, he also published a philosophical journal, in which some articles were inserted, containing certain philosophical views of religion, which were considered by many as tending directly to atheism. Among other objectionable propositions, it was maintained that God was nothing else than the moral order of the universe; and that, to worship God as a being who could only be represented as existing in time and space, would be a species of idolatry. One of Fichte's colleagues called the attention of the Saxon minister Burgsdorf to these heretical propositions; and the consequence was, the rigorous confiscation of the work throughout the whole of Saxony. Fichte and his friend Forberg wrote an Appeal to the Public, and several Apologies, in order to exculpate themselves from the imputation of atheism. The government of Weimar behaved, on this occasion, with prudence and moderation; but the celebrated Herder, Vice-President of the Consistory, took part against Fichte. Eberhard, on the other hand, although hostile to the metaphysical system of Fichte, undertook his defence. The controversy was carried on with great violence, and excited considerable ferment throughout the whole of Germany.

In the mean time, Fichte resigned his professorship at Jena, and repaired to Berlin, where he experienced a very flattering reception. Here his time was occupied in giving private lectures, and in composing his various writings. In 1800, he published a short treatise, entitled, The Exclusive Commercial State, containing one of those philosophical systems of political economy from which the praise of ingenuity cannot be withheld; while, at the same time, the most cursory view of the general principles on which it is founded must be sufficient to convince us that it could never be advantageously reduced to practice.

About this period, Fichte met with a formidable rival in Schelling, who had formerly been a warm partizan of the doctrine of science, but who now separated from his master, and propounded a new metaphysical theory of his own, which soon acquired a large share of popularity at the German universities, especially at Jena. Fichte, indeed, endeavoured to modify his theory of the doctrine of science, and to present it to the world in a new and more attractive form; but he never again recovered the sway he had formerly held over the public mind. Meanwhile, his ardent wish to be again placed in an academical chair was at length gratified by M. de Hardenberg, who, in 1805, procured for him the appointment of ordinary professor of philosophy in the university of Erlangen. This appointment was accompanied with the especial favour of being permitted to pass the winter at Berlin, in order to continue his lectures there. This state of amphibious professorship, as his friends used to call it in jest, did not last long. During the summer of 1805, he delivered at Erlangen his celebrated lectures, On the Essence of the Literary Character (über das Wesen des Gelehrten). The following winter, he delivered to a numerous audience the course which he afterwards published under the title of Guide to a Happy Life. This was one of those publications in which he attempted to present his metaphysical doctrines to the public in all their sublimity, and, at the same time, with such clearness, as would make them intelligible to common readers.

The disasters which assailed the Prussian monarchy, in 1806, were attended with serious consequences to Fichte. Erlangen having ceased to be a Prussian university, he did not await the entry of the French into Berlin, but fled to Koningsberg, and from thence to Riga. In the summer of 1807, he delivered a course of philosophical lectures at Koningsberg. The peace which ensued enabled him to return to Berlin, where he pronounced his famous Orations to the German Nation, which were enthusiastically read and applauded throughout all Germany. When the University of Berlin was founded, he obtained, through the interest of M. de Humboldt, the situation of rector, which secured to him an honourable revenue, while his rank, as first professor of philosophy, gave him great academical influence. His health, however, had suffered considerably from the shocks he had for some time experienced, and he found it necessary to have recourse to the waters of Bohemia, from which he derived great benefit. But his wife was attacked with a nervous fever, in consequence of her attendance on the deserted sick; and although she recovered, Fichte, whose affection would not allow him to leave her for a moment, caught the infection, and died on the 29th of January 1814.

Fichte was small in stature, but stout and well-formed; his countenance was expressive of thoughtfulness and determination. In his intellectual character, genius was combined with inflexible firmness; and these qualities enabled him to surmount difficul- tics which would have overwhelmed a less vigorous temperament. In other respects his dispositions were amiable, and his morals correct. It was in the academical chair that the genius of Fichte was manifested in its greatest splendour. It was said of him that he was born a professor; and there was, indeed, a charm in his manner of lecturing which had a powerful influence on the minds of his pupils, several of whom we have heard talk of him with enthusiasm. His fervid and brilliant eloquence, the clearness of his reasoning, and the simplicity and correctness of his language, seemed to diffuse a magic light and colouring over the darkest and most abstruse metaphysical problems. Those who were charmed with his eloquence, were easily convinced by his reasoning, and became willing converts to his doctrines. His writings, especially those works in which his peculiar doctrines are propounded in a systematic form, are by no means so attractive as his lectures appear to have been. On the contrary, notwithstanding a constant affection of strict and simple reasoning, his propositions are enveloped in such a degree of transcendental obscurity, as renders it extremely difficult to comprehend either the basis or the scope of that system of doctrines which he labours to establish.

