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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Genius of Scotland, by Robert Turnbull
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Genius of Scotland
+       or Sketches of Scottish Scenery, Literature and Religion
+
+
+Author: Robert Turnbull
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 10, 2012  [eBook #38822]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GENIUS OF SCOTLAND***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+THE GENIUS OF SCOTLAND;
+
+Or
+
+Sketches of Scottish Scenery, Literature and Religion.
+
+by
+
+REV. ROBERT TURNBULL
+
+FOURTH EDITION.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York:
+Robert Carter, 58 Canal Street
+1848.
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847,
+by Robert Carter,
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
+for the Southern District of New York.
+
+Stereotyped by Thomas B. Smith,
+216 William Street, New York
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Having been born and educated in Scotland, and possessing a tolerable
+acquaintance with its History and Literature, the Author of the
+following Work felt that he had some facilities for giving to the people
+of this country a just idea of his native Land. The plan of his work is
+somewhat new, combining in a larger degree, than he has hitherto seen
+attempted, descriptions of Scenery, with Literary and Biographical
+Sketches, portraitures of character social and religious, incidents of
+travel, and reflections on matters of local or general interest. Hence
+he has omitted many things which a mere tourist would not fail to
+notice, and supplied their place with sketches of more enduring
+interest. He would particularly invite attention to the sketches of
+Knox, Burns, Wilson, Chalmers, Bruce, 'The Ettrick Shepherd,' and Sir
+Walter Scott. His rambles through fair or classic scenes are thus
+enlivened with useful information. In a word, it has been his endeavor,
+in an easy natural way, to give his readers an adequate conception of
+the Scenery, Literature, and Religion of Scotland.
+
+HARTFORD, CONN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+ Preface                                                                 1
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ Beauty an Element of the Mind--Our Native Land--Auld Lang Syne--General
+ Description of Scotland--Extent of Population--Spirit of the People--The
+ Highlands--The Lowlands--Burns's 'Genius of Scotland'--Natural and Moral
+ Aspects of the Country--'The Cotter's Saturday Night'--Sources of
+ Prosperity                                                             11
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ The city of Edinburgh--Views from Arthur's Seat--The Poems of
+ Richard Gall--'Farewell to Ayrshire'--'Arthur's Seat, a
+ Poem'--Extracts--Craigmillar Castle--The Forth, Roslin Castle
+ and the Pentland Hills--Liberty                                        32
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ Walk to the Castle--The Old Wynds and their Occupants--Regalia of
+ Scotland--Storming of the Castle--Views from its Summit--Heriot's
+ Hospital--Other Hospitals--St. Giles's Cathedral--Changes--The
+ Spirit of Protestantism                                                42
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ John Knox's House--History of the Reformer--His Character--Carlyle's
+ View--Testimony of John Milton                                         53
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ Edinburgh University--Professor Wilson--His Life and Writings, Genius
+ and Character                                                          62
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ The Calton Hill--Burns's Monument--Character and Writings of 'the
+ Peasant Poet'--His Religious Views--Monument of Professor Dugald
+ Stewart--Scottish Metaphysics--Thomas Carlyle                          77
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ Preaching in Edinburgh--The Free Church--Dr. Chalmers--A Specimen
+ of his Preaching--The Secret of his Eloquence                          99
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ Biographical Sketch of Dr. Chalmers                                   113
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh--Rev. John Brown of Whiteburn--Professor
+ John Brown of Haddington--Rev. Dr. Candlish--Specimen of his
+ Preaching                                                             126
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ Ride into the Country--The Skylark--Poems on the Skylark by
+ Shelley and the 'Ettrick Shepherd'--Newhall--'The Gentle
+ Shepherd'--Localities and Outlines of the Story--Its Popularity
+ in Scotland                                                           138
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ Biographical Sketch of Allan Ramsay--Lasswade--Ramble along the
+ banks of the North Esk--Glenesk--A Character--Anecdote of Sir
+ Walter Scott--Hawthornden--Drummond, the Poet--His Character
+ and Genius--Sonnets--Chapel and Castle of Roslin--Barons of
+ Roslin--Ballad of Rosabella--Hunting Match between Robert Bruce
+ and Sir William St. Clair                                             157
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ Ramble through the Fields--Parish Schools--Recollections of Dominie
+ Meuross--The South Esk--Borthwick and Crichtoun Castles--New Battle
+ Abbey--Dalkeith--Residence of the Duke of Buccleugh--'Scotland's
+ Skaith,' by Hector Macneil--His Character and Writings--Extracts
+ from the 'History of Will and Jean'                                   183
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ City of Glasgow--Spirit of the Place--Trade and Manufactures--The
+ Broomielaw--Steam--George's Square--Monuments to Sir Walter Scott,
+ Sir John Moore, and James Watt--Sketch of the Life of Watt--Glasgow
+ University--Reminiscences--Brougham--Sir D. K. Sandford--Professor
+ Nichol and others--High Kirk, or Glasgow Cathedral--Martyrdom
+ of Jerome Russel and John Kennedy                                     197
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ The Necropolis--Jewish Burial Place--Monument to John Knox--Monuments
+ of William Macgavin and Dr. Dick--Reminiscences--Character and
+ Writings of Dr. Dick--Pollok and 'the Course of Time'--Grave of
+ Motherwell--Sketch of his Life--His Genius and Poetry--'Jeanie
+ Morrison'--'My Heid is like to rend, Willie'--'A Summer Sabbath
+ Noon'                                                                 209
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+ Dumbarton Castle--Lochlomond--Luss--Ascent of Benlomond--Magnificent
+ Views--Ride to Loch-Katrine--Rob Roy Macgregor--'Gathering of Clan
+ Gregor'--Loch-Katrine and the Trosachs--The City of Perth--Martyrdom
+ of Helen Stark and her husband                                        231
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ Sabbath Morning--'The Sabbath,' by James Grahame--Sketch of his
+ Life--Extracts from his Poetry--The Cameronians--'Dream of the
+ Martyrs,' by James Hislop--Sabbath Morning Walk--Country Church--The
+ Old Preacher--The Interval of Worship--Conversation in the
+ Church-yard--Going Home from Church--Sabbath Evening                  244
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ Lochleven--Escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven Castle--Michael
+ Bruce--Sketch of his Life--Boyhood--College
+ Life--Poetry--'Lochleven'--Sickness--'Ode to Spring'--Death--'Ode
+ to the Cuckoo'                                                        260
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ Dunfermline--Ruins of the Abbey--Grave of Robert Bruce--Malcolm
+ Canmore's Palace--William Henryson, the poet--William Dunbar--Stirling
+ Castle--Views from its Summit--City of Stirling--George Buchanan
+ and Dr. Arthur Johnston--Falkirk--Linlithgow--Story of the Capture
+ of Linlithgow Castle--Spirit of War--Arrival in Edinburgh             284
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ Journey to Peebles--Characters--Conversation on Politics--Scottish
+ Peasantry--Peebles--'Christ's Kirk on the Green'--A Legend--An old
+ Church--The Banks of the Tweed--Its ancient Castles--The Alarm
+ Fire--Excursion to the Vales of Ettrick and Yarrow--Stream of
+ Yarrow--St. Mary's Lake and Dryhope Tower--'The Dowie Dens of
+ Yarrow'--Growth of Poetry--Ballads and Poems on Yarrow by Hamilton,
+ Logan and Wordsworth                                                  295
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+ Hamlet and Church-yard of Ettrick--Monument to Thomas
+ Boston--Birth-place of the Ettrick Shepherd--Altrieve
+ Cottage--Biographical Sketch of the Ettrick Shepherd--The Town of
+ Selkirk--Monument to Sir Walter Scott--Battle-field of Philiphangh    319
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+ Return to the Banks of the Tweed--Abbotsford--The Study--Biographical
+ Sketch of Sir Walter Scott--His Early Life--Residence in the
+ Country--Spirit of Romance--Education--First Efforts as an
+ Author--Success of 'Marmion'--Character of his Poetry--Literary
+ Change--His Novels--Pecuniary Difficulties--Astonishing
+ Efforts--Last Sickness--Death and Funeral                             334
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+ Melrose Abbey--The Eildon Hills--Thomas the Rhymer--Dryburgh--Monuments
+ to the Author of 'The Seasons' and Sir William Wallace--Kelso--Beautiful
+ Scenery--A Pleasant Evening--Biographical Sketch of Leyden, Poet,
+ Antiquary, Scholar and Traveller--The Duncan Family--Journey
+ Resumed--Twisel Bridge--Battle of Flodden--Norham Castle--Berwick
+ upon Tweed--Biographical Sketch of Thomas Mackay Wilson, author of 'The
+ Border Tales'--Conclusion--'Auld Lang Syne'                           351
+
+
+
+
+GENIUS OF SCOTLAND.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+     Beauty an Element of the Mind--Our Native Land--Auld Lang
+     Syne--General Description of Scotland--Extent of Population--Spirit
+     of the People--The Highlands--The Lowlands--Burns's 'Genius of
+     Scotland'--Natural and Moral Aspects of the Country--'The Cotter's
+     Saturday Night'--Sources of Prosperity.
+
+
+The theory has become prevalent among philosophers, and even among
+literary men, that beauty is more an element of the mind than of
+external objects. Things, say they, are not what they seem. Their
+aspects are ever varying with the minds which gaze upon them. They
+change even under the eyes of the same individuals. A striking
+illustration of this may be found in the opening stanza of Wordsworth's
+Ode to Immortality.
+
+    There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,
+    The earth and every common sight
+                      To me did seem
+                      Apparelled in celestial light,
+    The glory and the freshness of a dream.
+    It is not now as it hath been of yore;
+                      Turn wheresoe'er I may,
+                      By night or day,
+    The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
+
+It is the mind then, which transfers its own ethereal colors to the
+forms of matter, and invests scenes and places with new and peculiar
+attractions. Like the light of the moon streaming through a leafy grove
+and transforming its darkness into its own radiant beauty, the spirit of
+man diffuses its own inspiration through the universe,
+
+                    "Making all nature
+    Beauty to the eye and music to the ear."
+
+Now if this theory be true, it follows that no country will appear to us
+so beautiful as the one which happens to be endeared to our hearts by
+early recollections and pleasant associations. No matter how rude and
+wild,--that spot of all others on earth, will appear to us the sweetest
+and most attractive! 'New England,' says a native of Massachusetts or of
+Vermont, 'is the glory of all lands. No hills and vales are more
+picturesque than hers, no rivers more clear and beautiful.' 'Visit
+Naples, and die!' exclaims the Neapolitan, proud of his classic home.
+'Green Erin, my darling,' is the fond language of the Hibernian, 'first
+gem of the ocean, first flower of the sea.' 'Here's a health,' shouts
+the native of Caledonia, 'bonny Scotland to thee!' Others may speak
+disparagingly of the sour climate and barren soil of Scotland; but to a
+native of that country, the land of his fathers is invested with all the
+charms of poetry and romance. Every spot of its varied surface is
+hallowed ground. He sees its rugged rocks and desolate moors mantled
+with the hoary memories of by-gone days, the thrilling associations of
+childhood and youth. Therefore, with a meaning and emphasis, which all
+who love their native land will appreciate, he appropriates the words of
+the poet:--
+
+    Land of the forest and the rock,
+      Of dark blue lake and mighty river,
+    Of mountains reared aloft to mock,
+    The storm's career, the lightning's shock,
+      My own green land forever!
+    Land of the beautiful and brave!
+    The freeman's home, the martyr's grave!
+    The nursery of giant men,
+    Whose deeds have linked with every glen,
+    The magic of a warrior's name!
+
+Does not Scotland, however inferior, in some respects it may be deemed
+to other lands, possess a peculiar charm to all cultivated minds?[1]
+What visions of ancient glory cluster around the time-honored name!
+What associations of 'wild native grandeur,'--of wizard beauty, and
+rough magnificence. What gleams of 'poetic sunlight,'--what
+recollections of martial daring by flood and field,--what hallowed faith
+and burning zeal,--what martyr toils and martyr graves, monuments of
+freedom's struggles and freedom's triumphs in moor or glen,--what
+'lights and shadows' of love and passion,--what ancient songs, echoing
+among the hills,--what blessed sabbath calm,--what lofty inspiration of
+the Bible and covenant,--in a word, what dear and hallowed memories of
+that 'Auld lang syne,' indigenous only to Scotland, though known
+throughout the world! Should this be deemed enthusiastic, let it, and
+all else of a similar character which may be found in this volume, be
+ascribed to a natural and not unpardonable feeling on the part of the
+writer. The remembrance of 'Auld lang syne' can never be extinguished.
+Except the hope of heaven, it is our best and holiest heritage.
+
+[Footnote 1: The following eloquent passage from an address by the
+Honorable Edward Everett, before the "Scots' Charitable Society,"
+Boston, well illustrates the fact referred to.
+
+"Not to speak of the worthies of ages long passed; of the Knoxes, the
+Buchanans, and the early minstrelsy of the border; the land of your
+fathers, sir, since it ceased to be a separate kingdom, has, through the
+intellect of her gifted sons, acquired a supremacy over the minds of men
+more extensive and more enduring, than that of Alexander or Augustus. It
+would be impossible to enumerate them all,--the Blairs of the last
+generation, the Chalmerses of this; the Robertsons, and Humes; the
+Smiths, the Reids, the Stuarts, the Browns; the Homes, the Mackenzies;
+the Mackintoshes, the Broughams, the Jeffreys, with their distinguished
+compeers, both on physical and moral science. The Marys and the
+Elizabeths, the Jameses and the Charleses will be forgotten, before
+these names will perish from the memory of men. And when I add to them
+those other illustrious names--Burns, Campbell, Byron, and Scott, may I
+not truly say, sir, that the throne and the sceptre of England will
+crumble into dust like those of Scotland: and Windsor Castle and
+Westminster Abbey will lie in ruins as poor and desolate as those of
+Scone and Iona, before the lords of Scottish song shall cease to reign
+in the hearts of men.
+
+For myself, sir, I confess that I love Scotland. I have reason to do so.
+I have trod the soil of the
+
+    Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
+    Land of the mountain and the flood,
+
+I have looked up to the cloud-capt summit of Ben Lomond; have glided
+among the fairy islets of Loch Katrine; and from the battlements of
+Stirling Castle, have beheld the links of Forth sparkling in the morning
+sun. I have done more, sir; I have tasted that generous hospitality of
+Scotland, which her Majesty's Consul has so justly commemorated; I have
+held converse with her most eminent sons; I have made my pilgrimage to
+Melrose Abbey, in company with that modern magician, who, mightier than
+the magician of old that sleeps beneath the marble floor of its chancel,
+has hung the garlands of immortal poesy upon its shattered arches, and
+made its moss-clad ruins a shrine, to be visited by the votary of the
+muse from the remotest corners of the earth, to the end of time. Yes,
+sir, musing as I did, in my youth, over the sepulchre of the wizard,
+once pointed out by the bloody stain of the cross and the image of the
+archangel:--standing within that consecrated enclosure, under the
+friendly guidance of him whose genius has made it holy ground; while
+every nerve within me thrilled with excitement, my fancy kindled with
+the inspiration of the spot. I seemed to behold, not the vision so
+magnificently described by the minstrel,--the light, which, as the tomb
+was opened,
+
+              broke forth so gloriously,
+    Streamed upward to the chancel roof,
+    And through the galleries far aloof:
+
+But I could fancy that I beheld, with sensible perception, the brighter
+light, which had broken forth from the master mind; which had streamed
+from his illumined page all-gloriously upward, above the pinnacles of
+worldly grandeur, till it mingled its equal beams, with that of the
+brightest constellations, in the intellectual firmament of England."]
+
+    As 'Auld Lang Syne' brings Scotland one and all,
+      Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills and clear streams,
+    The Dee, the Don, Balgownies brig's black wall,
+      All my boy feelings, all my gentler dreams
+    Of what I then dreamt, clothed in their own pall,
+      Like Banquo's offspring; floating past me seems
+    My childhood, in this childishness of mind;
+      I care not;--'tis a glimpse of 'Auld Lang Syne.'
+
+    BYRON.
+
+Beautiful is New England, resembling as she does, in many of her
+features, 'Auld Scotia's hills and dales,' and moreover being much akin
+to her, in religious sentiment and the love of freedom; so that a native
+of either might well be forgiven for clinging with peculiar fondness to
+the land of his birth, and, in certain moods of mind, prefering it to
+all the world beside. Though far away, and even loving the place of his
+estrangement, he cannot, if he would, altogether renounce those ties
+which bind him to his early home. A 'viewless chain,' which crosses
+ocean and continent, conveys from the one to the other that subtle, yet
+gracious influence, which is quicker and stronger than the lightning's
+gleam. Let no one then be surprised if a Scotsman in New England, the
+cherished land of his adoption, should solace his mind with the
+recollection of early days, and endeavor to set before others the
+characteristic beauties and excellences of his native country.
+
+    O Caledonia, stern and wild,
+    Meet nurse for a poetic child!
+    Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
+    Land of the mountain and the flood,
+    Land of my sires! What mortal hand,
+    Can e'er untie the filial band
+    That knits me to thy rugged strand!
+
+"Scotland," as one of her own sons has expressed it, "is a wee bit
+country," but possessed of "muckle pith and spirit." Its surface is
+rough and mountainous, with beautiful patches of rich arable land along
+the courses of its streams, and extensive level meadows, called Carses,
+as the Carse of Falkirk, and the Carse of Gowrie. It is of unequal
+breadth, being much indented with bays and creeks, and stretches some
+two hundred and eighty miles in length, reckoning from its most
+southerly point, the Mull of Galloway, to Dunnet's Head, its most
+northern extremity. This probably would be a little farther than from
+"Maiden Kirk to Johnny Groat's," the "from Dan to Beersheba" of
+Scotland. Clustering around its western and northern sides are the
+Hebrides, the Shetland and the Orkney islands; wild and rocky isles,
+with rude and primitive inhabitants, constituting the Ultima Thule of
+Great Britain. In Scotland, a considerable portion of the land is
+uncultivated, consisting of heathy hills, mountains and moors; and the
+most of that which is cultivated has been rendered productive by the
+hand of art and industry. Like Switzerland, it is comparatively a poor
+country, but has been made rich by the generative powers of mind. Her
+wealth consists in the brawny arms and vigorous intellects of her sons.
+The climate is cold and variable, though milder in winter than that of
+New England, and in summer cooler, and upon the whole, more agreeable,
+except when dense fogs and long-continued rains prevail.
+
+The population is over two millions and a half, and is gradually
+increasing, though the people, like those of New England, are greatly
+given to migration, and may be found in every part of the world. Its
+commerce and manufactures are, for its size, very extensive. They have
+increased, since 1814, from twenty-five to thirty per cent. Agriculture
+and the mechanic arts have been carried to a high degree of perfection.
+While the people are characteristically cautious and slow, "looking
+before they leap," to quote one of their favorite proverbs, they are
+bold and enterprising, and thus leap long and successfully. Few nations
+have accomplished so much in literature or trade, in science or the arts
+of industry. Their highest distinction, however, consists in their
+spirit of love and fealty, their leal-heartedness, their contempt of
+sham, their passionate love of freedom, their zeal for God and the
+truth! Obstinate and wrong-headed at times, characteristically dogmatic,
+and perhaps a little intolerant, their very faults lean to virtue's
+side, and go to the support of goodness. Their punctiliousness and
+pride, their dogged adherence to what they conceive to be right, and
+their vehement mode of defending it, constitute the rough and prickly
+bark which defends the precious tree. One thing is certain, they are
+transparent as daylight, and honest as their own heathy hills.