Hence, it is far from being an easy matter to give an intelligible abstract of the principles of the Doctrine of Science, especially as we must necessarily presuppose some acquaintance, on the part of our readers, with the previous metaphysical labours of Kant. Fichte commenced his philosophical career precisely at that period when the writings of Kant had nearly obtained a paramount influence in the German schools, and when men even of superior talents thought it no mean glory to be able to comprehend and illustrate his doctrines. The Kantian theory was confessedly idealistic. Its celebrated author set out with an analysis of the cognitive faculty, endeavouring to describe its various functions, and to ascertain the scope and limits of its legitimate exercise. All our knowledge, according to the critical philosophy, must have a reference to possible experience. Of external objects, or things in themselves (noumena), we can have no absolute knowledge; for we can know nothing but what is perceived by the senses, and recognized (if we may be allowed the expression) by our intellectual faculties, according to the laws peculiar to our constitution. These intellectual laws, or subjective forms, tend to combine our knowledge, and to render the field of experience a comprehensible whole. As we can have no knowledge of objects in themselves, but only of their phenomena; neither can we have any knowledge of things beyond the sphere of our experience, because these can neither be perceived by our senses nor subjected to the laws of the understanding. All reasoning, therefore, from mere ideas must necessarily be futile, because it has no reference to any corresponding object within the limits of experience. And although we can have no absolute knowledge of objects as they really exist, yet our knowledge of them possesses a subjective reality (i.e. a reality with reference to the thinking subject), and may be said to correspond with the objects, because, from the nature of our intellectual constitution, we are incapable of receiving any other impression from them.

Reinhold was one of the earliest partisans of Kant, and one of the most ingenious and most popular commentators on the critical philosophy. But his talents were better adapted for explaining and illustrating the doctrines of others, than for discovering new truths, or inventing any original system of his own; and although an indefatigable student of philosophy, he seems to have never arrived at any settled conviction in metaphysical matters, but to have alternately adopted and abandoned every new theory which was successively presented to his view. After having been, for some time, enthusiastically devoted to the doctrines promulgated in the Critical Review of Pure Reason, which he esteemed the greatest masterpiece of philosophical genius; he at length discovered that Kant had neglected to secure the foundations of the edifice he had raised, and this defect he attempted to supply by his own Theory of the faculty of Perception. (Theorie des Vorstellungsvornagens.) The main proposition laid down and illustrated in this work is nothing more or less than this: We are compelled by consciousness to admit, that every perception presupposes a percipient subject and an object perceived, both of which must be distinguished from the perception to which they relate;—thus referring all our knowledge to consciousness as its ultimate principle. In the enunciation of this proposition there is nothing very new or original; but the illustration of this elementary doctrine, which, as a late reviewer of the German metaphysical theories observes, might have formed an excellent subject for a short philosophical dissertation of two or three sheets, is dilated into a work nearly as large as that to which it was intended to serve as a mere introduction; nor is the unnecessary length of the treatise in any measure compensated by the importance of the truths developed, or the ingenuity displayed in the research.

With greater talents and consistency, Fichte, who announced himself as a strict Kantian, attempted to solve the same problem, and to develope a system, which, by deducing all our knowledge from one simple principle, should give unity and stability to the critical theory. In his Doctrine of Science (Wissenschaftslehre), accordingly, he derives all our knowledge from the original act of the thinking subject in reflecting upon itself. I am I, (which he expresses by the formula A=A), or the absolute position of the I by the I, is in itself the certain principle of all philosophy and of all our knowledge. But the creative energy of the I, in the course of this reflective process, goes still farther. By its own act, also, the I places the not—I (objects) as opposed to itself. In reflecting upon itself, as the absolutely active principle, it finds itself either determined by, or determining the not—I. In the former case, it appears as the intelligent I; in the latter, as the absolutely free, practical I. Hence the distinction between theoretical and practical philosophy. The idea, then, which pervades the whole theory of Fichte is this: The I, or the thinking subject, is the absolutely active principle, which constructs the consciousness, and produces all that exists; by position, contra-po- sition, and juxta-position. The whole universe, in short, is the product of the I, or thinking subject.

We have thus endeavoured to give a very concise sketch of a theory, which we shall not think of pursuing through its various ramifications, as we should despair of making it intelligible to our readers by any length of exposition. Fichte has been praised by his countrymen for his logical and consistent reasoning; but to us it appears that his theory proceeds entirely upon arbitrary assumptions, resting upon no solid foundation. That he displays considerable ingenuity in the developement of his ideas we are willing to admit; but we are quite at a loss to perceive the merit of the theory he has advanced, when considered as a system of philosophical truths. The parade of scientific deduction which his reasoning exhibits may impose upon the incautious student; but a careful examination will undoubtedly convince him, that the whole is a mere tissue of empty notions, drawn from arbitrary and assumed principles.

In attempting to apply the principles of his doctrine of science to the theory of morals and the law of nature, Fichte exhibited many original and paradoxical opinions, along with some very just and ingenious philosophical observations. In his later writings he considerably modified his original theory of the doctrine of science, and produced a system of philosophical and religious mysticism, which appears to have given birth to the transcendental idealism of Schelling; an author who seems to have carried the extravagance of speculative reasoning to its utmost limits.

The following is a list of the works of Fichte:

1. Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung. (Critical Review of all Revelation). Koningsberg, 1792, 1793. 8vo.

2. Ueber den Begriff der Wissenschaftslehre. (On the notion of a Doctrine of Science). Jena, 1794. 8vo.

3. Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. (Foundation of the whole Doctrine of Science). Ibid. 1794. 8vo.

4. Grundriss des eigenthümlichen der Wissenschaftslehre. (Sketch of the peculiarity of the Doctrine of Science). Ibid. 1795.

5. Vorlesungen ueber die Bestimmung des Gelehrten. (Lectures on the Literary Calling.) Jena, 1794.

6. System der Sittenlehre. (System of the Doctrine of Morals.) Jena and Leipsic, 1795.

7. Beyträge zur Berichtigung der Urtheile des Publicums ueber die Französische Revolution. (Materials for Rectifying the Opinions of the Public respecting the French Revolution).

8. Grundlage des Naturrechts. (Foundation of the Law of Nature). Jena, 1796, 1797. 2 Vols. 8vo.

9. Appellation an das Publicum ueber die ihm beygemessenen atheistischen Ausserungen. (Appeal to the Public respecting the Atheistical expressions imputed to him). Jena and Leipsic, 1799.

10. Ueber die Bestimmung des Menschen. (On the Destiny of Man).

11. Der geschlossene Handelsstaat. (The exclusive Commercial State).

12. Sonnenklarer Bericht an das grössere Publicum ueber das eigentliche Wesen der neuesten Philosophie. (Luminous Report to the greater public on the peculiar Character of the Modern Philosophy). Berlin, 1801.

13. Wissenschaftslehre. (Doctrine of Science). Tübingen, 1802. 8vo.

14. Vorlesungen ueber das Wesen der Gelehrten. (Lectures on the Literary Character). Berlin, 1806.

15. Die Grundzuge des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters. (The Characteristics of the present age). Ibid. 1806.

16. Anweisung zum seligen Leben. (Guide to a Happy Life). Ibid. 1806.

17. Reden an die Deutsche Nation. (Discourses to the German nation). Ibid. 1806.

18. Die Wissenschaftslehre in ihrem allgemeinsten Umrisse dargestellt. (The Doctrine of Science exhibited in its most general outline). Ibid. 1810

19. Friedrich Nicolaï's Leben und Sonderbare Meinungen, herausgegeben von Schlegel. (Life and singular opinions of Frederic Nicolai, edited by Schlegel.) Tübingen, 1801.

20. Antwortschreiben an K. L. Reinhold, auf dessen Beyträge zur leichtern Uebersicht des Zustandes der Philosophie, &c. (Answer to K. L. Reinhold, on his Materials for acquiring a more easy view of the State of Philosophy, &c.) Ibid, 1801.