+
+They are preeminently a religious people, protestant to the backbone,
+occasionally rough and impetuous in the expression of their opinions,
+but never formal, never indecorous. A profound enthusiasm, bordering on
+fanaticism, a passionate, though not boisterous or canting devotion, a
+fine sense of the grand and beautiful, intermingled with a keen
+conscientiousness, an ardent love of freedom, with a boundless trust in
+God, form the great elements of their religious life. Their theology is
+chiefly Calvinistic, apparently philosophical and dogmatic, but rather
+less so than popular and practical. Of cathedrals, old and dim, of
+masses, chants and processions, the pomp and circumstance of a
+magnificent ritual, they have none.[2] But of old and glorious memories,
+solemn temples among the woods and hills, hallowed grave-yards, blessed
+sacraments, and national enthusiasm, they have abundance. Their religion
+is a part of the soil. It is indigenous to the country. It grew up among
+the mountains, was nursed by 'wizard streams,' and 'led forth' with the
+voice of psalms, among 'the green pastures of the wilderness.' Somewhat
+forbidding at first, like the rough aspect of the country, it appears
+equally picturesque and beautiful, when really known and loved. It is
+the religion not of form but of substance, of deep inward emotion, not
+of outward pretension and show. Neither is it a sickly sentimentalism
+which lives on poetic musings, and matures only in cloistered shades and
+moonlight groves; but it is a healthy, robust principle which goes forth
+to do and to suffer the will of Heaven. Its head and heart are sound,
+and its works praise it in the gate. Beautiful as the visions of fancy,
+it is yet strong as the everlasting hills among which it was reared. In
+a word, it is the religion of faith and love, the religion of the old
+puritans, of the martyrs and confessors of primitive times. Welling out
+forever from the unstained fountains of the Word of God, it has marked
+its course over the fair face of Scotland, with the greenest verdure,
+the sweetest flowers.
+
+[Footnote 2: This is spoken, of course, of the great body of the
+people.]
+
+Scotland is naturally divided into Highlands and Lowlands. The former
+includes, besides the various groups of islands on the north and
+north-west coast, the counties of Argyle, Inverness, Nairn, Ross,
+Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness, with portions of Dumbarton,
+Stirling, Perth, Forfar, "Aberdeen awa," Banff and Elgin, or the more
+northerly regions of the country, protected and beautified by the mighty
+range of the Grampians, commencing at the southern extremity of Loch
+Etive, and terminating at the mouth of the Dee on the eastern coast. The
+Highlands again are divided into two unequal portions by the beautiful
+chain of lochs, or lakes running through the Glenmore-Nan-Albin, or
+Great Glen of Caledonia, forming some of the wildest and richest scenery
+in the world. To the north are the giant mountains of Macdui, Cairngorm,
+Ben-Aven and Ben-More, while nearer the Lowlands, rise the lofty
+Ben-Lomond, and the hoary Ben-Awe. Under their shadows gleam the storied
+lochs, the wild tarns and trosachs, whose picturesque and romantic
+beauties have been immortalized by the pens of Burns, Scott, and Wilson.
+
+To the south and east of the Grampian range, and running parallel to
+them, you discover a chain of lower and more verdant hills, bearing the
+well known and poetical names of the Sidlaw, Campsie and Ochil hills.
+These are divided by the fertile valleys of the Tay and Forth. Between
+them and the Grampians lies the low and charming valley of Strathmore.
+The "silver Tay," one of the finest rivers in Scotland, rises in
+Breadalbane, expands into lake Dochart, flows in an easterly direction
+through the vale of Glendochart, expands again into the long and
+beautiful Loch Tay, which runs like a belt of silver among the hills,
+whence issuing, it receives various accessions from other streams,
+passes on in a southerly direction to Dunkeld, famous for its ancient
+Abbey and lovely scenery, skirts the ancient and delightful city of
+Perth, below which it is joined by its great tributary the Earn, which
+flows, in serpentine windings, through the rich vale of Strath-Earn,
+touches the populous and thriving town of Dundee, and gradually widens
+into the Firth of Tay, whose clear waters mirror the white skiff or
+magnificent steamer, and imperceptibly mingle with the waves of the
+Northern Sea. Further north, the rapid Spey, springing from the 'braes
+of Badenoch' near Lochaber, passes tumultuously through a rough and
+mountainous country, lingering occasionally, as if to rest itself in
+some deep glen, crosses the ancient province of Moray, famous for its
+floods, so admirably described by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, passes
+Kinrara, "whence, for a few miles, it is attended by a series of
+landscapes, alike various, singular and magnificent," after which, it
+moves, with a monotonous aspect, and a steady pace, to the sea. Portions
+of the country through which this river passes are exceedingly sterile
+and wild. Covered with the birch, the alder and the pine, varied by
+rugged rocks and desolate moors, it admirably corresponds to our
+notions of Caledonia, in her ancient and primitive integrity.
+
+In the more remote and northern regions of the Highlands, and in most of
+the Scottish isles, the Gaelic, or Erse, a primitive and energetic
+tongue, somewhat akin to the Welsh or Irish, is spoken by a majority of
+the inhabitants. In other parts of Scotland, the English, with a
+Scottish idiom, is the prevalent speech. The literature of the Gaelic is
+exceedingly limited, confined chiefly to old ballads, songs and
+traditionary stories. The poems of Ossian are doubtless the production
+of Macpherson, their professed translator, while they probably contain a
+few translated fragments, and some traditionary facts and conceptions
+afloat among the Highlanders, ingeniously interwoven with the main
+fabric of the work.
+
+The Highlanders are a simple-hearted, primitive race, mostly poor, and
+imperfectly educated. Those of them that are wealthy and well educated,
+are said to be remarkably acute, courteous, and agreeable.
+
+The Lowlands of Scotland comprehend the south and southeastern portions
+of the country, and though not the grandest and most romantic, are by
+far the best cultivated, and in some respects the most beautiful.
+Including the level ground on the eastern coast to the south of the
+Moray Firth, they stretch along the coast through portions of
+Perthshire, and the old kingdom of Fife, towards the regions bounded on
+either side, by the river and the Firth of Forth, and thence to
+Kircudbright and the English border, including the principal cities,
+the most fertile tracts of arable land, the rivers Forth, Clyde and
+Tweed, and the range of the Cheviot hills, which extend from the north
+of England towards the north-west, join the Louther hills in the region
+of Ettrick and Yarrow, with their 'silver streams,' pass through the
+southern part of Ayrshire and terminate at Loch Ryan, in the Irish
+Channel. The Clyde is the most important commercial river in Scotland.
+Taking its origin among the mountains of the south, not far from the
+early home of its beautiful and more classic sisters, the Tweed and the
+Annan, it runs in many capricious windings, in a northwesterly
+direction, leaps in foaming cascades first at Bonnington, and then at
+Cora Linn, rushes on through the fine country of Lanarkshire, till,
+joined by many tributary streams, it passes through the large and
+flourishing city of Glasgow, bearing upon its bosom the vast commerce
+and population of the neighboring regions, flows around the walls of old
+Dumbarton Castle, with its time-worn battlements and glorious memories,
+in sight, too, of the lofty Ben Lomond, and the beautiful lake which it
+protects, touches the ancient city of Greenock, expands into the Firth
+of Clyde, and gradually loses itself amid the picturesque islands which
+adorn the western coast of Scotland.
+
+Were it possible, by placing ourselves upon some lofty elevation, to
+take in at one glance, the whole of this varied landscape of lake,
+river, and mountain; of tarn, trosach and moor, with verdant vales, and
+woody slopes between, we should confess that it was one of as rare
+beauty and wild magnificence as ever greeted the vision of man. And were
+our minds steeped in ancient and poetic lore, we should be prepared to
+appreciate the faithfulness and splendor of Burns's allegorical
+description of the "Genius of Scotland."
+
+    "Green, slender, leaf-clad holly boughs,
+    Were twisted gracefu' round her brows,
+    I took her for some Scottish Muse,
+              By that same token,
+    And come to stop those reckless vows
+              Would soon be broken.
+
+    A hair-brained sentimental trace,
+    Was strongly marked in her face;
+    A wildly witty-rustic grace,
+              Shone full upon her,
+    Her eye e'en turned on empty space,
+              Beamed keen with honor.
+
+    Her mantle large, of greenish hue,
+    My gazing wonder chiefly drew,
+    Deep _lights and shadows_ mingling threw
+              A lustre grand;
+    And seemed, to my astonished view
+              A _well known land_!
+
+    Here rivers in the sea were lost;
+    There mountains in the skies were tost;
+    Here tumbling billows marked the coast,
+              With surging foam;
+    There, distant shone, Art's lofty boast,
+              The lordly dome.
+
+    Here Doon poured down his far-fetched floods;
+    There well fed Irwine stately thuds:
+    Auld hermit Ayr staw through his woods,
+              On to the shore;
+    And many a lesser torrent scuds
+              With seeming roar.
+
+    Low in a sandy valley spread,
+    An ancient _borough_ reared her head
+    Still as in Scottish story read,
+              She boasts a race,
+    To every nobler virtue bred,
+              And polished grace.
+
+    By stately tower or palace fair
+    Or ruins pendent in the air
+    Bold stems of heroes here and there,
+              I could discern;
+    Some seemed to muse, some seemed to dare
+              With feature stern."
+
+Now, imagine the whole of this country, studded at no remote intervals,
+with churches and schools well supported, and well attended by young and
+old. Think of her ancient and able Universities, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St.
+Andrews, and Aberdeen, including in the last, Marischal College and
+Kings College, with an average attendance of from 2500 to 3000 students,
+with their learned and amiable professors, extensive libraries, and fine
+collections in Natural History. Think of her innumerable high schools,
+private schools, public and private libraries, literary institutes and
+ancient hospitals, some for the body and some for the mind, and connect
+the whole with her heroic history, her poetical enthusiasm, her
+religious faith, her fealty to God and man, and you will have some faint
+conception of the beauty and glory of Scotland.
+
+But the impression would be deepened, could you behold the land,
+beautified and ennobled by her sabbath calm, as once in seven days, she
+rests and worships before the Lord. Could you but hear the voice of her
+church-going bells, and go to the house of God, in company with her
+thoughtful but cheerful population; could you sit in some "auld warld"
+kirk, and hear some grey-haired holy man dispense, with deep and tender
+tones, the word of everlasting life; could you hear a whole congregation
+of devout worshippers make the hills ring again, with their simple
+melody; above all, could you place yourself in some deep shady glen, by
+the "sweet burnie," as it "wimples" among the waving willows, or the
+yellow broom, or sit down on the green "brae side," enamelled with
+"gowans," on some sacramental occasion, when thousands are gathered to
+hear the preaching of the gospel, and with simple ritual, to commemorate
+the dying love of the Redeemer! Could you see the devout and happy looks
+of the aged, and the sweet but reverent aspect of children and youth, as
+the tones of some earnest preacher thrilled them with emotions of holy
+gratitude, in view of the "loving kindness of the Lord," you would
+instinctively feel that Scotland,--free, Protestant Scotland, was a
+happy land, and would be prepared to exclaim with the sweet singer of
+Israel: "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound, they shall
+walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance."
+
+    "How with religious awe impressed
+    They open lay the guileless breast;
+    And youth and age with fears distressed
+                  All due prepare,
+    The symbols of eternal rest
+                  Devout to share.
+
+    How down ilk lang withdrawing hill,
+    Successive crowds the valleys fill;
+    While pure religious converse still
+                  Beguiles the way,
+    And gives a cast to youthful will,
+                  To suit the day.
+
+    How placed along the sacred board,
+    Their hoary pastor's looks adored,--
+    His voice with peace and blessing stored,
+                  Sent from above,
+    And faith and hope, and joy afford
+                  And boundless love.
+
+    O'er this with warm seraphic glow,
+    Celestial beings pleased bow;
+    And whispered hear the holy vow,
+                  'Mid grateful tears;
+    And mark amid such scenes below
+                  Their future peers."[3]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letter to Robert Burns, by Mr. Telford, of Shrewsbury, a
+native of Scotland.]
+
+Or you might leave this scene, and study the Scottish character with
+some shepherd boy on the hills, as he reads God's word upon the
+greensward, and meditates on things divine, while tending his flocks far
+from the house of God, on the sabbath day, a circumstance to which
+Grahame in his poem of the Sabbath, has touchingly referred, and which
+Telford has thus described:
+
+    "Say how, by early lessons taught,
+    Truth's pleasing air is willing caught!
+    Congenial to the untainted thought,
+                  The shepherd boy,
+    Who tends his flocks on lonely height,
+                  Feels holy joy.
+
+    Is aught on earth so lovely known,
+    On sabbath morn, and far alone.
+    His guileless soul all naked shown
+                  Before his God--
+    Such prayers must welcome reach the throne
+                  And bless'd abode.
+
+    O tell! with what a heartfelt joy
+    The parent eyes the virtuous boy;
+    And all his constant kind employ,
+                  Is how to give
+    The best of _lear_ he can enjoy,
+                  As means to live."
+
+The scenes of "the Cotter's Saturday Night," one of the sweetest poems
+in any language, are exact transcripts from real life, as Burns himself
+intimates. His father was "a godly man," and was wont, morning and
+evening, to "turn o'er, wi' patriarchal grace, the big ha' Bible," and
+worship God, with his family. Where in Italy or in Austria will you meet
+aught so beautiful or thrilling as the following?
+
+      "The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face,
+        They round the ingle form a circle wide,
+      The sire turns o'er wi' patriarchal grace
+        The big _ha' Bible_ ance his father's pride:
+      His bonnet reverently is laid aside,
+        His lyart haffets[4] wearing thin and bare:
+      Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide
+        He wales a portion with judicious care;
+    And 'Let us worship God!' he says with solemn air.
+
+      They chant their artless notes in simple guise,
+        They tune their hearts, by far their noblest aim;
+      Perhaps _Dundee's_ wild warbling measures rise,
+        Or plaintive _Martyrs_ worthy of the name,
+      Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame,
+        The sweetest far of _Scotia's_ holy lays.
+      Compared with these Italian trills are tame;
+        The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise,
+    Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.
+
+      The priest-like father reads the sacred page,
+        How Abram was the friend of God on high,
+      Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage
+        With Amalek's ungracious progeny;
+      Or how the royal bard did groaning lie
+        Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire;
+      Or Job's pathetic plaint and wailing cry;
+        Or rapt Isaiah's wild seraphic fire;
+    Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.
+
+      Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme:
+        How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed,
+      How He who bore in Heaven the second name,
+        Had 'not on earth whereon to lay his head;'
+      How his first followers and servants sped;
+        The precepts sage they wrote to many a land:
+      How he who lone in Patmos banished,
+        Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand;
+    And heard great Babylon's doom pronounced by Heaven's command.
+
+      Then kneeling down to Heaven's eternal King,
+        The saint, the father, and the husband prays,
+      Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing,
+        That thus they all shall meet in future days:
+      There ever bask in uncreated rays,
+        No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear,
+      Together hymning their Creator's praise,
+        In such society, yet still more dear;
+    While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.
+
+      Compared with this how poor religion's pride,
+        In all the pomp of method and of art,
+      When men display to congregations wide,
+        Devotion's every grace except the heart;
+      The Power incensed the pageant will desert,
+        The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole;
+      But haply in some cottage far apart,
+        May hear well pleased the language of the soul,
+    And in His book of life the inmates poor enroll."
+
+[Footnote 4: Withered cheeks.]
+
+These are the elements of a people's greatness. These are the perennial
+sources of their ruth and loyalty, their freedom and virtue. These guard
+the domestic graces, these bind the commonwealth in holy and enduring
+bands. Better than splendid mausoleums and gorgeous temples, better than
+costly altars and a pompous ritual, better than organ blasts and rolling
+incense, better by far than mass and breviary, confessional and priestly
+absolution! For while the most imposing forms of Religion are often
+heartless and dead, these sacred rites of a Christianity pure and
+practical, ever possess a vital power,--a power to quicken and save.
+
+      "From scenes like these auld Scotia's grandeur springs,
+        That makes her loved at home, revered abroad;
+      Princes and lords are but the breath of kings,
+        'An honest man's the noblest work of God.'
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+      O Scotia! my dear, my native soil!
+        For whom my warmest wish to heaven is sent,
+      Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil,
+        Be blest with health and peace and sweet content!
+      And oh, may Heaven their simple lives prevent
+        From luxury's contagion, weak and vile!
+      Then howe'er crowns and coronets be rent,
+        A virtuous populace may rise the while,
+    And stand a wall of fire around their much loved Isle."
+
+But we have dwelt long enough on general topics. If the reader will
+accompany us, we will ramble together in some particular scenes,
+meditating, as we go, on things new and old, and chatting, in lively or
+in sombre mood, as the humor may seize us. First of all then, let us
+visit "Auld Reekie," as the inhabitants often call it, or more
+classically, "the modern Athens," the beautiful and far famed metropolis
+of Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+     The city of Edinburgh--Views from Arthur's Seat--The Poems of
+     Richard Gall--"Farewell to Ayrshire"--"Arthur's Seat, a
+     Poem"--Extracts--Craigmillar Castle--The Forth, Roslin Castle and
+     the Pentland Hills--Liberty.
+
+
+We will enter the city on the west side, as if we were coming from
+Glasgow, pass through Prince's Street, with its elegant buildings and
+fine promenades, skirting that enclosure of walks and shrubbery, just
+under the frowning battlements of the Castle, and adorned with the
+superb statue of Sir Walter Scott, rising rapidly to its completion;
+then turn the corner at right-angles, cross the North Bridge, enter High
+Street, and thence plunge down the hill into the old Canongate; and
+without waiting to look at "the Heart of Midlothian," or even the
+beautiful ruins of Holyrood House, at the foot of the hill, let us turn
+to the right, and climb the rocky sides of "Arthur's Seat" with its
+summit of verdure overlooking the city and the neighboring country. For
+there the whole panorama of the city will spread itself before us,
+surrounded with magnificent scenery, stretching far and wide from the
+Pentland Hills on the one side to the Firth of Forth on the other, from
+Stirling Castle on the west to the German Ocean on the east. Here we are
+then, on the very highest point of the mountain, with the warm sunshine
+around us, tempered as it is by the fresh "westlin wind," at once so
+sweet and bland. Aye, aye! this is beautiful! What a landscape! How
+varied and yet how harmonious! Not only beautiful exceedingly, but
+ineffably grand and striking! Beneath us is the fine old city--new and
+old at the same time, lying nearly square, with its lofty buildings and
+elegant monuments, handsome parks and green shrubberies. To the left is
+the older part of the city, rising gradually from the palace of Holyrood
+at our feet, and crowned by the Castle, which is built upon a granite
+rock, whose rough sides, terminating abruptly to the north and west,
+hang over Prince's Street and the lower part of the city.
+
+    "There watching high the least alarms,
+      Thy rough rude fortress gleams afar;
+    Like some bold veteran gray in arms
+      And pierced with many a seamy scar:
+    The ponderous wall and massy bar,
+      Grim rising o'er the rugged rock;
+    Have oft withstood assailing war,
+      And oft repelled the invader's shock."--Burns.