21. Ueber die einzig mögliche Störung der academischen Freyheit. (On the only possible disturbance of Academical Freedom.) Berlin, 1812.

22. Ueber den Begriff des wahrhaften Kriegs, in Bezug auf den Kreig in Jahre 1813. (On the notion of real war, with reference to the war in 1813.) Tübingen, 1815.

Fichte is also the author of several essays in periodical publications, and particularly in a philosophical journal edited by himself, with the assistance of Niethammer.

Those who are desirous of obtaining more minute information respecting Fichte's philosophical theory, may consult the following works: Tennemann's Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie; Degerando, Histoire Comparée, &c. W. T. Krug, Briefe ueber die Wissenschaftslehre. F. W. J. Schelling, Darlegung des wahren Verhältnisses der Naturphilosophie zu der verbesserten Fichtischen Lehre. J. Fries, Reinhold, Fichte and Schelling. C. F. Bachmann, Ueber die Philosophie meiner Zeit. Ancillon, Essai sur le premier probleme de la philosophie; and Essai sur l'existence et sur les derniers systemes de metaphysique qui ont paru en Allemagne. (H.)

FIFESHIRE is bounded by the river Tay on the situation north, the German Ocean on the east, the Frith of Forth on the south, and on the west by the counties of Kinross, Perth, and Clackmannan. Its medium length, from cast to west, is about 36 miles, and its breadth, from north to south, 14; so that its area is 504 square miles, or 322,560 English acres. About four-fifths of this may be considered as fit for cultivation, and the remainder consists of hills, mosses, and moors, with roads and plantations.

This county, which is situated on the south-east corner of the middle peninsula of Scotland, is, for the most part, composed of low lying grounds, though little of it is flat or level. There is a pleasing variety of hill and valley in every direction. It is divided into two parts by a tract of high ground, which comprehends the Lomond Hills on the west, and from thence stretches eastward almost in a direct line till it approach within a few miles of the sea. The highest of these hills is West Lomond, which is 1721 feet above the level of the sea; Largo Law, on the east, is 952, and Kelly Law 810. The rivers Eden and Leven throw it into three divisions, the northern, between the Eden and the Tay, the middle, between the Eden and the Leven, and the southern, between the Leven and the Frith of Forth. Along the Frith of Forth, from the eastern to the western boundary of the county, the land rises gently, and has no great elevation above the sea. The soil here is generally very fertile, for a breadth of about three miles, a deep rich loam, or clay, and sometimes loam with gravel. Beyond this, a cold poor clay prevails, lying, for the most part, on sandstone, which extends northward to the high ground on the south of the Eden. In this district there are extensive tracts of moss and moor. Farther north, on both sides of the Eden, and from the mouth of that river westward to Perthshire, there is a rich valley called the How of Fife, which spreads out as it approaches the sea into a considerable tract of very productive land. A range of high grounds, a continuation of the Ochills, intervenes between this valley and the Tay on the north; yet as the soil lies upon whinstone it is in many places fertile, and often deeper and richer on the acclivities than at their bottom.

As no part of Fifeshire is nine miles from the sea, the climate is mild and the harvests early. Snow seldom lies long. Yet from the direction of its hills, from east to west, it is much exposed to the easterly winds, which often check vegetation in the spring months; and hoar frosts are not unfrequent so late as the middle of June. The heaviest rains are from the south-west, the south-east, and the north-east, and the winds from the two last points bring the greatest falls of snow. The driest and most steady weather comes from the west, north-west, and east.

The only streams of any note are the Leven and the Eden. The former, which issues from Loch Leven, in Kinross-shire, flows eastward through a beautiful strath, by Leslie, Balgonie, and Balfour, and, after a course of about twelve miles, during which it receives the Lothrie and the Orr, falls into the Frith of Forth at the town of Leven. From the declivity of its channel, it is well fitted for impelling machinery, and accordingly a great number of mills have been erected on its banks. It abounds in salmon and sea trout, and where it falls into the sea, there is a considerable salmon-fishery. The Eden is formed by the confluence of several small streams in the parish of Strathmiglo on the west, near the boundary with Kinross-shire, and, winding slowly through a level valley, and sometimes overflowing its banks, passes the town of Cupar, and loses itself in the German Ocean, about eighteen miles from its source. It contains trout, pike, and eels, and has also a salmon-fishing where it discharges itself into the sea. The Gair Bridge over this river, consisting of six arches, was built in the beginning of the fifteenth century. There is a number of lochs, none of them large, but some of them very beautiful, such as those at Lindores, Kilconquhar, Kinghorn, Lochgellie, Camilla, Lochfittie, and Otterston.

The southern part of Fifeshire, from the Forth Coal, almost to the Eden, abounds in coal of all the kinds common in Scotland. Along the Frith of Forth the strata generally dip to the east and south-east, but are cut off before they reach the higher ground, not extending above two or three miles from the shore. In this district, proceeding from west to east, coal is found in the parishes of Torryburn, Abbotshall, Kirkaldy, Dysart, Wemyss, Scoonie, Largo, and Pittenweem. The coal-works in Dysart and Wemyss are very considerable; in the former parish there is a bed eighteen feet thick, which is said to have been wrought more than 300 years ago, and it is remarkable for having been frequently on fire. Beyond this tract to the north, the coal and all the other strata commonly incline to the north or north-east. The most considerable collieries in this quarter are in the parishes of Dunfermline, Dalgety, Auchterderran, Leslie, and Markinch; the last of which only resembles the metals on the sea-coast in its general bearing. Limestone is in great abundance along the whole of this tract. In the Saline hills, still farther to the north, coal and lime are found in various places; there is a considerable coal-work at Keltie, in the parish of Beith, on the borders of Kinross-shire; but from the south side of the vale of Eden northward to the Tay, there is no coal nor any appearance of the metals that usually accompany it, except perhaps near Newburgh, where limestone occurs. From a charter, dated in March 1291, it would appear that coal has been wrought in this county for more than five centuries. William de Oberville there grants liberty to the convent of Dunfermline to open a coal pit in his lands of Pitnycrieff. But this is not, as has been alleged, the first instance of a Scottish charter containing a right to work coal; for Mr Chalmers alludes to one dated in 1284-5, from which it may be inferred, that coal was wrought on the lands of Tranent before that period. The greatest lime-works in Scotland are at Charlestown, on the Forth, belonging to the Earl of Elgin; about 100,000 tons are raised here annually, part of which is sold as it comes from the quarry, and 12,000 tons of coals are employed in calcining the remainder on the spot. Ironstone, of a good quality, is found in the parishes of Dysart and Dunfermline, and sandstone in almost every part of the coal district. Lead has been wrought in the Lomond hills. Marl is met with occasionally, and clay fit for bricks and tiles; at Durie coal-works, a species of clay has been discovered proper for fire-bricks. Stones, somewhat resembling the precious garnet, are found in considerable numbers at Elie, and known by the name of Elie rubies.

Most of this county is divided into estates of a moderate size; there are a greater number, indeed, above L.500 Scots of valuation than in any other county in Scotland; but of the 638 estates which it contained in 1811, 491 were below that amount. In the same year the number of freeholders, entitled to vote for a member for the county, was 207. If we may judge from the valuation, which is still the rule for the payment of cess and other taxes, Fifeshire must have been the most valuable of all the Scottish counties about the middle of the seventeenth century; the amount is L.363,192, 3s. 7\(\frac{1}{2}\)d. Scots, almost a tenth part of the whole valuation of Scotland. Somewhat more than a third of this belongs to estates held under entail, and there are twenty-nine estates belonging to corporate bodies, which, like the former, cannot be brought to market. The rental of the lands, in 1811, was L.335,290, 14s. 6d. Sterling, or almost a guinea an acre over the whole, and of the houses L.38,756, 1s. 6d. On the Lomond hills, there is a common of about 4000 acres, one of the very few now to be found in Scotland, which once belonged to the palace of Falkland, and afterwards became the property of the surrounding heritors; yet it was thought not to come under the Scots statute, authorizing the division of commons, which excepts those belonging to the king and to royal burghs, and is still in its natural state; but having been divided very lately, it will soon be rendered much more valuable. There is a great number of elegant seats in the county, of which ten belong to eight peers, and seven to baronets, besides more than seventy to other proprietors. According to the author of the Agricultural Survey, published in 1800, upwards of half a million had been expended on buildings during the twenty-four years preceding. Considerable tracts have been planted within these few years; yet there is still a want of shelter in many parts, and the county at large is by no means well wooded.