+
+Before us and stretching away towards the Forth and the city of Leith is
+"the new town," surmounted on this side by the Calton Hill, on which
+stand the monuments of Dugald Stewart and Admiral Nelson, the unfinished
+Parthenon, and the monument of Robert Burns,--beautiful and imposing
+objects, reminding us of the Acropolis of Athens, and affording fine
+relief to the long ranges of smooth and polished buildings beyond.
+Behind us are the Pentland Hills with their verdant slopes and historic
+recollections. To the right lie the city and bay of Leith, "the Piraeus"
+of Edinburgh, the long winding shore in the direction of Portobello, and
+"the dark blue deep" of the ocean, studded with white sails, glistening
+in the summer radiance. To the north, at a distance of a few miles, you
+see the majestic Firth of Forth, and beyond, "in cultur'd beauty," the
+"Kingdom of Fife," with the distant range of the Ochil and Campsie
+hills. From this point also you can see, at a distance of some three
+miles, the gray ruins of Craigmillar Castle, famous in the annals of
+Scotland, as the residence of Queen Mary, and the scene of those secret
+machinations, which ended in the tragedy of Holyrood; Inch Keith with
+its lofty lighthouse; the isle of May, once consecrated to St. Adrian,
+and on which stands another "star of hope" to the mariner; and old
+Inchcolm, famous for its ancient convent founded by St. Colomba, one of
+the patron saints of Scotland. How gloriously, light and shade, land and
+ocean, park and woodland, old castles and hoary ruins, frowning rocks
+and smiling meadows mingle and blend in this rare and magnificent
+landscape.
+
+    "Traced like a map the landscape lies
+      In cultur'd beauty stretching wide;
+    There Pentland's green acclivities,
+      There ocean, with its azure tide;
+    There Arthur's Seat, and gleaming through
+    Thy southern wing Dun Edin blue!
+    While in the orient, Lammer's daughters,
+      A distant giant range are seen,
+      North Berwick Law, with cone of green,
+    And Bass amid the waters."    Delta.[5]
+
+[Footnote 5: Supposed to be Dr. Moir.]
+
+Here you can easily understand the reason why Edinburgh has been thought
+to resemble the city of Athens. Mr. Stuart, author of the "Antiquities
+of Athens," was the first to call attention to this fact, and his
+opinion has often been confirmed since. Dr. Clarke remarks that the
+neighborhood of Athens is just the Highlands of Scotland, enriched with
+the splendid remains of art. Another acute observer states that the
+distant view of Athens from the Aegean Sea is extremely like that of
+Edinburgh from the Firth of Forth, "though," he adds, "certainly the
+latter is considerably superior." "The resemblance," says J. G. Kohl,
+the celebrated German traveller, "is indeed very striking. Athens, like
+Edinburgh, was a city of hills and valleys, and its Ilissus was probably
+not much larger than the Water of Leith. Athens, like Edinburgh, was an
+inland town, and had its harbor, Piraeus, on the sea-coast. The mountains
+near Edinburgh very much resemble those near Athens. I have little
+doubt, however, that Athens is more honored by being compared to
+Edinburgh, than Edinburgh to Athens; for it is probable that the scenery
+and position of the Northern are more grand and striking in their
+beauty, than those of the Southern Athens."
+
+By the way there is a beautiful poem in the Scottish dialect, entitled
+"Arthur's Seat," written by Richard Gall, a young man of great promise,
+the friend and correspondent of Burns. He struggled with poverty, and
+like Fergusson and Michael Bruce, was cut off prematurely, but not
+before he had written some exquisite poems, in the style of Burns, whom
+he greatly admired. He was contemporary with the unfortunate but gifted
+Tannahill of Paisley, and possessed a kindred taste in song writing.[6]
+His "Farewell to Ayrshire," commencing--
+
+    "Scenes of woe and scenes of pleasure,
+      Scenes that former thoughts renew;
+    Scenes of woe and scenes of pleasure,
+      Now a sad and last adieu!
+    Bonnie Doon sae sweet at gloaming,
+      Fare thee weel before I gang--
+    Bonnie Doon where early roaming,
+      First I weaved the rustic sang"--
+
+has been often printed, on account of its locality and associations, as
+the composition of Burns. He is doubtless greatly inferior to Burns, and
+not quite equal to Bruce or even Tannahill, but his verses possess great
+sweetness, and contain some graphic and beautiful descriptions. This is
+the case especially, with "Arthur's Seat," his longest and most
+elaborate poem. As its sketches of scenery in and around Edinburgh, are
+at once accurate and pleasing, and as it is entirely unknown in America,
+we will take the liberty of quoting some of its finest passages.
+
+[Footnote 6: Tannahill was a weaver in Paisley. He excelled in song
+writing. Under the pressure of poverty and deep depression of spirits he
+committed suicide.]
+
+Gazing from Arthur's Seat, the poet invokes the genius of Burns--
+
+    "To sing ilk bonny bushy bower,
+    Adorned with many a wild-born flower;
+    Ilk burnie singing through the vale,
+    Where blooming hawthorns scent the gale;
+    And ilka sweet that nature yields,
+    In meadow wild or cultur'd fields;
+    The cultur'd fields where towering strang
+    The sturdy aik his shadows flang;
+    Where lonely Druids wont to rove,
+    The mystic tenants of the grove."
+
+He aptly and strikingly interweaves historical and poetical allusions.
+The following contains a fine contrast, and a striking description of
+the ruins of Craigmillar Castle, in the vicinity of Edinburgh.
+
+    "Yes, ARTHUR, round thy velvet chair,
+    Ilk chequered picture blushes fair,
+    And mixed with nature's landscape green,
+    The varied works o' art are seen.
+    Here starts the splendid dome to view,
+    Mang sylvan haunts o' vernal hue;
+    There some auld lanely pile appears,
+    The mouldering wreck o' former years,
+    Whose tottering wa' nae mair can stand
+    Before fell Time's resistless hand;
+    Sic as Craigmillar's Castle gray,
+    That now fa's crumbling to decay,
+    A prey to ilka blast that blaws
+    An' whistles through its royal ha's--
+    Where mirth ance burst with joyfu' sound
+    And melting music rang around,
+    Ah! there dull gloomy silence reigns,
+    The mossy grass creeps o'er the stanes,
+    And howlets loud at e'enin's fa',
+    Rejoice upon the ruined wa'."
+
+Craigmillar Castle naturally suggests the name of the beautiful and
+unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, who once resided within its lordly but
+now forsaken halls. The poet therefore breaks out into the following
+animated and pathetic strains, which, it has been said, will bear a
+comparison with Mr. Burke's celebrated rhapsody on the unfortunate Queen
+of France.
+
+    "There was a time when woman's charms
+    Could fire the warlike world of arms,
+    And breed sic wae to auld and young,
+    As Helen wept and Homer sung,
+    But Mary o' ilk stay bereft,
+    Misfortune's luckless child was left;
+    Nae guileless friend to stem her grief,
+    The bursting sigh her whole relief.--
+    O ye whose brave forefathers bled,
+    And oft the rage of battle led,
+    Wha rushing o'er the crimson field,
+    At Bannockburn made Edward yield;
+    Ye wha still led by glory's flame,
+    Make terror mix wi' Scotia's name--
+    Where slept your dauntless valor keen
+    When danger met your injured Queen?"
+
+His descriptions of the Forth and the neighboring regions, of the
+Pentland hills, and the scenery of the Esk, are strikingly beautiful.
+
+    "What varied scenes, what prospects dear
+    In chequer'd landscape still appear!
+    What rural sweets profusely thrang
+    The flowery Links of Forth alang,
+    O'er whose proud shivering surface blue
+    Fife's woods and spires begirt the view;
+    Where Ceres gilds the fertile plain
+    An' richly waves the yellow grain,
+    An' Lomond hill wi' misty showers,
+    Aft weets auld Falkland's royal towers,
+    Nor distant far, upon the ear
+    The popling Leven wimples clear,
+    Whose ruined pile and glassy lake
+    Shall live in sang for Mary's sake.[7]
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Return fond muse frae haunts sae fair,
+    To Lothian's shore return ance mair,
+    And let thy lyre be sweetly strung,
+    For peerless Esk remains unsung.
+    Romantic stream, what sweets combine
+    To deck ilk bank and bower o' thine!
+    For now the sun, wi' cheerfu' rays
+    Glows soft o'er a' thy woody braes,
+    Where mony a native wild flower's seen,
+    Mang birks and briars, and ivy green,
+    An' a' the woodland chorists sing
+    Or gleesome flit on wanton wing,
+    Save where the lintie mournfully
+    Sabs sair 'aneath the rowan tree,
+    To see her nest and young ones a'
+    By thoughtless reaver borne awa.'
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    What saftening thoughts resistless start,
+    And pour their influence o'er the heart;
+    What mingling scenes around appear
+    To musing meditation dear,
+    When wae we tent fair grandeur fa'
+    By Roslin's ruined Castle wa'![8]
+    O what is pomp? and what is power?
+    The silly phantoms of an hour!
+    Sae loudly ance from Roslin's brow[9]
+    The martial trump of grandeur blew,
+    While steel-clad vassals wont to wait
+    Their chieftain at the portalled gate;
+    And maidens fair, in vestments gay,
+    Bestrewed wi' flowers the warrior's way.
+    But now, ah me! how changed the scene!
+    Nae trophied ha', nae towers remain;
+    Nae torches bleeze wi' gladsome light,
+    A guiding star in dead o' night;
+    Nae voice is heard, save tinkling rill,
+    That echoes from the distant hill."
+
+[Footnote 7: The reference here is to the residence, or rather
+imprisonment of Mary in Lochleven Castle.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Roslin Castle, on the banks of the Esk, about seven miles
+from Edinburgh.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _Brow_, in Scotland, is often pronounced as if spelt
+_brue_.]
+
+How exquisite, and how entirely and peculiarly Scottish is the
+following:
+
+    "Now tent the Pentlands westlin's seen,
+    O'erspread wi' flowery pastures green;
+    Where, stretching wide, the fleecy ewes[10]
+    Run bleating round the sunny knowes,
+    And mony a little silver rill
+    Steals gurgling down its mossy hill;
+    And vernal green is ilka tree
+    On bonny braes o' Woodhouselee."
+
+[Footnote 10: _Ewes_, pronounced as if it were _yowes_.]
+
+The genius of Scotland is one of freedom, of independent thought, and
+unfettered action in matters civil and religious. This produced the
+Reformation; this generated the recent secession from the 'Kirk;' this
+characterizes the literature of the nation. We cannot, therefore,
+refrain from making one more quotation, which breathes the lofty spirit
+of freedom:
+
+    "Alas! sic objects to behold,
+    Brings back the glorious days of old,
+    When Scotia's daring gallant train,
+    That ever spurned a tyrant's chain,
+    For dearest independence bled,
+    And nobly filled their gory bed--
+    So o'er yon mountains stretching lang,
+    Their shields the sons of Freedom rang,
+    When Rome's ambition wild, burst forth,
+    An' roused the warriors of the north,
+    When CALGACH urged his dauntless train,
+    And freedom rush'd through ilka vein,
+    And close they met the haughty foe,
+    And laid fu' mony a tyrant low;
+    As fierce they fought, like freemen a',
+    Oh! glorious fought--yet fought to fa'!
+    They fell, and thou sweet LIBERTY,
+    Frae Grampia's blood-stained heights did flee,
+    And fixed thy seat remote, serene,
+    Mang Caledonia's mountains green.
+    Fair Maid! O may thy saftest smile
+    For ever cheer my native isle!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     Walk to the Castle--The old Wynds and their Occupants--Regalia of
+     Scotland--Storming of the Castle--Views from its Summit--Heriot's
+     Hospital--Other Hospitals--St. Giles's Cathedral--Changes--The
+     Spirit of Protestantism.
+
+
+Let us now descend into the city. We will not linger long in old
+Holyrood Palace, interesting as it is, nor dwell upon "the stains" of
+Rizzio's blood in Queen Mary's room, as these have been described a
+thousand times, and are familiar to every one. Neither will we spend
+time in gazing upon the spot where once stood that quaint old gaol,
+called "The Heart of Midlothian," made classic by the pen of Scott, in
+the beautiful story of Jeanie Deans. Neither will we visit the old
+"Parliament House" and the "Advocates' Library;" but we will pass right
+up through High Street, amid those colossal buildings, rising, on either
+side, to the height of six, seven, and even eight and ten stories,
+swarming with inhabitants; and dive into one or two of those close, dark
+wynds, where reside, in countless multitudes, the poorest and most
+vicious of the people. Here, it must be confessed, are some strange
+sights and appalling noises. Yet it is not quite so bad as some have
+represented it. All large cities have their poor and vicious
+inhabitants, and although those of the Scottish metropolis are
+tolerably dirty and vastly degraded, they bear no comparison to the
+lazzaroni of Naples and the beggars of Rome. Some of the streets and
+wynds are narrow enough and vile enough, but they contain, after all,
+many worthy people, who own a Bible, and read it too; and were you only
+to become thoroughly acquainted with them, you would be surprised to
+find how much of honesty and kindly affection still dwell in their
+hearts. In ancient times the houses in these very "closes" or "wynds"
+were inhabited by the nobility and gentry. Hence Grey's Close,
+Morrison's Close, Stewart's Close, &c. They built their houses in these
+narrow streets in order to be more secure from the attacks of their
+enemies, and to be the better able to defend the principal thoroughfares
+into which they opened. In Blythe's Close may be seen the remains of the
+palace of the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise. In another stand the old
+houses of the Earls of Gosford and Moray. One of the largest old palaces
+is now inhabited by beggars and rats.
+
+It would be a great improvement if these miserable dwellings could be
+removed, and replaced by better streets and houses; a still greater one,
+if the people could only be induced to abandon the use of whiskey, for
+then they would abandon their hovels as a matter of course. Their
+besetting sin is the love of strong drink, though this has been
+gradually diminishing for the last few years throughout Scotland. It is
+to be hoped that the pious and moral portion of the community will unite
+in a strong effort to reclaim this degraded class of their
+fellow-townsmen, and that the time will speedily come when the only
+reproach which rests upon their fair fame shall be wholly obliterated.
+
+But let us leave this region, the only unpleasant one in the whole of
+this magnificent city, and ascend to the old Castle, where we shall see
+the Regalia of Scotland, preserved in a little room at the top of the
+Castle. These regalia consist of the crown of Robert Bruce the hero of
+Bannockburn, the sceptre of James the Fifth, a sword presented by Pope
+Julius the Second to James the Sixth, and other articles of inferior
+note. It is somewhat singular that the Regalia should have lain
+concealed from 1745 to the year 1818. At the time of the Union in 1707
+between England and Scotland, they were walled up by some Scottish
+patriots, in order to prevent their being removed to London.
+
+What recollections of the stormy but glorious history of Scotland
+cluster around the mind, while gazing at that antique-looking crown
+which adorned the head of the Bruces and the ill-fated Mary. The freedom
+and prosperity now enjoyed by the nation had a gloomy and tempestuous
+birth. Their very religion, placid and beautiful now, was cradled amid
+the war of elements and the shock of battle. But, thanks to God, it is
+all the purer and stronger for its rough and tempestuous youth.
+
+Draw near to the edge of that battlement, and look down over the
+frowning rock. Would it be possible, think you, to storm the Castle from
+that side? One would suppose it beyond the power of man. It has been
+done, however, and the circumstance illustrates the spirit of hardihood
+and enterprise which has ever distinguished the people of Scotland. In
+the year 1313, when the Castle was in the possession of the English,
+Randolph, Earl of Moray, was one day surveying the gigantic rock, when
+he was accosted by one of his men at arms with the question, "Do you
+think it impracticable, my lord?" Randolph turned his eyes upon the
+speaker, a man a little past the prime of life, but of a firm well-knit
+figure, and bearing in his keen eye and open forehead marks of
+intrepidity which had already gained him distinction in the Scottish
+army. "Do you mean the rock, Francis?" said the Earl; "perhaps not, if
+we could borrow the wings of our gallant hawks."[11]
+
+[Footnote 11: We give the version of Leitch Ritchie, who has thrown the
+facts into the form of a dialogue, and given a false name to the hero;
+otherwise the narration is entirely authentic.]
+
+"There are wings," replied Francis, with a thoughtful smile, "as strong,
+as buoyant, and as daring. My father was keeper of yonder fortress."
+
+"What of that? You speak in riddles."
+
+"I was then young, reckless, high-hearted: I was screwed up in that
+convent-like castle; my sweetheart was in the plain below"--
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"'Sdeath, my lord, can you not imagine that I speak of the wings of
+love? Every night I descended that steep at the witching hour, and every
+morning before the dawn I crept back to my barracks. I constructed a
+light twelve-foot ladder, by means of which I was able to pass the
+places that are perpendicular; and so well, at length, did I become
+acquainted with the route, that in the darkest and stormiest night, I
+found my way as easily as when the moonlight enabled me to see my love
+in the distance waiting for me at the cottage door."
+
+"You are a daring, desperate, noble fellow, Francis! However, your
+motive is now gone; your mistress"--
+
+"She is dead; say no more; but another has taken her place."
+
+"Ay, ay, it's the soldier's way. Women will die or even grow old; and
+what are we to do? Come, who is your mistress now?"
+
+"MY COUNTRY! What I have done for love, I can do again for honor; and
+what I can accomplish, you, noble Randolph, and many of our comrades can
+do far better. Give me thirty picked men, and a twelve-foot ladder, and
+the fortress is our own!"
+
+"The Earl of Moray, whatever his real thoughts of the enterprise might
+have been, was not the man to refuse such a challenge. A ladder was
+provided, and thirty men chosen from the troops; and in the middle of a
+dark night, the party, commanded by Randolph himself, and guided by
+William Francis, set forth on their desperate enterprise.
+
+"By catching at crag after crag, and digging their fingers into the
+interstices of the rocks, they succeeded in mounting a considerable way;
+but the weather was now so thick, they could receive but little
+assistance from their eyes; and thus they continued to climb, almost in
+utter darkness, like men struggling up a precipice in the night-mare.
+They at length reached a shelving table of the cliff, above which the
+ascent, for ten or twelve feet, was perpendicular; and having fixed
+their ladder, the whole party lay down to recover breath.
+
+"From this place they could hear the tread and voices of the 'check
+watches,' or patrol, above; and, surrounded by the perils of such a
+moment, it is not wonderful that some illusions may have mingled with
+their thoughts. They even imagined that they were seen from the
+battlements, although, being themselves unable to see the warders, this
+was highly improbable. It became evident, notwithstanding, from the
+words they caught here and there in the pauses of the night-wind, that
+the conversation of the English soldiers above related to a surprise of
+the Castle; and at length these appalling words broke like thunder on
+their ears: 'Stand! I see you well!' A fragment of the rock was hurled
+down at the same instant; and as rushing from crag to crag it bounded
+over their heads, Randolph and his brave followers, in this wild,
+helpless, and extraordinary situation, felt the damp of mortal terror
+gathering upon their brow, as they clung with a death-grip to the
+precipice.
+
+"The startled echoes of the rock were at length silent, and so were the
+voices above. The adventurers paused, listening breathless; no sound was
+heard but the sighing of the wind, and the measured tread of the
+sentinel who had resumed his walk. The men thought they were in a
+dream, and no wonder; for the incident just mentioned, which is related
+by Barbour, was one of the most singular coincidences that ever
+occurred. The shout of the sentinel and the missile he had thrown, were
+merely a boyish freak; and while listening to the echoes of the rock, he
+had not the smallest idea that the sounds which gave pleasure to him
+carried terror and almost despair into the hearts of the enemy.
+
+"The adventurers, half uncertain whether they were not the victims of
+some illusion, determined that it was as safe to go on as to turn back;
+and pursuing their laborious and dangerous path, they at length reached
+the bottom of the wall. This last barrier they scaled by means of their
+ladder; and leaping down among the astonished check-watches, they cried
+their war-cry, and in the midst of answering shouts of 'treason!
+treason!' notwithstanding the desperate resistance of the garrison,
+captured the Castle of Edinburgh."
+
+Sit down here on the edge of this parapet. That huge cannon there is
+called Mons Meg, from being cast at _Mons_, in Flanders, and reminds us,
+somewhat significantly, of the terrible use to which all the
+arrangements of the Castle are applied.[12] How singular, that men have
+to be governed and controlled like bull-dogs, that castles and dungeons,
+halters, and cannon, are necessary to keep them from stealing each
+other's property, or cutting each other's throats! Surely mankind have
+ills enough to bear without turning upon each other like tigers.
+
+[Footnote 12: At present it is used as a barracks for soldiers and a
+magazine of arms.]
+
+    "Many and sharp the numerous ills,
+      Inwoven with our frame!
+    More pointed still we make ourselves,
+      Regret, remorse, and shame;
+    And man, whose heaven-erected face
+      The smiles of love adorn,
+    Man's inhumanity to man
+      Makes countless thousands mourn."
+
+    BURNS.
+
+But all is quiet now. The tendency of the times is to peace; and
+Edinburgh Castle, Mons Meg, and the whole array of cannon bristling over
+the precipice, are but objects of natural curiosity or of poetical
+interest.
+
+Do you see yonder turreted building, with high pointed gables and
+castellated walls, in the Elizabethan style, just beyond the Grass
+Market. That is George Heriot's Hospital, one of the proudest monuments
+of the city, and one of the most beautiful symbols of its peaceful
+prosperity. It was founded by the rich and benevolent George Heriot,
+jeweller to King James the Sixth, "Jingling Geordie," as he is quaintly
+termed in the "Fortunes of Nigel." It is of vast extent, as you
+perceive, and presents a good specimen of the mixed style of
+architecture prevalent in the days of Queen Mary. The object of this
+noble institution is the maintenance and education of poor and
+fatherless boys, or of boys in indigent circumstances, "freemen's sons
+of the town of Edinburgh." Of these, one hundred and eighty receive
+ample board and education within its walls. By this means they are
+thoroughly prepared for the active business of life, each receiving
+at his dismissal a Bible, and other useful books, with two suits of
+clothes chosen by himself. Those going out as apprentices are allowed
+$50 per annum for five years, and $25 at the termination of their
+apprenticeship. Boys of superior scholarship are permitted to stay
+longer in the institution, and are fitted for college. For this purpose
+they receive $150 per annum, for four years. Connected with this
+institution are seven free schools, in the different parishes of the
+city, for the support of which its surplus funds are applied. In these
+upwards of two thousand children receive a good common school education.
+The girls, in addition to the ordinary branches, are taught knitting and
+sewing.
+
+In addition to these provisions for the education of the poor, there are
+also ten "bursaries," or university scholarships, open to the
+competition of young men, not connected with the institution. The
+successful candidates receive $100 per annum for four years. No wonder
+that Sir Walter Scott felt authorized to put into the mouth of the
+princely founder of these charities the striking sentiment: "I think
+mine own estate and memory, as I shall order it, has a fair chance of
+outliving those of greater men."
+
+Edinburgh abounds in charitable hospitals, and particularly in free
+educational institutions, in the support of which the citizens evince a
+laudable enthusiasm. Thus, for example, we have Watson's Hospital, the
+Merchant Maiden's Hospital, the Trades' Maiden Hospital, Trinity College
+Hospital, Cauvin's Hospital, a little out of the city; Gillespie's
+Hospital, Donaldson's Hospital, Chalmers's Hospital, the House of
+Refuge, the House of Industry, the Strangers' Friend Society, the
+Institution for the Relief of poor old Men, and another for the Relief
+of indigent old Women, and many others.
+
+Below us, on one side of High Street, you see the fine old Gothic
+Cathedral of St. Giles. It was founded in the twelfth or thirteenth
+century, and named after St. Giles, abbot and confessor, and tutelar
+saint of Edinburgh in the olden time. The Scottish poet, Gavin Douglas,
+bishop of Dunkeld, was sometime provost of St. Giles. He translated
+Virgil into English, the first version of a classic ever made in
+Britain, and was the author of "The Palace of Honor," from which some
+have absurdly supposed that John Bunyan borrowed the idea of the
+"Pilgrim's Progress." This edifice is interesting, chiefly as connecting
+the past with the present condition of Scotland, and indicating the
+mighty transitions through which it has passed. In the fifteenth century
+incense ascended from forty different altars within its walls; now it
+contains three Protestant places of worship. Once it enshrined the
+relics of St. Giles; now its cemetery contains the body of John Knox! On
+the 13th of October, 1643, "the solemn League and Covenant" was sworn to
+and subscribed within its walls, by the Committee of the Estates of
+Parliament, the Commission of the Church, and the English Commission.
+The sacred vessels and relics which it contained, including the arm-bone
+of the patron saint, were seized by the magistrates of the city, and the
+proceeds of their sale applied to the repairing of the building.
+Puritanism has thus often showed itself a rough and tempestuous
+reformer; nevertheless it possesses wonderful vitality, and has
+conferred upon Scotland the blessings of civil and religious liberty.
+Its outer form is often hard and defective, and its movements irregular
+and convulsive, but its inner spirit is ever generous and free. Its
+rudeness and excess none will approve; its life, energy, and activity,
+all will admire. It came forth, like a thunder-cloud, from the
+mountains. Its quick lightning-flashes went crashing amid the old images
+of papal worship. The atmosphere of spiritual pollution was agitated and
+purified. Upon the parched ground fell gentle and refreshing showers.
+The sun of freedom began to smile upon hill and valley, and the whole
+land rejoiced under its placid influence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     John Knox's House--History of the Reformer--His
+     Character--Carlyle's View--Testimony of John Milton.
+
+
+Let us now descend from the Castle, and, passing down High Street, turn
+to the left, at the head of the Nether-bow, where we shall see the house
+of that stern but glorious old reformer, John Knox. There it is, looking
+mean enough now among those miserable gin-shops, paint-shops, and so
+forth; yet hallowed by the recollections of the past. Over the door is
+an inscription, invisible from the numerous sign-boards that cover it,
+containing the spirit and essence of that lofty Puritanism which Knox
+preached:
+
+     "LUFE . GOD . ABOVE . ALL . AND . YOUR . NICHBOUR . AS . YOURSELF."
+
+In this house Knox lived many years; here also he died in holy triumph;
+and from that little window he is said frequently to have addressed the
+populace. A rude stone effigy of the Reformer may be seen at the corner,
+and near it, cut in the stone, the name of God, in Greek, Latin, and
+English. It is gratifying to know that measures have recently been taken
+to erect a monument to Knox, near this spot, which shall be worthy of
+his memory.
+
+The character of Knox has been terribly blackened by heartless and
+infidel historians, and especially by sickly sentimentalists of the
+Werter school. Nevertheless, he was a noble-hearted, truth-loving,
+sham-hating, God-fearing, self-sacrificing man; a hero in the proper
+sense of the word, a minister of righteousness, an angel of Reform. Not,
+indeed, a soft, baby-faced, puling sentimentalist; but a lofty,
+iron-hearted man, who "never feared the face of clay," and did God's
+will, in spite of devils, popes, and kings. His history possesses the
+deepest and most romantic interest. It is one of the most magnificent
+passages in Scottish story. Bruce battled for a crown; Knox battled for
+the truth. Both conquered, after long toils and struggles; and conquered
+mainly by the might of their single arm. But the glory which irradiates
+the head of the Reformer far outshines that of the hero of Bannockburn,
+for the latter is earthly and evanescent; the former celestial and
+immortal.
+
+John Knox was born in Haddington, not far from Edinburgh, of poor but
+honest parents, in the year 1505; grew up in solitude; was destined for
+the church; received a thorough collegiate education; became an honest
+friar; wore the monk's cowl for many years; adopted silently and
+unostentatiously the principles of the Protestant Reformation; spent
+much of his time in teaching, and in the prosecution of liberal studies,
+of which he was considered a master; was suddenly and unexpectedly
+called, at St. Andrews, by the unanimous voice of his brethren, to the
+preaching of the Word, and the defence of their religious liberties;
+after a brief struggle with himself yielded to the call, nobly threw
+himself into the breach, at the hazard of his life, attacked "Papal
+idolatry" with unsparing vigor, was seized by the authorities, and sent
+a prisoner to France in 1547, where he worked in the galleys as a slave,
+but evermore maintaining his lofty courage and cheerful hope; was set at
+liberty two years afterwards; preached in England in the time of Edward
+the Sixth; refused a bishopric from the best of kings; retired to the
+continent at the accession of Mary, residing chiefly at Geneva and
+Frankfort; returned to Scotland in 1555; labored with indomitable
+perseverance to establish Protestantism; rebuked the great for
+immorality, profaneness and rapacity, and succeeded in greatly
+strengthening the cause of truth and freedom. At the earnest
+solicitation of the English congregation in Geneva, he went thither a
+second time; there he published "The First Blast of the Trumpet against
+the Monstrous Regiment (Government) of Women," directed principally
+against Mary, Queen of England, and Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland,
+two narrow-minded miserable despots; returned to Scotland in 1559;
+continued his exertions in behalf of Christ's truth; did much to
+establish common schools; finally saw Protestantism triumphant in
+Scotland; and died in 1572, so poor that his family had scarce
+sufficient to bury him, but with the universal love and homage of his
+countrymen, a conscience void of offence, and a hope full of
+immortality. "He had a sore fight of an existence; wrestling with popes
+and principalities; in defeat, contention, life-long struggle; rowing as
+a galley-slave, wandering as an exile. A sore fight, but he won it.
+'Have you hope?' they asked him in his last moment when he could no
+longer speak. He lifted his finger, 'pointed upwards with his finger,'
+and so died. Honor to him! His works have not died. The letter of his
+work dies, as of all men's; but the spirit of it never."[13]
+
+[Footnote 13: Carlyle--"Hero Worship," p. 174.]
+
+Knox has been much abused for his violent treatment of Queen Mary. His
+addresses and appeals to her have been characterized as impudent and
+cruel; but, thoroughly inspected, they will be found the reverse. Strong
+and startling they were, but neither impudent nor cruel. Doubtless they
+fell upon her ear like the tones of some old prophet, sternly rebuking
+sin, or vindicating the rights of God. Mary was a woman of matchless
+beauty; and had she been educated differently, might have blessed the
+world with the mild lustre of her Scottish reign; but she was the dupe
+of bad counsels, in spirit and practice a despot, the plaything of
+passion, and the reckless opposer of the best interests of her country.
+Her beauty and sufferings have shed a false lustre over her character;
+above all, have aided in concealing the terrible stain of infidelity to
+her marriage vows, and the implied murder of her wretched husband,
+charges which her apologists can extenuate, but not deny. But, forsooth,
+it is an insufferable thing for a plain honest-hearted man like John
+Knox to tell the truth to such an one! She was young, beautiful,
+fascinating; and however recklessly, madly, ruinously wrong, he must
+not advise her--above all, must not warn her! Now, such a notion may
+possibly commend itself to your "absolute gentlemen, of very soft
+society, full of most excellent differences and great showing; indeed,
+to speak feelingly of them, who are the card and calendar of gentry;"
+but it cannot be imposed upon our plain common sense. Mary was a queen,
+however, and John Knox a poor plebeian! Aye, aye! that is a difficulty!
+Kings and queens may do what they please. The people are made for them,
+not they for the people. And sure enough it is a vulgar thing to oppose
+them in their ambitious schemes, or to tell them the honest truth
+be-times! Poor John Knox! thou must fall down and worship "a painted
+bredd" after all. A beautiful queen must be spared, if Scotland should
+perish. But looking at the matter from the free atmosphere of New
+England, we maintain that John Knox was of higher rank than Mary Queen
+of Scots. He was more true, more heroic, more kingly, than all the race
+of the Stuarts. He had a right, in God's name, to speak the truth, "to
+reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all long-suffering." Hence, though his
+words were stern and appalling, they were uttered with a kind and
+generous intention. "Madame," said Knox, when he saw Mary burst into
+tears from vexation and grief, "in God's presence I speak; I never
+delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures, yea, _I can scarcely
+well abide the tears of mine own boys_, when mine own hands correct
+them, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping; but seeing I
+have offered unto you no just occasion to be offended, I must sustain
+your Majesty's tears, rather than I dare hurt my conscience, or betray
+the commonwealth by silence."
+
+Yes, he was a stern old puritan, a lion of a man, who made terrible
+havoc among the "painted bredds" of Popery, and turned back the fury of
+wild barons and persecuting priests. "His single voice," says Randolph,
+"could put more life into a host than six hundred blustering trumpets."
+Single handed, he met the rage of a disappointed government and an
+infuriated priesthood, and conquered by the silent might of his
+magnanimous audacity. In the wildest whirl of contending emotion, he
+never lost sight of the great end of his being, as a servant of God, nor
+swerved a hair's breadth from truth and right.
+
+Yet this stern old Covenanter was not without a touch of gentleness and
+even of hilarity. He loved his home, his children, and his friends. An
+honest, quiet laugh often mantled his pale earnest visage. "They go far
+wrong," says Carlyle, whose thorough appreciation of such men as Luther,
+Cromwell, and Knox, is truly refreshing amid the vapid inanities or
+coarse prejudices of ordinary historians, "who think that Knox was a
+gloomy, spasmodic, shrieking fanatic. Not at all. He is one of the
+solidest of men. Practical, cautious, hopeful, patient; a most shrewd,
+observing, quietly discerning man. In fact, he has very much the type of
+character we assign to the Scotch at present: a certain sardonic
+taciturnity is in him; insight enough; and a stouter heart than he
+himself knows of. * * An honest-hearted, brotherly man; brother to the
+high, brother also to the low; sincere in his sympathy with both."
+
+Knox, doubtless, had his faults; and what of that? He made some
+mistakes! and what, too, of that? Was he not a true man, and a true
+minister of God's Word? Did he not accomplish a great and beneficial
+work of Reform; and, having done this, did he not die a sweet and
+triumphant death? God has set his seal upon him, and upon his work; and
+that is enough for us.
+
+We hesitate not, with Carlyle, to name the Reformation under Knox as the
+great era in Scottish history, as the one glorious event which gave life
+to the nation. Thence resulted freedom, activity, purity of morals,
+science, national and individual greatness. Previous to this event
+Scotland possessed only a rough, tumultuous physical life; her
+politics--dissensions and executions; her religion--a puerile
+superstition;--her literature--ballads and monkish legends; her
+joy--hunting, fighting, and drinking! But the Reformation breathed into
+her the breath of a spiritual existence. Her national prosperity dates
+from that era. Thence proceeded faith and order, education, industry,
+and wealth. "It was not a smooth business; but it was welcome surely,
+and cheap at that price, had it been far rougher. On the whole, cheap at
+any price, as life is. The people began to _live_; they needed first of
+all to _do that_, at what cost and costs soever. Scottish literature and
+thought, Scotch industry, James Watt, David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert
+Burns. I find Knox and the Reformation acting in the heart's core of
+every one of these persons and phenomena; I find that, without the
+Reformation, they would not have been. Or what of Scotland? The
+Puritanism of Scotland became that of England, of New England. A tumult
+in the High Church of Edinburgh spread into a universal battle and
+struggle over all these realms; and there came out of it, after fifty
+years' struggling, what we all call 'the Glorious Revolution,' a Habeas
+Corpus Act, Free Parliaments, and much else."
+
+It has become fashionable of late, in certain quarters, to undervalue
+the Reformation, and contemn those great and rugged spirits by whom it
+was accomplished. A sentimental, baby-hearted, superstition-smitten
+generation, cannot appreciate those mighty men, and mightier reforms of
+the olden time. But how well and worthily does the large-hearted and
+ethereal Milton speak of it: "When I recall to mind, at last, after so
+many dark ages, wherein the huge over-shadowing train of error had
+almost swept all the stars out of the firmament of the church; how the
+bright and blissful Reformation, by Divine power, struck through the
+black and settled night of ignorance and anti-Christian tyranny,
+methinks a sovereign and reviving joy must needs rush into the bosom of
+him that reads or hears, and the sweet odor of the returning Gospel
+imbathe his soul with the fragrancy of Heaven. Then was the sacred Bible
+sought out of the dusty corners, where profane falsehood and neglect
+had thrown it, the schools opened, divine and human learning raked out
+of the embers of forgotten tongues; the princes and cities trooping
+apace to the new-erected banner of salvation; the martyrs, with the
+unresistible might of weakness, shaking the powers of darkness, and
+scorning the fiery rage of the red old dragon."[14] A noble testimony
+like this far outweighs all the cant of a whining sentimentalism. Its
+truth, as well as its eloquence, all must admit.
+
+[Footnote 14: "Of Reformation in England." By John Milton.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+     Edinburgh University--Professor Wilson--His Life and Writings,
+     Genius and Character.
+
+
+We will now re-enter High Street, and thence turn at right angles into
+South-bridge Street, and proceed to the University. It is a large and
+imposing structure, but fails to produce its proper impression from the
+circumstance of being wedged in among such a mass of other buildings. We
+enter by a magnificent portico on the right, supported by Doric columns,
+twenty-six feet in height, each formed of a single block of stone, and
+find ourselves in a spacious quadrangular court, surrounded by the
+various college edifices. The buildings are of free stone, beautifully
+polished, and of recent erection, the old buildings, which were
+unsightly and incommodious, having been taken down to make way for this
+elegant and spacious structure. The University itself was founded by
+King James the Sixth, in the year 1582, and has enjoyed uninterrupted
+prosperity to the present time. The average number of students is from
+ten to twelve hundred. The Rev. Dr. Lee, one of the most amiable and
+learned men, is at present Principal of the University, and the various
+chairs are filled by gentlemen of distinguished talent. The students are
+not resident within the college, but choose their boarding-houses, at
+pleasure, in any part of the city. They are not distinguished, as at
+Glasgow and Oxford by any peculiar badge; are of all ages, and enjoy the
+liberty of selecting the classes which they attend. Those however who
+take degrees are required to attend a particular course, but this is not
+done by more than one-half or at most two-thirds of the students. The
+government of the University is not particularly strict. The
+examinations are limited and imperfect; and hence it is very possible
+for a young man to slip through the University, without contracting any
+great tincture of scholarship. It is mainly the talent of the
+professors, and the high literary enthusiasm they inspire, which sustain
+the institution. There are thirty-four foundations for bursaries or
+scholarships, the benefit of which is extended to eighty students. The
+aggregate amount is about fifty dollars a year, for each. The Annual
+Session lasts from October to May, with an occasional holiday, and a
+week or two's vacation at Christmas. The rest of the year which includes
+most of the summer and autumn is vacation, which gives the professors an
+opportunity for rest and preparation, and the students facilities either
+for private study, or for teaching and other employments. This order
+prevails in all the other Scottish Universities, and is attended with
+many advantages. But a truce to general remarks.