Fifeshire is also distinguished for its buildings of an earlier age. Among the religious houses, the most remarkable are the ruins of St Regulus's chapel and tower at St Andrews, said to have been built in the fourth century; the cathedral at the same place, founded in 1161; the Abbey of Dunfermline, remarkable for its being a royal cemetery, where the remains of Robert Bruce were lately discovered, and re-interred with becoming solemnity, the Abbeys of Lindores, Inchcolm, Balmerino, and the priory of Pittenweem; and among the secular, the palace of Falkland, originally a seat of the Macduffs, Earls of Fife, and afterwards a royal residence; the castle of St Andrews, on the north side of the town, where Beaton was put to death by Norman Leslie in 1545; the castles of Rosyth, Lochhor, Ravenscraig, Easter Wemyss, Balgonie, and Scotstarvct; and Craighall, the seat of Sir Thomas Hope, advocate to Charles I., from whom are descended the principal families of that name in Scotland. Near Easter Wemyss there is a number of caves, most of them 100 feet above high-water mark, and several of them of considerable extent; one of them is visited by young people, with lights, on the first Monday of January old style, but the origin or object of the practice is unknown. A bulwark of stone, called Danes-dyke, may yet be traced across the east point of Fife.

The farms of this country are in general of a moderate size; few of them are what may be called large, the greater number are small, and the average perhaps about 150 acres. But there are many possessions from 50 down to 8 or 10 acres, some of them occupied by their proprietors, and others by manufacturers, tradesmen, and mechanics. In all the new leases the rent is made payable in money, though in a few instances the amount may depend upon the price of grain, and vary from year to year accordingly. The common endurance of a lease here, as throughout Scotland, is nineteen years. It was usual formerly to add the life of the tenant, under an idea that he would always hope to live a little longer, and thus continue to improve his farm instead of exhausting it, as is too commonly done towards the end of a lease, when it is for a number of years certain; but this expectation has seldom been realized, and the practice of adding the life has therefore been discontinued. Farm-buildings present a great variety in regard to their materials and construction as well as their size; but such as have been recently erected are not unsuitable to the extent of the farms; and the cottages are generally better now than many of the best farm-houses were fifty years ago. More than a third of the county is completely and substantially enclosed with dry-stone walls or thorn hedges, chiefly the latter; the rest is either altogether open, or so badly fenced as to afford neither security nor shelter; the hedges, in too many instances, being full of gaps, and overgrown with weeds.

Of the agriculture of Fifeshire, it is only necessary to observe, that all the farm-crops common in the south of Scotland are cultivated here upon a large scale, for the greater part according to the most approved system, and with great success; and that this is one of the few Scottish counties where flax is grown to some extent as a farmer's crop; though it is by no means a favourite with landlords, who, in some instances, have prohibited the tenants from sowing more than one acre in a year. The cattle of this county have long been in high repute, both as fattening and dairy stock. The prevailing colour is black; horns small, white, turned up at the points; bone small in proportion to the carcase; weighing, when fat, from three to four years' old, from 40 to 60 stone. The cows, when well fed, yield from 10 to 14 Scots pints of milk daily (nearly half as many English wine gallons) during the best of the grass season, and continue long in milk; yet the dairy is here but a secondary object. The oxen were formerly much employed in labour, and were in request for this purpose for the counties along the north-east coast, but they are now very seldom to be seen at work. There are very few flocks of sheep. The horses are much the same as are found in all the lowlands of Scotland. Pigeons are very numerous, there being upwards of 300 pigeon cots; the havoc they make among the grain has long been matter of complaint with the farmers, and they have been upon the decrease of late.

The staple manufacture of this county is linen. Dunfermline has long been famous for its damasks and diapers. Checks, ticks, osnaburgs, and other fabrics, are made in several towns. In 1812, 4,500,000 yards of linen cloth were stamped, of the value of L.280,000; and in 1800, 600,000 yards of plain linen were supposed to be made by private families for their own use, which were not stamped. The number of hands employed in all the branches of this manufacture in 1800 was computed to be 23,192. Flax is spun into yarn almost in every family, and, since 1793, a number of mills have been erected which supply yarn for the coarser fabrics. The other manufactures are spirits, at four distilleries, one of which works for the English market; shipbuilding at Dysart, Kirkaldy, Wemyss, and Anstruther; salt at the two former places and other towns; leather at Kirkaldy, Cupar, Auchtermuchty, and Falkland; and there are breweries in every town, and most of the villages. At Cupar, Kirkaldy, and Leven, bricks and tiles are made to a large amount; and vitriol or sulphuric acid at Burntisland, Haddocks, cod, and in their season herrings, are caught in considerable quantities on the coast, and part of the salmon fishings on the Tay belong to this county.