+
+We have not time to visit the Museum, which is quite extensive and
+admirably arranged, nor the Library, which is distinguished by its ample
+dimensions and beautiful decorations. Neither can we dwell upon the
+celebrated men who have encircled this Institution with a halo of
+literary and scientific glory. But we will step into that door in front
+of us, ascend the stairs, and enter the lecture-room of Professor
+Wilson, the far famed "Christopher North," poet and novelist, orator,
+critic and philosopher. The young gentlemen have assembled, but the
+Professor has not yet come in. Good looking but noisy fellows these!
+Some of them, you perceive, are very young, others are considerably
+advanced in years. Most of them are well dressed, some poorly so. A few
+look studious and care-worn, but the majority hearty and joyous. How
+their clear loud laugh rings through the hall! They are from all ranks
+of society, some being the sons of noblemen, others of farmers and
+mechanics. Most of them probably have wherewithal to pay their college
+expenses, but not a few, you may rely on it, are sorely pinched. The
+Scots are an ambitious, study-loving race, and quite a number of these
+young men are struggling up from the depths of poverty; and if they do
+not die in the effort, will be heard of, one of these days, in the
+pulpit, or at the bar.
+
+But there comes the Professor, bowing graciously to the students, while
+he receives from them a hearty "ruff," as the Scots call their energetic
+stamping. What a magnificent looking man! Over six feet high, broad and
+brawny, but of elegant proportions, with a clear, frank, joyous looking
+face, a few wrinkles only around the eye, in other respects hale and
+smooth, his fine locks sprinkled with gray, flowing down to his
+shoulders, and his large lustrous eye beaming with a softened fire. His
+subject is "the Passions." He commences with freedom and ease, but
+without any particular energy,--makes his distinctions well, but without
+much precision or force; for, to tell the honest truth, philosophical
+analysis is not his particular forte. Still, it is good, so far as it
+goes, and probably appears inferior chiefly by contrast. But he begins
+to describe. The blood mantles to his forehead, thrown back with a
+majestic energy, and his fine eye glows, nay, absolutely burns. And now
+his impassioned intellect careers, as on the wings of the wind, leaping,
+bounding, dashing, whirling, over hill and dale, rises into the clear
+empyrean, and bathes itself in the beams of the sun. His audience is
+intent, hushed, absorbed, rapt! He begins, however, to descend, and O!
+how beautifully, like a falcon from "the lift," or an eagle from the
+storm-cloud. And, now he skims along the surface with bird-like wing,
+glancing in the sunlight, swiftly and gracefully. How varied and
+delicate his language, how profuse his images, his allusions how
+affecting, and his voice, ringing like a bell among the mountains. At
+such seasons his style, manner and tone, are unequalled. Chaste and
+exhilarating as the dew of the morning in the vale of Strathmore, yet
+rich and rare as a golden sunset on the brow of Benlomond. But listen,
+he returns to his philosophical distinctions,--fair, very fair, to be
+sure, but nothing special, rather clumsy perhaps, except in regard to
+his language. True, undoubtedly, but not profound, not deeply
+philosophical, and to me, not particularly interesting. His auditors
+have time to breathe. You hear an occasional cough, or blowing of the
+nose. A few of the students are diligently taking notes, but the rest
+are listless. This will last only a moment, and now that he is
+approaching the close of his lecture, he will give us something worth
+hearing. There, again he is out upon the open sea. How finely the sails
+are set, and with what a majestic sweep the noble vessel rounds the
+promontory, and anchors itself in the bay.[15]
+
+[Footnote 15: The writer describes not an imaginary, but an actual
+lecture of Professor Wilson's, which he heard some years ago.
+
+We have honestly given our own impressions relative to Wilson's
+metaphysical powers, and stated simply what we heard and saw while
+attending his Lectures in Edinburgh University. Others however may have
+different impressions; and we cheerfully append the following from
+_Gilfillan_ as an offset to our strictures:
+
+"It is probable that the very variety and versatility of Wilson's powers
+have done him an injury in the estimation of many. They can hardly
+believe that an actor, who can play so many parts, is perfect in all.
+Because he is, confessedly, one of the most eloquent of men, it is
+doubted whether he can be profound: because he is a fine poet, he must
+be a shallow metaphysician;--because he is the Editor of _Blackwood_, he
+must be an inefficient professor. There is such a thing on this round
+earth, as diffusion along with depth, as the versatile and vigorous mind
+of a man of genius mastering a multitude of topics, while others are
+blunderingly acquiring one, or as a man 'multiplying himself among
+mankind, the Proteus of their talents,' and proving that the Voltairian
+activity of brain has been severed, in one splendid instance, at least,
+from the Voltairian sneer and the Voltairian shallowness. Such an
+instance as that of our illustrious Professor, who is ready for every
+tack,--who can, at one time, scorch a poetaster to a cinder, at another
+cast illumination into the 'dark deep holds' of a moral question, by a
+glance of his genius; at one time dash off the picture of a Highland
+glen, with the force of a Salvator, at another, lay bare the anatomy of
+a passion with the precision and force of an Angelo,--write, now, the
+sweetest verse, and now the most energetic prose,--now let slip, from
+his spirit, a single star, like the 'evening cloud,' and now unfurl a
+_Noctes_ upon the wondering world,--now paint Avarice till his audience
+are dying with laughter, and now Emulation and Sympathy till they are
+choked with tears,--write now 'the Elder's Deathbed,' and now the
+'Address to a Wild Deer,'--be equally at home in describing the
+Sufferings of an Orphan girl, and the undressing of a dead Quaker, by a
+congregation of ravens, under the brow of Helvellyn."--_Literary
+Portraits_, p. 209.]
+
+Instead of spending our time gazing at public buildings, let us continue
+our conversation about the Professor, whose life has been a tissue of
+interesting and romantic events. We shall find it profitable as well as
+pleasant, to glance at the principal points in his history, as they tend
+to throw light on the Genius of Scotland.
+
+John Wilson is the oldest son of a wealthy manufacturer in the city of
+Paisley, and was born there in the year 1788, and is now therefore
+fifty-eight years of age. He was reared and educated, with almost
+patrician indulgence, and inherited from his father a considerable
+amount of property, variously estimated from twenty to fifty thousand
+pounds sterling. Of course he enjoyed the best facilities for acquiring
+a thorough and polished education. His instructor in classical learning
+was Mr. Peddie of Paisley, to whom a public dinner was given in 1831 by
+his friends and pupils. Professor Wilson was present, and on proposing
+the health of his venerable preceptor, delivered a brilliant oration,
+not the least interesting portion of which had reference to his somewhat
+erratic course at school. "Sometimes," said he, "I sat as dux--sometimes
+in the middle of the class--and I am obliged to confess, that on some
+unfortunate occasions, I was absolutely _dolt_!" The confession was
+received, of course, with roars of laughter.
+
+From this school he was entered at the University of Glasgow, when he
+was little more than thirteen years of age. But he was tall for his
+years, and possessed an original and remarkably exuberant mind; and
+though distinguished at this time, more for the vigor of his physical
+constitution, and the buoyancy of his spirits, than for any particular
+attainments in literature, he generally kept his standing among his
+fellow students, many of whom were greatly his seniors.
+
+From Glasgow he was transferred to Oxford, and here he first
+distinguished himself as a man of genius. He contended in the annual
+competition for the Newdigate prize of fifty guineas for the best fifty
+lines of English verse, and though the contest was open to not less than
+two thousand individuals, he carried off the palm from every competitor.
+
+At Oxford as at Glasgow he was distinguished for his fine athletic
+frame, his joyous and even boisterous spirits, and his excessive
+devotion to all sorts of gymnastics, field sports and frolicking. This
+however was blended with an extraordinary devotion to literature, and a
+peculiar simplicity and frankness of character, which rendered him a
+universal favorite. It is well known that at Oxford great latitude is
+enjoyed, especially by "gentlemen commoners," as they are called, to
+which class Wilson chose to belong. It is expected that the "gentlemen
+commoners" shall wear a more splendid costume,--spend a good deal more
+money,--and enjoy various immunities, which amount occasionally to a
+somewhat unbridled license. "Once launched on this orbit," says a fellow
+student of Wilson's, writing to a friend in America, "Mr. Wilson
+continued to blaze away for four successive years. * * * Never did a
+man, by variety of talents and variety of humors, contrive to place
+himself as the connecting link between orders of men so essentially
+repulsive of each other; from the learned president of his college, Dr.
+Routh, the Editor of parts of Plato, and of some theological selections,
+with whom Wilson enjoyed unlimited favor, down to the humblest student.
+In fact from this learned Academic Doctor, and many others of the same
+class, ascending and descending, he possessed an infinite gamut of
+friends and associates, running through every key; and the diapason
+closing full in groom, cobbler, stable boy, barber's apprentice, with
+every shade and hue of blackguard and ruffian. In particular, amongst
+this latter kind of worshipful society, there was no man who had any
+talents, real or fancied, for thumping, or being thumped, but had
+experienced some taste of his merits from Mr. Wilson. All other
+pretensions in the gymnastic arts he took a pride in humbling or in
+honoring, but chiefly did his examinations fall upon pugilism; and not a
+man who could either 'give,' or 'take,' but boasted to have been
+punished by Wilson of _Mallens_ (corruption of Magdalen) College."
+
+Whether the statement of Wilson's pugilistic attainments is not somewhat
+exaggerated we have not the means of deciding. All reports however go to
+confirm its general accuracy. His career was certainly a wild and
+hazardous one, and would have ruined an ordinary man. But underlying the
+wild exuberance of Wilson's nature, there was a solid foundation of good
+feeling and good sense, which ever and anon manifested itself, and
+finally formed the principal element of his character. Besides, he could
+never forget the holy instructions of his childhood. Scotland throws a
+thousand sacred influences around the hearts of her children; and hence,
+wild and wayward in their youth, they not unfrequently live to be the
+safeguards of virtue and the ornaments of society.
+
+It may be well supposed that on leaving Oxford, in the very hey-day of
+youth, with an amazing exuberance of animal spirits, and the command of
+an ample fortune, he must have run a somewhat extravagant career. He
+purchased a beautiful estate on the banks of Windermere, not far from
+the residences of Southey, Coleridge and Wordsworth, and yielded himself
+to the full enjoyment of every pleasure. Having built upon his estate a
+new and splendid edifice, he furnished it with every appliance of taste
+and luxury, and succeeded by his "magnificent" style of housekeeping,
+in spending a large amount of his property. He gave himself up to the
+most diversified pursuits, now conning his literary treasures, and now
+frolicking in sailor jacket and trowsers, with the young men of the
+country.
+
+The following, from a writer already quoted, will give a lively idea of
+Wilson's habits and appearance, at this period of his life. "My
+introduction to him--setting apart the introducee himself--was memorable
+from one circumstance, viz., the person of the introducer. _William
+Wordsworth_, it was, who in the vale of Grasmere, if it can interest you
+to know the place, and in the latter end of 1808, if you can be supposed
+to care about the time, did me the favor of making me known to John
+Wilson. I remember the whole scene as circumstantially as if it belonged
+to but yesterday. In the vale of Grasmere--that peerless little vale
+which you, and Gray, the poet, and so many others have joined in
+admiring as the very Eden of English beauty, peace, and pastoral
+solitude--you may possibly recall, even from that flying glimpse you had
+of it, a modern house called Allan Bank, standing under a low screen of
+woody rocks, which descend from the hill of Silver Horn, on the western
+side of the lake. This house had been recently built by a wealthy
+merchant of Liverpool; but for some reason, of no importance to you or
+me, not being immediately wanted for the family of the owner, had been
+let for a term of three years to Mr. Wordsworth. At the time I speak of,
+both Mr. Coleridge and myself were on a visit to Mr. Wordsworth, and
+one room on the ground floor, designed for a breakfasting room, which
+commands a sublime view of the three mountains, Fairfield, Arthur's
+Chair, and Seat Sandal, was then occupied by Mr. Coleridge as a study.
+On this particular day, the sun having only just risen, it naturally
+happened that Mr. Coleridge--whose nightly vigils were long--had not yet
+come down to breakfast; meantime and until the epoch of the Coleridgean
+breakfast should arrive, his study was lawfully disposable to profane
+uses. Here, therefore, it was, that opening the door hastily in quest of
+a book, I found seated, and in earnest conversation, two gentlemen, one
+of them my host, Mr. Wordsworth, at that time about thirty-eight years
+old; the other was a younger man, by at least sixteen or seventeen
+years, in a sailor's dress, manifestly in robust health--_fervidus
+juventa_, and wearing upon his countenance a powerful expression of
+ardor and animated intelligence, mixed with much good nature. _Mr.
+Wilson of Elleray_--delivered as the formula of introduction, in the
+deep tones of Mr. Wordsworth--at once banished the momentary surprise I
+felt on finding an unknown stranger where I had expected nobody, and
+substituted a surprise of another kind. I now understood who it was that
+I saw; and there was no wonder in his being at Allan Bank, as Elleray
+stood within nine miles; but (as usually happens in such cases) I felt a
+shock of surprise on seeing a person so little corresponding to the one
+I had half unconsciously prefigured to myself."
+
+Mr. Wilson here appears in a comparatively grave and dignified aspect.
+The same writer describes him in quite a different scene. Walking in the
+morning, he met him, with a parcel of young "harum skarum" fellows on
+horseback, chasing an honest bull, which had been driven off in the
+night from his peaceful meadow, to furnish sport to these "wild
+huntsmen." About this time, also, he was the leader of a "boating club,"
+which involved him in great expense. They had no less than two or three
+establishments for their boats and boat-men, and innumerable appendages,
+which cost each of them annually a little fortune. The number of their
+boats was so great as to form a little fleet, while some of them were
+quite large and expensive. One of these in particular, a ten-oared
+barge, was believed at the time to have cost over two thousand dollars.
+In consequence of these and other expenses, and perhaps the loss of some
+of his patrimony by the failure of a trustee, subjected him to the
+necessity of seeking a change of life. This led to his becoming a
+candidate for the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of
+Edinburgh.
+
+Previous to this he had formed plans of extensive travel. One was a
+voyage of exploration to Central Africa and the sources of the Nile.
+Another was concocted with two of his friends, with whom he proposed to
+sail from Falmouth to the Tagus, and landing wherever accident or fancy
+might determine, to purchase mules, hire Spanish servants, and travel
+extensively in Spain and Portugal, for eight or nine months; then, by
+such of the islands in the Mediterranean as particularly attracted them,
+they were to pass over into Greece, and thence to Constantinople.
+Finally, they were to have visited the Troad, Syria, Egypt, and perhaps
+Nubia!
+
+But the reduction of his means, and his marriage with a young and
+beautiful English lady, to whom he was greatly attached, broke up these
+extravagant schemes. His marriage took place in 1810. Two sons and three
+daughters were the fruits of it; and the connection has doubtless proved
+one of the happiest events in the Professor's life. Death however has
+entered this delightful circle. "How characteristic of him," says
+Gilfillan, "and how affecting, was his saying to his students, in
+apology for not returning their essays at the usual time, 'I could not
+see to read them in the Valley and the Shadow of Death.'"
+
+His application in 1820 for the professorship of Moral Philosophy which
+he now fills, was successful, notwithstanding he had for his competitor
+one of the profoundest thinkers, and most accomplished writers of the
+age, Sir William Hamilton, who conducted himself in the affair with the
+greatest dignity and urbanity. Many things were said, at the time,
+derogatory to Wilson's personal character, and his fitness to fill the
+chair of Moral Philosophy. The matter probably was decided, more with
+reference to political considerations than any thing besides, as at that
+time party politics ran exceedingly high. Professor Wilson has
+disappointed the expectations of his enemies, to say the least, and has
+been gaining in the esteem and good will of all classes of the
+community.
+
+His splendid career as a poet, editor, critic and novelist, is well
+known. His poems, the principal of which are the "Isle of Palms," and
+the "City of the Plague," are exquisitely beautiful, but deficient in
+energy, variety and dramatic power. He excels in description, and
+touches, with a powerful hand, the strings of pure and delicate
+sentiment. Nothing can be finer than his "Address to a Wild Deer"--"A
+Sleeping Child"--"The Highland Burial Ground," and "The Home Among the
+Mountains" in the "City of the Plague." His tales and stories, such as
+"Margaret Lindsay," "The Foresters," and those in "The Lights and
+Shadows of Scottish Life," are well conceived, and charmingly written.
+They breathe a spirit of the purest morality, and are highly honorable
+not only to the head but to the heart of their eloquent author. But it
+is in criticism and occasional sketching in which he chiefly excels. In
+this field, so varied and delightful, he absolutely luxuriates. His
+series of papers on Spenser and Homer are remarkable for their delicate
+discrimination, strength and exuberance of fancy. No man loves Scotland
+more enthusiastically, or describes her peculiar scenery and manners
+with more success. Here his "meteor pen," as the author of the Corn Law
+Rhymes aptly called it, passes like sunlight over the glowing page. His
+descriptions of Highland scenery and Highland sports are instinct with
+life and beauty. In a word, to quote the eulogy of the discriminating
+Hallam, "Wilson is a writer of the most ardent and enthusiastic genius,
+whose eloquence is as the rush of mighty waters."
+
+Professor Wilson's nature is essentially poetical. It is sensitive,
+imaginative and generous. It is also said to be deeply religious. Age
+and experience, reflection, and the Word of God, which he greatly
+reveres, have tamed the wild exuberance of his youth, strengthened his
+better principles, and shed over his character the mellow radiance of
+faith and love. "The main current of his nature," says Gilfillan, "is
+rapt and religious. In proof of this we have heard, that on one
+occasion, he was crossing the hills from St. Mary's Loch to Moffat. It
+was a misty morning; but as he ascended, the mist began to break into
+columns before the radiant finger of the rising sun. Wilson's feelings
+became too much excited for silence, and he began to speak, and from
+speaking began to pray; and prayed aloud and alone, for thirty miles
+together in the misty morn. We can conceive what a prayer it would be,
+and with what awe some passing shepherd may have heard the incarnate
+voice, sounding on its dim and perilous way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+     The Calton Hill--Burns's Monument--Character and Writings of "the
+     Peasant Poet"--His Religious Views--Monument of Professor Dugald
+     Stewart--Scottish Metaphysics--Thomas Carlyle.
+
+
+Let us take a walk on the Calton Hill, this afternoon; we shall find
+some objects of interest there. At the termination of Prince's Street,
+commences Waterloo Place, in which are situated the Stamp Office, Post
+Office, Bridewell and the Jail. This also leads to Calton Hill, and is
+one of the most delightful promenades in the city. We skirt around the
+Hill, a little to the right, pass the beautiful and spacious buildings
+of the Edinburgh High School on the left, one of the best educational
+institutions in Scotland, continue our walk a short distance, and come
+to a round building on the farther declivity of the hill. That is
+"Burns's Monument." By giving a small douceur to the keeper, we are
+permitted to enter the interior, in the center of which stands a statue
+of the poet, by Flaxman. Beautiful and expressive certainly, as a work
+of art, but it is not quite equal to one's conception of the poet. The
+forehead is particularly fine--open, massive and high, with an air of
+lofty repose. The mouth is unpoetical and vulgar--at least _something_
+of this is visible in its expression. It wants the chiseled delicacy, as
+well as gracious expression of noble and generous feeling which we
+naturally look for in the countenance of Burns. But the likeness, we
+understand, is defective. In his best days, Burns had a noble, and
+almost beautiful countenance. In stature he was about five feet ten
+inches, of great agility and muscular vigor. His countenance was open
+and ruddy, with a fine, frank, generous expression, eyes large and
+radiant, forehead arched and lofty, with curling hair clustering over
+it, and his mouth, especially when engaged in animated conversation, or
+lighted with a smile, wreathed with intelligence and good humor.
+
+Burns has been termed "the Shakspeare of Scotland." And certainly no
+poet has ever been regarded, in that country, with such enthusiastic
+love and reverence. With all his faults, some of which were bad enough,
+all classes of the Scottish people, from the noble to the peasant,
+cherish him in their heart of hearts. Indeed he is a sort of national
+idol, to whom all feel bound to do reverence, notwithstanding his
+admitted failings. Nor is this a matter of surprise. For, taken as a
+whole, the poetry of Burns is the poetry of nature--of the heart--and
+especially of the Scottish heart. It represents the genius of the
+nation--wild, beautiful and free, shaded by thoughtfulness, and set off
+by devotion, at once merry as her mountain brooks, yet deep, strong and
+passionate as the stormy ocean which encircles her coast. "Tam
+O'Shanter," or "Halloween," the "Cotter's Saturday Night," or "Mary in
+Heaven," are the two extremes of the picture. In Burns, Scotland saw
+incarnated her poetry and song, her music and passion, her love and
+devotion, her seriousness and merriment, her strong-hearted adherence to
+integrity and truth, her occasional recklessness and madness of spirit,
+her love of nature, her veneration for God. The grave and the gay, the
+old and the young, the religious and the reckless, all saw themselves
+represented in the glorious fragments of his witching poetry. Hence the
+enthusiasm with which his first volume of poems was received. It seemed
+as if a new realm had been added to the dominions of the British muse--a
+new and glorious creation fresh from the hand of nature. There the humor
+of Smollett, the pathos and tenderness of Sterne and Richardson, the
+real life of Fielding, and the description of Thomson, were all united
+in delineations of Scottish manners and scenery by the Ayrshire
+ploughman! The volume contained matter for all minds--for the lively and
+sarcastic, the wild and the thoughtful, the poetical enthusiast and the
+man of the world. So eagerly was the book sought after, that when copies
+of it could not be obtained, many of the poems were transcribed and sent
+round in manuscript among admiring circles. His songs are the songs of
+Scotland. A few have been furnished by Tannahill, Fergusson, Ramsay and
+others; but the main body of the most exquisite and most popular
+Scottish melodies are from the pen of Burns. Evermore they echo among
+her heathy hills and bosky dells. You hear them by the sides of her
+"bonnie burns," and along the shores of her silver lakes and "rivers
+grand." At evening gray, they are heard resounding from gowan'd braes
+and "birken shaws," in the shadow of haunted woods, and hoary ruins; and
+especially, on winter nights, and "tween and supper times" from her ten
+thousand happy "inglesides." In Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night" are
+seen his reverence for religion "pure and undefiled," combined with
+exquisite description and melodious verse; in "Tam O'Shanter," his vivid
+fancy and dramatic energy; in "Halloween," his spirit of humor and fun;
+in his "Lines to a Mountain Daisy," his fine moral sense and tenderness
+of spirit; and in his "Address to Mary in Heaven," his true heartedness,
+and sweet lyric power. His native country is beautifully pictured in all
+his poetry. The "Banks of the Dee," "Edina's lofty seat," "Old Coila's
+hills and streams"--the "Braes of Yarrow"--"Allan Water"--"Bonnie
+Doon"--"Sweet Afton among her green braes"--"Auld hermit Ayr," "Stately
+Irwine," "The birks of Aberfeldy,"--where "summer blinks o'er flowery
+braes," the "lovely Nith, with fruitful vales and spreading
+hawthorns,"--"Gowrie's rich valley and Firth's sunny shores," "the clear
+winding Devon,"--"Castle Gordon,--where waters flow and wild woods
+rave,"--"the banks and braes and streams around the Castle of
+Montgomery,"--Bannockburn, Ellerslie and Sheriff Muir;--these, and a
+thousand other beautiful or storied scenes, mirror themselves in the
+stream of his sweet and varied verse.
+
+Some vulgar and foolish things he has written; and we condemn them as
+heartily as others. But his poetry embodies much that is pure and
+beautiful and true, much of which Burns had no occasion to repent, even
+on a deathbed, and much of which his native country may well be proud.
+He was somewhat intemperate, but not to the extent which is generally
+supposed. Strong temptations,--the habits of the times--the folly of his
+friends, who thoughtlessly introduced him to the gaities of the
+metropolis, and then left him to contempt and penury, broke down his
+constitution, and consigned him to a premature grave. But he was not a
+man of base and vulgar passions. His was not the cold heart of the
+sceptic, nor the envenomed spirit of the villain. It was a wild and
+wayward heart, I grant, but honest and true, generous and kind. The
+temple was shattered by the lightnings of Heaven, but it was a temple
+still; and from its broken altars ever and anon ascended the sweet
+incense of prayer and praise. Burns could never forget his good old
+father, and the hallowed influences of religion, shed upon his young
+heart. He loved the Psalms of David, and the holy melodies of his native
+land; and we presume often sang them, of an evening, accompanied, as he
+himself intimates, with "the wild woodland note," of his beloved wife.
+Several of his letters to Miss Dunlop and others indicate a strong
+conviction of the Divine existence and the immortality of the soul, his
+struggles against the doubts which haunted his spirit, and his earnest
+longing for purity and perfection. "You may perhaps think it an
+extravagant fancy," he says in a letter to Mr. Aiken, "but it is a
+sentiment which strikes home to my very soul; though sceptical on some
+points of our current belief, yet I think, I have every evidence for the
+reality of a life beyond the stinted bourn of our present existence;"
+and then adds--"O thou great, unknown Power, thou Almighty God! who has
+lighted up reason in my breast, and blessed me with immortality! I have
+frequently wandered from that order and regularity necessary for the
+perfection of thy works, yet thou hast never left me nor forsaken me."
+Having expressed to Mrs. Dunlop his strong conviction of the immortality
+of the soul, he writes as follows, "I know not whether I have ever sent
+you the following lines, or if you have ever seen them; but it is one of
+my favorite quotations, which I keep constantly by me in my progress
+through life, in the language of the Book of Job,
+
+    "Against the day of battle and of war."--
+
+spoken of religion:
+
+    "'Tis _this_ my friend that streaks our morning bright,
+    'Tis this that gilds the horror of our night.
+    When wealth forsakes us, and when friends are few;
+    When friends are faithless, or when foes pursue;
+    'Tis this that wards the blow, or stills the smart,
+    Disarms affliction, or repels her dart;
+    Within the breast bids purest raptures rise.
+    Bids smiling Conscience spread her cloudless skies."
+
+One of the most beautiful letters ever written by Burns has reference to
+this subject, and was addressed to the same lady, on New Year's
+day.--"This, dear Madam, is a morning of wishes; and would to God that I
+came under the Apostle James's description!--'the prayer of the
+righteous man availeth much.' In that case, Madam, you should welcome in
+a year full of blessings: everything that obstructs or disturbs
+tranquillity and self-enjoyment should be removed, and every pleasure
+that frail humanity can taste should be yours. I own myself so little a
+Presbyterian, that I approve of set times and seasons of more than
+ordinary acts of devotion for breaking in on that habitual routine of
+life and thought, which is so apt to reduce our existence to a kind of
+instinct, or even sometimes, and with some minds, to a state very little
+superior to mere machinery.
+
+"This day, the first Sunday of May, a breezy, blue skyed noon, sometime
+about the beginning, and a hoary morning and calm sunny day about the
+end of Autumn,--these, time out of mind, have been with me a kind of
+holy day. * * * * I believe I owe this to that glorious paper in the
+Spectator, "The Vision of Mirza;" a piece that struck my young fancy
+before I was capable of fixing an idea to a word of three syllables. 'On
+the fifth day of the moon, which, according to the custom of my
+forefathers, I always _keep holy_, after having washed myself, and
+offered up my morning devotions, I ascended the high hill of Bagdad, in
+order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer.'
+
+"We know nothing, or next to nothing of the substance or structure of
+our souls, so cannot account for those seeming caprices in them, that
+one should be particularly pleased with this thing, or struck with that,
+which, on minds of a different cast, makes no extraordinary impression.
+I have some favorite flowers in spring, among which are the mountain
+daisy, the harebell, the foxglove, the wild brier rose, the budding
+birch, and the hoary hawthorn, that I view and hang over with particular
+delight. I never heard the loud solitary whistle of the curlew in a
+summer noon, or the wild, mixing cadence of a troop of gray plover in an
+autumnal morning, without feeling an elevation of soul like the
+enthusiasm of devotion or poetry. Tell me, my dear friend, to what can
+this be owing? Are we a piece of machinery, which like the Aeolian harp,
+passive, takes the impression of the passing accident? Or do these
+workings argue something within us above the trodden clod? I own myself
+partial to such proofs of those awful and important realities--a God
+that made all things--man's immaterial and immortal nature--and a world
+of weal or woe beyond death and the grave."
+
+A fit comment on this and other passages of similar import in his
+letters is the following affecting poem, entitled "A Prayer in the
+Prospect of Death." It seems to us to utter the deep throbbings of the
+poet's spirit:
+
+    "Why am I loth to leave this earthly scene?
+      Have I so found it full of pleasing charms?
+    Some drops of joy, with draughts of ill between;
+      Some gleams of sunshine 'mid renewing storms;
+    Is it departing pangs my soul alarms?
+      Or death's unlovely, dreary, dark abode?
+    For guilt, for guilt, my terrors are in arms;
+      I tremble to approach an angry God,
+    And justly smart beneath his sin avenging rod.
+
+    Fain would I say, 'forgive my foul offence!'
+      Fain promise never more to disobey;
+    But should my Author health again dispense,
+      Again I might desert fair virtue's way;
+    Again in folly's path might go astray;
+      Again exalt the brute and sink the man.
+    Then how should I for heavenly mercy pray;
+      Who act so counter heavenly mercy's plan,
+    Who sin so oft have mourn'd, yet to temptation ran?
+
+    O thou great Governor of all below,
+      If I may dare a lifted eye to Thee,
+    Thy nod can make the tempest cease to blow,
+      Or still the tumult of the raging sea;
+    With that controling power assist ev'n me,
+      Those headlong furious passions to confine,
+    For all unfit I feel my powers to be,
+      To rule their torrent in the allowed line;
+    O aid me with thy help, Omnipotence Divine!"
+
+After writing thus far, we read for the first time, "The Genius and
+Character of Burns," by Professor Wilson, the richest garland yet
+wreathed around the poet's brow; and we are happy to find the views
+expressed above fully corroborated by that distinguished writer. It is
+true that Wilson delineates the character of Burns with enthusiastic
+admiration; but his views are so discriminating, and withal backed by
+such an array of facts, that no candid man can deny their correctness.
+We cannot therefore resist the temptation of making the following
+extract, in which the finest discrimination is blended with the largest
+charity. Long may the Literature of Scotland be guarded by such a
+critic! But one thing must not be forgotten here, namely, that no one,
+and especially one personally unacquainted with Burns, can pronounce in
+regard to his actual spiritual state. Whether he was truly 'born of
+God,' and notwithstanding the errors of his life, died a Christian and
+went to heaven, is happily not a question which we are called to decide.
+
+"We have said but little hitherto of Burns's religion. Some have denied
+that he had any religion at all--a rash and cruel denial--made in the
+face of his genius, his character, and his life. What man in his senses
+ever lived without religion? "The fool hath said in his heart, There is
+no God"--was Burns an atheist? We do not fear to say that he was
+religious far beyond the common run of men, even them who may have had a
+more consistent and better considered creed. The lessons he received in
+the "auld clay biggin" were not forgotten through life. He speaks--and
+we believe him--of his "early ingrained piety" having been long
+remembered to good purpose--what he called his "idiot piety"--not
+meaning thereby to disparage it, but merely that it was in childhood an
+instinct. "Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name!" is
+breathed from the lips of infancy with the same feeling at its heart
+that beats towards its father on earth, as it kneels in prayer by his
+side. No one surely will doubt his sincerity when he writes from Irvine
+to his father--"Honor'd sir--I am quite transported at the thought,
+that ere long, perhaps soon, I shall bid an eternal adieu to all the
+pains, and uneasinesses, and disquietudes of this weary life; for I
+assure you I am heartily tired of it, and, if I do not very much deceive
+myself, I could contentedly and gladly resign it. It is for this reason
+I am more pleased with the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses of the 7th
+chapter of Revelations, than with any ten times as many verses in the
+whole Bible, and would not exchange the noble enthusiasm with which they
+inspire me, for all that this world has to offer. '15. Therefore are
+they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple;
+and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16. They shall
+hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on
+them, nor any heat. 17. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne
+shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters;
+and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'" When he gives
+lessons to a young man for his conduct in life, one of them is, "The
+great Creator to adore;" when he consoles a friend on the death of a
+relative, "he points the brimful grief-worn eyes to scenes beyond the
+grave;" when he expresses benevolence to a distressed family, he
+beseeches the aid of Him "who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb;" when
+he feels the need of aid to control his passions, he implores that of
+the "Great Governor of all below;" when in sickness, he has a prayer for
+the pardon of all his errors, and an expression of confidence in the
+goodness of God; when suffering from the ills of life, he asks for the
+grace of resignation, "because they are thy will;" when he observes the
+sufferings of the virtuous, he remembers a rectifying futurity;--he is
+religious not only when surprised by occasions such as these, but also
+on set occasions; he had regular worship in his family while at
+Ellisland--we know not how it was at Dumfries, but we do know that there
+he catechised his children every Saturday evening;--Nay, he does not
+enter a Druidical circle without a prayer to God.
+
+He viewed the Creator chiefly in his attributes of love, goodness and
+mercy. "In proportion as we are wrung with grief, or distracted with
+anxiety, the ideas of a superintending Deity, an Almighty protector, are
+doubly dear." Him he never lost sight of, or confidence in, even in the
+depths of his remorse. An avenging God was too seldom in his
+contemplations--from the little severity in his own character--from a
+philosophical view of the inscrutable causes of human frailty--and most
+of all, from a diseased aversion to what was so much the theme of the
+sour Calvanism around him; but which would have risen up an appalling
+truth in such a soul as his, had it been habituated to profounder
+thought on the mysterious corruption of our fallen nature.
+
+Sceptical thoughts as to revealed religion had assailed his mind, while
+with expanding powers it "communed with the glorious universe;" and in
+1787 he writes from Edinburgh to a "Mr. James M'Candlish, student in
+physic, College, Glasgow," who had favored him with a long
+argumentative infidel letter, "I, likewise, since you and I were first
+acquainted, in the pride of despising old women's stories, ventured on
+'the daring path Spinoza trod;' but experience of the weakness, not the
+strength of human powers, _made me glad to grasp at revealed religion_."
+When at Ellisland, he writes to Mrs. Dunlop, "My idle reasonings
+sometimes make me a little sceptical, but the necessities of my heart
+always give the cold philosophizings the lie. Who looks for the heart
+weaned from earth; the soul affianced to her God; the correspondence
+fixed with heaven; the pious supplication and devout thanksgiving,
+constant as the vicissitudes of even and morn; who thinks to meet with
+these in the court, the palace, in the glare of public life! No: to find
+them in their precious importance and divine efficacy, we must search
+among the obscure recesses of disappointment, affliction, poverty and
+distress." And again, next year, from the same place to the same
+correspondent, "That there is an incomprehensibly Great Being, to whom I
+owe my existence, and that he must be intimately acquainted with the
+operations and progress of the internal machinery, and consequent
+outward deportment of this creature he has made--these are, I think,
+self-evident propositions. That there is a real and eternal distinction
+between vice and virtue, and consequently, that I am an accountable
+creature; that from the seeming nature of the human mind, as well as
+from the evident imperfection, nay positive injustice, in the
+administration of affairs, both in the natural and moral worlds, there
+must be a retributive scene of existence beyond the grave, must, I
+think, be allowed by every one who will give himself a moment's
+reflection. I will go farther and affirm, that from the sublimity,
+excellence, and purity of his doctrine and precepts, unparalleled, by
+all the aggregated wisdom and learning of many preceding ages, though
+_to appearance_ he was himself the obscurest and most illiterate of our
+species: therefore Jesus was from God." Indeed, all his best letters to
+Mrs. Dunlop are full of the expression of religious feeling and
+religious faith; though it must be confessed with pain, that he speaks
+with more confidence in the truth of natural than of revealed religion,
+and too often lets sentiments inadvertently escape him, that, taken by
+themselves, would imply that his religious belief was but a
+Christianized Theism. Of the immortality of the soul, he never expresses
+any serious doubt, though now and then, his expressions, though
+beautiful, want their usual force, as if he felt the inadequacy of the
+human mind to the magnitude of the theme. "Ye venerable sages, and holy
+flamens, is there probability in your conjectures, truth in your
+stories, of another world beyond death; or are they all alike baseless
+visions and fabricated fables? If there is another life, it must be only
+for the just, the amiable, and the humane. What a flattering idea this
+of the world to come! Would to God I as firmly believed it as I ardently
+wish it."
+
+How, then, could honored Thomas Carlyle bring himself to affirm, "that
+Burns had no religion?" His religion was in much imperfect--but its
+incompleteness you discern only on a survey of all his effusions, and by
+inference; for his particular expressions of a religious kind are
+genuine, and as acknowledgments of the superabundant goodness and
+greatness of God, they are in unison with the sentiments of the
+devoutest Christian. But remorse never suggests to him the inevitable
+corruption of man; Christian humility he too seldom dwells on, though
+without it there cannot be Christian faith: and he is silent on the need
+of reconcilement between the divine attributes of Justice and Mercy. The
+absence of all this might pass unnoticed, were not the religious
+sentiment so prevalent in his confidential communications with his
+friends in his most serious and solemn moods. In them there is frequent,
+habitual recognition of the Creator; and who that finds joy and beauty
+in nature has not the same? It may be well supposed that if common men
+are more ideal in religion than in other things, so would be Burns. He
+who has lent the colors of his fancy to common things, would not
+withhold them from divine. Something--he knew not what--he would exact
+of man--more impressively reverential than anything he is wont to offer
+to God, or perhaps can offer in the way of institution--in temples made
+with hands. The _heartfelt_ adoration always has a grace for him--in the
+silent bosom--in the lonely cottage--in any place where circumstances
+are a pledge of its reality; but the moment it ceases to be _heartfelt_,
+and visibly so, it loses his respect, it seems as profanation. "Mine is
+the religion of the breast;" and if it be not, what is it worth? But it
+must also revive a right spirit within us; and there may be gratitude
+for goodness, without such change as is required of us in the gospel. He
+was too buoyant with immortal spirit within him not to credit its
+immortal destination; he was too thoughtful in his human love not to
+feel how different must be our affections if they are towards flowers
+which the blast of death may wither, or towards spirits which are but
+beginning to live in our sight, and are gathering good and evil here for
+an eternal life. Burns believed that by his own unassisted
+understanding, and his own unassisted heart, he saw and felt those great
+truths, forgetful of this great truth, that he had been taught them in
+the Written Word. Had all he learned in the "auld clay biggin" become a
+blank--all the knowledge inspired into his heart during the evenings,
+when "the sire turned o'er wi' patriarchal air, the big ha'-bible, ance
+his father's pride," how little or how much would he then have known of
+God and Immortality? In that delusion he shared more or less with one
+and all--whether poets or philosophers--who have put their trust in
+natural Theology. As to the glooms in which his sceptical reason had
+been involved, they do not seem to have been so thick--so dense--as in
+the case of men without number, who have, by the blessing of God, become
+true Christians. Of his levities on certain celebrations of religious
+rites, we before ventured an explanation; and while it is to be
+lamented that he did not more frequently dedicate the genius that shed
+so holy a lustre over "The Cotter's Saturday Night," to the service of
+religion, let it be remembered how few poets have done so--alas! too
+few--that he, like his tuneful brethren, must often have been deterred
+by a sense of his own unworthiness from approaching its awful
+mysteries--and above all, that he was called to his account before he
+had attained his thoughtful prime."