Though the situation of Fifeshire, almost surrounded by the sea, with several harbours, which, at a small expence, might be made to admit vessels of great burden, is particularly favourable for commerce, yet it makes no figure in that department. Customhouses are established at Kirkaldy and Anstruther, the former of which embraces all the coast from Aberdour to Largo, and the latter from Largo to St Andrews. The trade on the north side of the county is under the inspection of the customhouses of Dundee and Perth, and that from Aberdour westward belongs to the customhouse of Borrowstounness. In 1800, 142 vessels, carrying 13,513 tons, and navigated by 883 seamen, were under the two customhouses within the county, and about half the number of each was supposed to be under those out of it. These vessels are partly employed in foreign trade with Russia and the ports on the Baltic, but chiefly in the coasting trade. The exports are the manufactures already mentioned, with coal, lime, and grain of all sorts; and the imports from foreign parts, timber, bark, hides, and tallow, flax and flax-seed, hemp, tar, iron, &c. and coastwise, groceries, and other articles required for home consumption.

Fifeshire contains seventeen royal burghs, four of Fifeshire, which were excused from sending representatives to Parliament, from their inability to defray the necessary expence, but still retain all their other privileges. The thirteen which have a share in the election of the members for the Scottish burghs are Burntisland, Kinghorn, Kirkaldy, and Dysart, which form one district; and Anstruther, East and West, Pittenweem, Kilrenny, and Crail, another. The remaining four are joined with burghs belonging to other counties; Cupar and St Andrews, with Dundee, Perth, and Forfar; and Dunfermline and Inverkeithing, with Stirling, Culross, and Queensferry. Fifeshire thus sends three members to Parliament, one for the county, and two for its burghs; besides, that the latter have a share in the election of two members more. None of these towns are now considerable, Dunfermline excepted, which is a thriving place, with a population, in 1811, of 11,649. That of Cupar, the county town, and St Andrews, the two next in importance, is about 4700, Kirkaldy 3747, and all the others less than 2000. Packets and ferry-boats ply regularly across the Forth from several of these places; but the great thoroughfares are between Leith and Kinghorn, or Pettycur, and between Queensferry and Inverkeithing or the North Ferry.

Fifeshire is divided into sixty-one parishes belonging to the four presbyteries of St Andrews, Cupar, Kirkaldy, and Dunfermline, which compose the synod of Fife; but there are four parishes besides in the presbytery of Dunfermline, and one in the presbytery of Kirkaldy, which are not situated in this county. The population in 1800 and 1811 will be seen from the following abstract. See Sibbald's History of Fife and Kinross.—Thomson's General View of the Agriculture of the County of Fife.—The Beauties of Scotland, Vol. IV.—The General Report of Scotland, 1814.—And Playfair's Description of Scotland, 1819.

<table> <tr> <th colspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="3">OCCUPATIONS.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Inhabited.</th> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th>Persons chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th>All other Persons not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> <th>Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>17,065</td> <td>22,298</td> <td>766</td> <td>42,952</td> <td>50,791</td> <td>9651</td> <td>17,300</td> <td>59,866</td> <td>93,743</td> </tr> </table>

1800.

<table> <tr> <th colspan="2">HOUSES.</th> <th colspan="2">PERSONS.</th> <th colspan="3">OCCUPATIONS.</th> </tr> <tr> <th>Inhabited.</th> <th>By how many Families occupied.</th> <th>Uninhabited.</th> <th>Males.</th> <th>Females.</th> <th>Families chiefly employed in Agriculture.</th> <th>All other Families not comprised in the two preceding classes.</th> <th>Total of Persons.</th> </tr> <tr> <td>17,518</td> <td>26,352</td> <td>137</td> <td>45,968</td> <td>55,304</td> <td>5073</td> <td>15,564</td> <td>5,715</td> <td>101,272</td> </tr> </table>

1811.