+
+Speaking of Burns's last sickness, Professor Wilson says: "But he had
+his Bible with him in his lodgings, and he read it almost
+continually--often when seated on a bank, from which he had difficulty
+in rising without assistance, for his weakness was extreme, and in his
+emaciation he was like a ghost. The fire of his eye was not
+dimmed--indeed fever had lighted it up beyond even its natural
+brightness; and though his voice, once so various, was now hollow, his
+discourse was still that of a Poet. To the last he loved the sunshine,
+the grass, and the flowers; to the last he had a kind look and word for
+the passers-by, who all knew it was Burns. Laboring men, on their way
+from work, would step aside to the two or three houses called the Brow,
+to know if there was any hope of his life; and it is not to be doubted
+that devout people remembered him, who had written the Cotter's Saturday
+Night, in their prayers. His sceptical doubts no longer troubled him;
+they had never been more than shadows; and he had at last the faith of a
+confiding Christian."
+
+Leaving Burns's Monument, we ascend the hill, in the opposite direction,
+pass the unfinished Parthenon, consisting only of a few elegant columns,
+and intended to commemorate the battle of Waterloo, the Observatory, and
+the Monument of Professor Playfair, the celebrated mathematician and
+astronomer, and reach the elegant though not imposing monument of
+Professor Dugald Stewart, not the most acute, but certainly the most
+finished and instructive of all the writers of the Scottish metaphysical
+school. Let us linger here, a few moments, for the name of Professor
+Stewart is peculiarly dear to Scotland. No man was ever more
+enthusiastically regarded by his pupils, or more generally loved and
+revered by the community. Dr. Reid of Glasgow University, the immediate
+predecessor and preceptor of Stewart, was a man of an acute and original
+mind, though not possessed of half the grace and fluency of his
+illustrious pupil. It was Reid however that first gave clearness and
+method to the metaphysics of Scotland. His writings on first principles,
+or, as he called them, principles of Common Sense, gave a death-blow, at
+least in Scotland, to the _ideal theory_ of Berkeley and Hume, and
+greatly affected the course of philosophical investigation not only in
+England but in France. In fact, his philosophy supplanted, for a time,
+the infidel metaphysics of Hume and the French rationalists. It cut the
+roots equally of idealism and sensualism, and was eagerly received by
+thoughtful men in Europe and in this country. It can be seen running
+like a sunbeam, through the speculations of Royer Collard, Constant,
+Jouffroy and even of Cousin. Based on the Baconian method, it proceeded,
+modestly and unostentatiously, to ascertain, and then to classify the
+facts of mind; and, because it projected no splendid theories, or
+blazing fancies, it has been rejected by superficial and visionary
+thinkers, with some degree of contempt. After all, it may yet be
+recognized, by all genuine philosophers, as the only true scientific
+method. In the hands of Stewart and of Brown, his colleague and
+successor, it began to assume a lofty and attractive position; but alas!
+it has remained stationary for the want of strong and true-hearted
+defenders. Stigmatized by the Germans as "pallid and insular--timid and
+cold," it has been forsaken, of late, by the more popular metaphysical
+writers, for the brilliant and astounding, but ever varying visions of
+the Transcendental School. Smitten with the love of Ontology, or the
+doctrine of "the absolute and the essential," scorning the methods of
+Bacon and Newton as empirical and shallow, and setting their foot on the
+modest, perhaps timid speculations of Reid and Stewart, metaphysicians
+have plunged one after another into the abyss of an absolute
+Spiritualism, where, amid the glimmerings of a half-dark and lurid
+radiance, may be seen the disciples of Kant and Fichte, Hegel and
+Schelling, floundering in the gloom, changing places continually, now
+rising towards the light of heaven, and then sinking in the "abysmal
+dark."
+
+The writings of Reid, Stewart and Brown have exerted a great influence
+on the thinking of Scotland, which, even among the common people, has a
+somewhat metaphysical turn. Combining with religion and poetry, it has
+given to both a peculiar depth and earnestness of tone. In some it is
+deeply practical, in others speculative and visionary.
+
+Thomas Carlyle, the product chiefly of Scotland, but partly also of
+Germany--or perhaps, rather, a magnificent "lusus naturae," has a large
+amount of Scottish shrewdness, enthusiasm and speculation, overlaid and
+burnished with German spiritualism and romance. A native of Annandale,
+and imbued with the religion of the Covenant, and the poetry of the
+hills, he has wandered off into the fields of metaphysical speculation,
+where, amid dreams of gorgeous and beautiful enchantment, he is evermore
+uttering his burning oracular words, of half pagan, and half Christian,
+wisdom. A genuine _Teufelsdroeckh_,--he is yet a genuine _Scot_, and
+cannot therefore forget the holy wisdom of his venerable mother, and his
+Annandale home.[16]
+
+[Footnote 16: The following graphic description of the residence,
+personal appearance and conversation of Carlyle is from the pen of
+Elizur Wright, Junr. "Passing the long lines of new buildings which have
+stretched from Westminster up the Thames, and engulphed the old village
+of Chelsea, in omnivorous London, you recognize at last the old Chelsea
+Hospital, one of the world-famous clusters of low brick palaces, where
+Britain nurses her fighting men when they can fight no more. A little
+past this and an old ivy-clad church, with its buried generations lying
+around it, you come to an antique street running at right angles with
+the Thames, and a few steps from the river, you find Carlyle's name on
+the door. A Scotch lass ushers you into the second story front chamber,
+which is the spacious workshop of the world-maker. Here are lots of
+books--ponderous tomes in Latin, Greek, and black letter English,--some
+are on shelves occupying nearly all the walls, and some are piled on
+tables and a reading rack as having just been read. The furniture speaks
+of Scotch economy, and the whole face of things of more than common
+Scotch tidiness. In fact, a superbly wrought bell-rope indicates that
+the wife is a true hero worshipper. Carlyle is a mere man, ordinary
+size, lofty and jutting brow, keen--exceedingly keen eye, and modest
+unassuming manners. His voice is melodious, and with its rich Scotch
+cadence, and rapid flow, reminds you of Thalberg's music in some strange
+out of the way key. Just set him agoing, and he runs without stopping,
+giving you whole masses of history, painting and poetry, and a great
+mass of the boundless system of Carlyleism. There is nothing which he
+does not touch; and figures of speech come tumbling in from all corners,
+top and bottom of the universe, as the merest matter of course. Doubt,
+hesitation or qualification have no place among his opinions, he having
+kicked them all out of doors when he began his philosophy."
+
+Many inquiries have been made respecting Carlyle's religious opinions;
+but it is difficult to say anything very decisive in reply. That he has
+a deep reverence for the Christian faith,--that he strongly inclines to
+a sort of transcendental orthodoxy,--that he loves, moreover,
+true-hearted piety, and is himself a model of integrity and affection
+cannot be doubted. He often speaks of Jesus as divine,--as the most
+perfect of all heroes--as the God man--as the Divine man. He possesses a
+profound sympathy for the higher and more beautiful forms of Christian
+virtue, and describes the lives and characters of good men with the
+liveliest relish. We incline therefore to believe, that notwithstanding
+his transcendental speculations, and philosophical doubts, he has a true
+(though not thoroughly defined) heart faith in the essential doctrines
+of the Christian system. Clouds and darkness hang upon the horizon of
+his spiritual vision, but gloriously irradiated with light from heaven,
+and here and there opening into vistas of serene and ineffable beauty.
+Many of his followers, we think, do not understand him, and we fear,
+will never reach his purity and elevation of mind. They are more likely
+to be led astray, by the magnificent illusions of his gifted but
+somewhat erring fancy. Instead of resting in the simple-hearted and
+heroic faith which he loves so much to describe, they may plunge into
+the abysses of doubt and despair.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     Preaching in Edinburgh--The Free Church--Dr. Chalmers--A Specimen
+     of his Preaching--The Secret of his Eloquence.
+
+
+Edinburgh has ever been distinguished for its preachers. In former times
+the classic Blair, the fervid Walker, the impassioned Logan, the
+judicious Erskine, the learned Jamieson, the exquisite Alison, the
+candid Wellwood and the energetic Thomson delighted and instructed all
+classes of the community. To these have succeeded a host of learned and
+truly eloquent men, some of whom are members of "the Kirk," others of
+the Episcopal communion, and others of the various bodies of
+Presbyterian "Seceders," Congregationalists and Baptists. Among the
+clergymen of the Free Church, Dr. Chalmers of course is "_facile
+princeps_;" Dr. Candlish, in effectiveness and popularity probably
+stands next, while Drs. Cunningham, Bruce, Gordon and Buchanan, the Rev.
+James Begg, and one or two others form a cluster of influential and
+eloquent preachers. Among the Congregationalists, Rev. William L.
+Alexander is the most learned and polished. He has written ably on the
+Tractarian controversy and on the connection of the Old and New
+Testaments, and recently received a pressing invitation to become
+associated with Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow, as assistant pastor and
+Professor of Theology. He is a fine looking man, being some six feet
+high, with expressive features, dark penetrating eyes, and massive black
+hair, clustering over a fair and lofty forehead. His manner is dignified
+and agreeable, but not particularly impassioned.
+
+Among the "seceding" Presbyterians, Dr. John Brown, minister of
+Broughton Place, and one of the Professors of Theology in the United
+Secession Church, the Rev. Dr. Johnstone and the Rev. James Robertson of
+the same communion are among the most effective preachers in Scotland.
+The Baptists are justly proud of the learned and polished Christopher
+Anderson, author of an able work on the "Domestic Constitution," and an
+elaborate "History of the English Bible"--the Rev. William Innes, one of
+the most amiable and pious of men, and the Rev. Jonathan Watson, whose
+earnest practical discourses are well appreciated by his intelligent
+audience. Mr. Innes at one time was a minister of the established
+Church, with a large salary and an agreeable situation, but abandoned it
+for conscience' sake, as he could not approve of the union of Church and
+State, nor of some of the peculiarities of Presbyterianism. His pious,
+consistent course, and liberal, catholic spirit, have won for him the
+admiration of all denominations of Christians.
+
+Bishop Terrot of the Episcopal Church is somewhat high in his church
+notions, but is regarded as an amiable and learned man, while the Rev.
+Mr. Drummond and others of the same church, are able and influential
+preachers. Among those who adhere to "the Kirk" as it was, the Rev. Dr.
+Muir is one of the most accomplished, and the Rev. Dr. Lee, of the
+University, the most learned and influential.
+
+Taken as a whole, the Edinburgh clergy are fair representatives of the
+Scottish preachers generally. Those therefore who wish to form a just
+estimate of the spirit and power of the pulpit in Scotland, have only to
+hear them repeatedly, in their respective places of worship. They hold
+doctrinal views somewhat diverse, though essentially one, adopt
+different styles of preaching, and in certain aspects different styles
+of life. Yet they manifestly belong to the same great family, and preach
+the same glorious gospel. They are remarkably distinguished for their
+strong common sense, laborious habits, pious spirit and practical
+usefulness. Occasionally they come into keen polemical strife; but it
+amounts to little more than a gladiatorial exhibition, or rather a light
+skirmishing, without malice prepense, or much evil result. Generally
+speaking, they are not pre-eminently distinguished for their learning,
+though certainly well informed, and devoted to the great work of their
+ministry. They are more practical than speculative, more devout than
+critical, more useful than renowned. They live in the hearts of their
+flocks, and the results of their labors may be seen in the integrity,
+good order and industry of the people. It is not our purpose to say much
+on the subject of the recent "break" in the Scottish church, in which,
+as the members of the "Free Church" assert, the supremacy of Jesus
+Christ is concerned. The intrusion by lay patrons, of unpopular
+ministers upon the churches, is certainly a vicious practice, and ought
+to be abolished. But this is only a fragment of a greater and more vital
+question, pertaining to the spirituality and authority of Christ's
+church, which must be settled one of these days. The Free Church
+movement has developed much fine enthusiasm, and no small amount of
+self-denial; and the results will doubtless be favorable to the progress
+of spiritual freedom; but this is only a single wave of a mighty and
+ever increasing tide, which is destined to sweep, not over Scotland
+alone, but over the world. In this place, however, we cannot refrain
+from expressing our conviction that this division in the Presbyterian
+ranks is not properly a schism or a heresy. It breaks up an existing
+organization, but affinity remains. The doctrines and discipline of the
+two churches are essentially the same. The one may be purer and stronger
+than the other, but they are members of the same family, professedly
+cherish the same spirit, and aim at the accomplishment of the same ends.
+This, too, may be said of nearly all the other sects; so that in
+Scotland, there is more real unity among Christians than there is in
+Papal Rome. The latter is one, only as a mountain of ice, in which all
+impurities are congealed, is one. The unity of the former is like that
+of the thousand streams which rush from the Alpine heights, proceeding,
+as they do, from a common source, and finally meeting and blending in a
+common ocean.
+
+But enough of general speculation and description. Dr. Chalmers is to
+preach at Dr. Candlish's church, so let us go to hear him. He has lost
+something of his early vigor, but retains enough of it to make him the
+most interesting preacher in Scotland or the world. Let us make haste,
+or we shall fail of obtaining a seat. Already the house is filled with
+an expectant congregation. The Doctor comes in, and all is hushed. He is
+dressed in gown and bands, and presents a striking and venerable
+appearance. His serious, earnest aspect well befits his high office. He
+is of the middle height, thick set and brawny, but not corpulent. His
+face is rather broad, with high cheek bones, pale, and as it were
+care-worn, but well formed and expressive. His eyes are of a leaden
+color, rather dull when in a state of repose, but flashing with a
+half-smothered fire when fairly roused. His nose is broad and lion-like,
+his mouth, one of the most expressive parts of his countenance, firm, a
+little compressed and stern, indicating courage and energy, while his
+forehead is ample and high, as one might naturally suppose, covered with
+thin, straggling grey hair. He reads a psalm in a dry, guttural
+voice--reads a few verses of Scripture, without much energy or apparent
+feeling, and then offers a brief, simple, earnest, and striking prayer.
+By the way, the Doctor's prayers are among his most interesting
+exercises. He is always simple, direct, reverent, and occasionally quite
+original and striking. You feel while joining in his devotions, that a
+man of genius and piety is leading your willing spirit up to the throne
+of God. How striking, for example, when he calls us to remember "that
+every hour that strikes,--every morning that dawns, and every evening
+that darkens around us, brings us nearer to the end of our pilgrimage."
+Yet he has no mouthing or mannerism, in this solemn exercise. He is not
+_making_, but offering a prayer. His tones are earnest and solemn; most
+manifest it is that his soul is holding intimate fellowship with the
+Father of Spirits.
+
+But he announces his text--1 John iv. 16. "God is love"--a text from
+which he has preached before; but no matter for that.[17] He commences,
+with a few broken sentences, pronounced in a harsh tuneless voice, with
+a strong Scottish accent. The first feeling of a stranger would be that
+of disappointment, and apprehension that the discourse was to prove a
+failure. This was the case with Canning and Wilberforce, who went to
+hear Dr. Chalmers, when he preached in London. They had got into a pew
+near the door, when "the preacher began in his usual unpromising way, by
+stating a few nearly self-evident propositions, neither in the choicest
+language, nor in the most impressive voice; 'If this be all,' said
+Canning to his companion, 'it will never do.' Chalmers went on,--the
+shuffling in the congregation gradually subsided. He got into the mass
+of his subject; his weakness became strength, his hesitation was turned
+into energy; and bringing the whole volume of his mind to bear upon it,
+poured forth a torrent of most close and conclusive argument, brilliant
+with all the exuberance of an imagination which ranged over all nature
+for illustrations, and yet managed and applied each of them with the
+same unerring dexterity, as if that single one had been the study of his
+whole life. 'The tartan beats us,' said Mr. Canning, 'we have no
+preaching like that in England.'"
+
+[Footnote 17: In looking over the Doctor's printed works, we have found
+this discourse in a somewhat different garb from that in which we have
+presented it. We were not at first aware of this, or we might have
+selected some other discourse; for it was our good fortune to hear the
+Doctor frequently. This and other delineations, however, are taken from
+personal observation.]
+
+It may be well to state here that Chalmers is a slavish reader,--that
+is, he reads every thing he says,--but then he reads so naturally, so
+earnestly, so energetically, that manuscript and everything else is
+speedily forgotten by the astonished and delighted hearer.
+
+He proceeds with his subject--_God is love_. His object, as announced,
+is not so much to elucidate the thought or idea of the text, as to
+dislodge from the minds of his hearers, the dread and aversion for God,
+existing in all unregenerate men. He insists, in the first place, that
+it is not as a God of love, that the Deity is regarded by mankind--but
+simply as God, as a being mysterious and dreadful, a being who has
+displeasure towards them in his heart. This arises from two causes--the
+first, that they are ignorant of this great and awfully mysterious
+Being--the second, that they have sinned against him. This feeling then
+is displaced first by the incarnation of the Deity in the person of his
+Son, so that we may know him and love him as a Father and a friend; and
+secondly, by the free pardon of our sin, through the sacrifice of the
+Cross. The division is rather awkward; but it serves the purpose of the
+preacher, who thus brings out some of the most sublime peculiarities of
+the Gospel, and applies them with overwhelming force and pathos to the
+sinner's heart. Under the first head, he shows, in language of uncommon
+energy, that it is impossible for man, in his present state, to regard a
+being so vast, so mysterious, and so little known as God, except with
+superstitious dread. "All regarding him," says he, "is inscrutable; the
+depths of his past eternity, the mighty and unknown extent of his
+creation, the secret policy or end of his government--a government that
+embraces an infinity of worlds, and reaches forward to an infinity of
+ages; all these leave a being so circumscribed in his faculties as man,
+so limited in his duration, and therefore so limited in his experience,
+in profoundest ignorance of God; and then the inaccessible retirement in
+which this God hides himself from the observation of his creatures here
+below, the clouds and darkness which are about the pavilion of his
+throne, the utter inability of the powers of man to reach beyond the
+confines of that pavilion, render vain all attempts to fathom the
+essence of God, or to obtain any distinct conception of his person or
+being, which have been shrouded in the deep silence of many centuries,
+insomuch that nature, whatever it may tell us of his existence, places
+between our senses and this mighty cause a veil of interception."
+
+It is not unnatural to dread such a being. Nature, though full of God,
+furnishes no clear and satisfying evidence of his designs; for sunshine
+and shower, green fields and waving harvests are intermingled with
+tempests and hurricane, blight and mildew, destruction and death. "While
+in one case we have the natural affection and unnumbered sweets of many
+a cottage, which might serve to manifest the indulgent kindness of him
+who is the universal parent of the human family; we have on the other
+hand the cares, the heart-burnings, the moral discomforts, often the
+pining sickness, or the cold and cheerless poverty, or, more palpably,
+the fierce contests and mutual distractions even among civilized men;
+and lastly, and to consummate all, the death,--the unshaken and
+relentless death with which generation after generation, whether among
+the abodes of the prosperous and the happy, or among the dwellings of
+the adverse and unfortunate, after a few years are visited, laying all
+the varieties of human fortune in the dust,--these all bespeak if not a
+malignant, an offended, God."
+
+But this vague uncertainty and dread are corrected and displaced by the
+incarnation of the Deity in the person of Christ--"the brightness of the
+Father's glory and the express image of his person." "The Godhead then
+became palpable to human senses, and man could behold, as in a picture,
+and in distinct personification, the very characteristics of the Being
+that made him."
+
+Upon this idea, a favorite one with Dr. Chalmers, he dwells with the
+profoundest interest, presenting it with a strength of conception and
+exuberance of illustration which makes it clear and palpable to the
+minds of all. How his heart glows, almost to bursting, with the sublime
+and thrilling idea that God is manifest in the flesh. How he pours out,
+as in a torrent of light, the swelling images and emotions of his
+throbbing spirit. "We could not scale the height of that mysterious
+ascent which brings us within view of the Godhead. It is by the descent
+of the Godhead unto us that this manifestation has been made; and we
+learn and know it from the wondrous history of him who went about doing
+good continually. We could not go in search of the viewless Deity,
+through the depths and vastnesses of infinity, or divine the secret, the
+untold purposes that were brooding there. But in what way could a more
+palpable exhibition have been made, than when the eternal Son, enshrined
+in humanity, stepped forth on the platform of visible things, and there
+proclaimed the Deity? We can now reach the character of God in the human
+looks, in the human language of Him who is the very image and visible
+representative of the Deity; we see it in the tears of sympathy he shed;
+we hear it in the accents of tenderness which fell from his lips. Even
+his very remonstrances were those of a deep and gentle nature; for they
+are remonstrances of deepest pathos--the complaints of a longing spirit
+against the sad perversity of men bent on their own ruin."
+
+Not content with this clear and ample exhibition of his views, he
+returns to it, as if with redoubled interest, and though presenting no
+new conception upon the point, delights to pour upon it the exuberant
+radiance of his teeming imagination. The hearers, too, are as interested
+as he, and catch with delight the varying aspects of his peculiar
+oratory. In fact, their minds are in perfect sympathy and harmony with
+his; and tears start to every eye, as he bursts out, as if applying the
+subject to himself, in the following beautiful and affecting
+style:--"Previous to this manifestation, as long as I had nothing before
+me but the unseen God, my mind wandered in uncertainty, my busy fancy
+was free to expatiate, and its images filled my heart with disquietude
+and terror; but in the life and person and history of Jesus Christ, the
+attributes of the Deity are brought down to the observation of the
+senses, and I can no longer mistake them, when, in the Son, who is the
+express image of his Father, I see them carried home to my understanding
+by the evidence and expression of human organs--when I see the kindness
+of the Father, in the tears that fell from the Son at the tomb of
+Lazarus--when I see his justice blended with his mercy, in the
+exclamation, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!' by Jesus Christ, uttered with a
+tone more tender than human bosom or human sympathy ever uttered--I feel
+the judgment of God himself flashing conviction on my conscience, and
+calling me to repent, while his wrath is suspended, and he still waiteth
+to be gracious!"
+
+But a more distinct and well-grounded reason for distrust and fear in
+reference to the Deity arises from the consciousness of guilt. In spite
+of ourselves, in spite of our false theology, we feel that God has a
+right to be offended with us, that he is offended with us, and not only
+so, but that we deserve his displeasure. This he shows is counteracted
+by the doctrine of the atonement: "Herein is love, not that we loved
+him, but that he loved us, and sent his Son into the world to be a
+propitiation for our sins." By the fact of the incarnation, a conquest
+is gained over the imagination haunted with the idea of an unknown God;
+so also by that of the atonement, a conquest is gained over the solid
+and well-grounded fear of guilt. This idea the Doctor illustrates with
+equal force and beauty, showing that by means of the Sacrifice of the
+Cross, justice and mercy are brought into harmony, in the full and free
+pardon of the believing penitent. By this means the great hindrance to
+free communion with God is taken away. Guilt is cancelled, for the sake
+of Him who died, and the poor trembling sinner is taken to the bosom of
+Infinite Love. "In the glorious spectacle of the Cross, we see the
+mystery revealed, and the compassion of the parent meeting in fullest
+harmony with the now asserted and now vindicated prerogative of the
+Lawgiver. The Gospel is a halo of all the attributes of God, and yet the
+pre-eminent manifestation there is of God as love, which will shed its
+lustre amid all the perfections of the Divine nature. And here it should
+be specially remarked, that the atonement was made for the sins of the
+whole world; God's direct and primary object being to vindicate the
+truth and justice of the Godhead. Instead of taking from his love, it
+only gave it more emphatic demonstration; for, instead of love, simple
+and bending itself without difficulty to the happiness of its objects,
+it was a love which, ere it could reach the guilty being it groaned
+after, had to force the barriers of a necessity which, to all human
+appearance, was insuperable." With this fine idea the Doctor concludes
+his discourse, presenting it with a mingled tenderness and vehemence of
+style and tone perfectly irresistible. "The love of God," he exclaims,
+"with such an obstacle and trying to get over it, is a higher exhibition
+than all the love which radiates from his throne on all the sinless
+angels. The affirmation that God is love, is strengthened by that other,
+to him who owns the authority of Scripture, that God _so_ loved the
+world--I call on you to mark the emphatic _so_--as to give his
+only-begotten Son. 'He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for
+us all;' or that expression, 'herein is love, not that we loved God, but
+that he loved us, and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'
+There is a moral, a depth, an intensity of meaning, a richness of
+sentiment that Paul calls unsearchable, in the Cross of Christ, that
+tells emphatically that God is righteousness, and that God is love."
+
+Such is a feeble and imperfect outline of a rich and eloquent discourse,
+from one of the richest and most expressive texts in the Bible. But we
+cannot transfer to the written or printed page the tone, look and
+manner, the _vivida vis_, the natural and overwhelming energy, the
+pathos and power of tone, which thrill the hearer as with the shocks of
+a spiritual electricity. It is this peculiar energy which distinguishes
+Chalmers, and which distinguishes all great orators. His mind is on fire
+with his subject, and transfers itself all glowing to the minds of his
+hearers. For the time being all are fused into one great whole, by the
+resistless might of his burning eloquence. In this respect Chalmers has
+been thought to approach, nearer than any other man of modern times, the
+style and tone of Demosthenes. His manner has a torrent-vehemence, a
+sea-like swell and sweep, a bannered tramp as of armies rushing to
+deadly conflict. With one hand on his manuscript, and the other jerked
+forward with electric energy, he thunders out his gigantic
+periods, as if winged with "volleyed lightning." The hearers are
+astonished,--awed,--carried away,--lifted up as on the wings of the
+wind, and borne "whithersoever the master listeth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    Biographical Sketch of Dr. Chalmers.
+
+
+As an evangelical divine, a preacher of great strength and earnestness,
+a man of a truly devout and generous spirit, of great independence,
+energy and perseverance, a leader of the Free Church of Scotland, and a
+successful advocate of the doctrine of Christ's supremacy, Dr. Chalmers
+may be regarded as a fair embodiment of the religious spirit of his
+native land. In his mode of thinking, in his doctrinal belief and
+practice, especially in his devout and fervid eloquence, the Doctor is
+eminently Scottish. His whole spirit is bathed in the piety of "the
+Covenant." On this account a brief sketch of his history will not be
+inappropriate in this place.
+
+Thomas Chalmers, D. D., was born about the year 1780, in the town of
+Anstruther in Fifeshire, the birth-place of another man of genius,
+Professor Tennant, of St. Andrews, the celebrated author of "Anster
+Fair," one of the most facetious poems in the language, and making a
+near approach to the dramatic energy of "Tam O'Shanter." Young Chalmers
+gave decided indications of genius and energy, and was sent to the
+College of St. Andrews, and soon became "a mathematician, a natural
+philosopher, and though there was no regular professor of that science
+at St. Andrews, a chemist." After having been licensed as a preacher, he
+officiated for sometime, as assistant minister, at Cavers in
+Roxburghshire. He was subsequently called to the care of the parish
+church in Kilmany, beautifully situated "amid the green hills and
+smiling valleys," of his native county. He was ordained on the 12th of
+May, 1803, and soon displayed the vigor and activity of his mind. In
+addition to his regular parochial engagements, he devoted much attention
+to botany and chemistry; lectured on the latter science and kindred
+subjects in the neighboring towns; became an officer in a volunteer
+corps; assisted the late Professor Vilant in teaching the mathematical
+class in the College of St. Andrews; on the succeeding session opened a
+private class of his own, on the same branch of science, to which all
+the students flocked; and wrote one or two books, and several pamphlets
+on the topics of the day. His first publication appeared at Cupar in
+Fife on what was called the Leslie Controversy. It was written in the
+form of a letter addressed to Professor Playfair; and abounds in talent,
+wit and humor. It was published anonymously, and for a long time was not
+known to be his. He vindicates in it very powerfully, the divines of the
+Church of Scotland, from the imputation of a want of mathematical
+talent, a reproach which he thought Professor Playfair had thrown upon
+them. He also wrote a volume on the resources of the country, which
+attracted much attention, as a work of ability and eloquence.
+
+From these statements it must be evident that Dr. Chalmers had but
+little time to devote to the spiritual interests of his parish. He
+performed his _stated_ duties, it is true, but devoted his energies
+chiefly to literary and scientific pursuits. Indeed he was in religious
+belief a rationalist, and had not yet adopted those profound and
+spiritual convictions which subsequently formed the main-spring of his
+ministry. In 1805 he offered himself as a candidate for the vacant chair
+of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, with considerable chances
+of success, but afterwards withdrew his name at the earnest solicitation
+of his friends, who wished to retain him in the Church.
+
+When Dr. Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopedia was projected Dr. Chalmers
+was engaged as one of the contributors, and wrote the article
+"Christianity," which was subsequently published in a separate form. It
+was about this time that his mind underwent a radical change on the
+subject of vital religion. He discovered the utter inefficiency of a
+utilitarian morality, for the renovation and guidance of man, and
+eagerly embraced those peculiar views of evangelical faith, which
+recognize the sacrifice and intercession of Christ as a ground of hope
+to the fallen, the necessity of "being born of the Spirit," and the
+ineffable beauty and blessedness of "a life hid with Christ in God." It
+is said that this change took place while writing the article referred
+to; he then felt the necessity of acting upon his own principles, of
+yielding his heart absolutely and forever, to the truths of that
+Revelation, the reality and authority of which he was called to prove.
+It will be remembered by those acquainted with the article in question,
+that he takes the ground that a divine revelation must necessarily be
+mysterious; that coming from God, it must belong to the infinite
+and the obscure, and thus contain many things which shock our
+preconceptions,--that _a priori_ objections to its doctrines are
+therefore null and void, and that the whole must be received, without
+exception or modification. He insists that while we have experience of
+man, we have little or no experience of God, that the thoughts of such a
+Being must infinitely transcend ours, and in all probability contradict
+ours, especially with reference to the great problem touching the
+salvation of the guilty. If then the genuineness and authenticity of the
+sacred books can be proved as historical facts, we have nothing to do
+with the revelation which they contain, but to receive it with adoring
+gratitude and submission. The incarnation of the Godhead, the sacrifice
+of the Cross, justification by faith, the re-birth of the soul by the
+Holy Spirit, the resurrection of the body, and eternal judgement are
+revealed facts or truths, already proved, and must therefore constitute
+the heart's-creed of every true believer. These doctrines consequently
+were embraced by Chalmers himself, and formed thenceforward the subjects
+of his preaching to the people. A great excitement ensued. The community
+was aroused--multitudes were converted. Chalmers preached with the
+greatest fervor and unction, and hundreds flocked to hear him from the
+neighboring parishes. This produced inquiry, and he found it necessary
+to give explanations in reference to the causes which had effected such
+a change in his ministry. In this view the following will be read with
+interest and profit:
+
+"And here I cannot but record the effect of an actual though undesigned
+experiment which I prosecuted upwards of twelve years amongst you. For
+the greater part of that time I could expatiate on the meanness of
+dishonesty, on the villany of falsehood, on the despicable arts of
+calumny--in a word upon all those deformities of character which awaken
+the natural indignation of the human heart against the pests and the
+disturbers of society. Now, could I, upon the strength of these warm
+expostulations, have got the thief to give up his stealing, and the evil
+speaker his censoriousness, and the liar his deviations from truth, I
+should have felt all the repose of one who had gotten his ultimate
+object. It never occurred to me that all this might have been done, and
+yet every soul of every hearer have remained in full alienation from
+God; and that even could I have established in the bosom of one who
+stole such a principle of abhorrence at the meanness of dishonesty that
+he was prevailed upon to steal no more, he might still have retained a
+heart as completely unturned to God, and as totally unpossessed of a
+principle of love to Him as before. In a word, though I might have made
+him a more upright and honorable man, I might have left him as destitute
+of the essence of religious principle as ever. But the interesting fact
+is that during the whole of that period in which I made no attempt
+against the natural enmity of the mind to God, while I was inattentive
+to the way in which this enmity is dissolved, even by the free offer on
+the one hand, and the believing acceptance on the other, of the Gospel
+salvation; while Christ, through whose blood the sinner, who by nature
+stands afar off, is brought near to the Heavenly Lawgiver whom he has
+offended, was scarcely ever spoken of, or spoken of in such a way as
+stripped him of all the importance of his character and offices, even at
+this time I certainly did press the reformations of honor, and truth,
+and integrity among my people; but I never even heard of any such
+reformations being effected amongst them. If there was anything at all
+brought about in this way, it was more than I ever got any account of. I
+am not sensible that all the vehemence with which I urged the virtues
+and the proprieties of social life had the weight of a feather on the
+moral habits of my parishioners. And it was not till I got impressed
+with the utter alienation of the heart in its desires and affections
+from God; it was not till reconciliation to Him became the distinct and
+the prominent object of my ministerial exertions; it was not till I took
+the scriptural way of laying the method of reconciliation before them;
+it was not till the free offer of forgiveness through the blood of
+Christ was urged upon their acceptance, and the Holy Spirit given
+through the channel of Christ's mediatorship to all who ask him, was
+set before them as the unceasing object of their dependence and their
+prayers; it was not, in one word, till the contemplations of my people
+were turned to these great and essential elements in the business of a
+soul providing for its interest with God, and the concerns of its
+eternity, that I ever heard of any of those subordinate reformations
+which I aforetime made the earnest and the zealous, but I am afraid, at
+the same time, ultimate object of my earlier ministrations. To servants,
+whose scrupulous fidelity has now attracted the notice and drawn forth,
+in my hearing, a delightful testimony from your masters, what mischief
+ye would have done, had your zeal for doctrines and sacraments been
+accompanied by the sloth and remissness, and what, in the prevailing
+tone of moral relaxation, is counted the allowable purloining of your
+earlier days! But a sense of your heavenly Master's eye has brought
+another influence to bear upon you; and while you are thus striving to
+adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things, you may, poor as
+you are, reclaim the great ones of the land to the acknowledgment of the
+faith. You have, at least, taught me that to preach Christ, is the only
+effective way of preaching morality in all its branches; and out of your
+humble cottages have I gathered a lesson, which I pray God I may be
+enabled to carry with all its simplicity into a wider theatre, and to
+bring, with all the power of its subduing efficacy upon the vices of a
+more crowded population."
+
+In 1815 Dr. Chalmers was translated to the Tron church of Glasgow, and
+here displayed all the resources of his brilliant and vigorous mind.
+Fired with a generous ardor for the salvation of souls, he poured the
+truth of God upon rapt and crowded congregations. In addition to the
+indefatigable performance of his ministerial duties, he embarked with
+eagerness in plans for the amelioration of the condition of the poor. He
+urged the importance of free school education, and although he had to
+encounter much prejudice, he accomplished a large amount of good for the
+city of Glasgow. His views upon this subject are developed in a large
+work, published at the time, on the "Christian and Civic Condition of
+Large Towns,"--a production somewhat elaborate and diffuse, but
+abounding in important suggestions and earnest appeals.
+
+In 1816 he was invited to preach before the King's Commissioner in the
+High Church of Edinburgh. His discourse on that occasion comprised the
+essence of his astronomical sermons, and was probably "as magnificent a
+display of eloquence as was ever heard from the pulpit." The effect upon
+the audience was immediate and electric. It broke upon them like a
+shower of light from the opening heavens. By means of this discourse his
+fame was perhaps first widely established. From that day crowds followed
+him wherever he went, and, to quote his own words, he began to feel the
+burden "of a popularity of stare, and pressure and animal heat."
+
+In 1819 Dr. Chalmers removed to the new church and parish of St.
+John's, in which place the writer, while a student at Glasgow College,
+had the pleasure of hearing some of his thrilling discourses. He was
+then in the hey-day of life, full of mental and bodily vigor, and
+preached with a rapidity, force, and pathos perfectly overwhelming. He
+continued to devote himself to the interests of the poor, and indeed
+took part in every plan which contemplated the welfare of society.
+
+In 1823 he was elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University
+of St. Andrews, "where he imparted a very different character to this
+course from the mere worldly cast which it too generally assumes in our
+universities." Firmly convinced of the great truths of the Gospel, he
+infused into his prelections the spirit of a profound and earnest
+godliness. While here, he also delivered a separate course of lectures
+on Political Economy, as connected with the chair of Moral Philosophy.
+
+It may be supposed from his frequent changes that Dr. Chalmers was
+either a fickle or an ambitious man. But those best acquainted with the
+circumstances, feel assured that this could not possibly have been the
+case. He neither increased his income nor his popularity by means of
+these changes, and all, we doubt not, were made with a view to greater
+usefulness. In one instance, certainly, he proved his disinterestedness
+by refusing the most wealthy living in the Church of Scotland, the west
+parish of Greenock, which was presented to him by the patron.
+
+He was more than once offered an Edinburgh church, but uniformly
+declined it; as he had long conceived that his widest sphere of
+usefulness was a theological chair. He was accordingly elected to this
+office, in the University of Edinburgh, and soon attracted the attention
+of a large and enthusiastic class of students. His lectures were able
+and brilliant; but this, in our judgment, was not the principal cause of
+his success. It consisted, as we believe, in his own ardor and
+enthusiasm, and the consequent ardor and enthusiasm which he inspired in
+his pupils. "At one time the object of the young men seemed to be to
+evade attendance on the Divinity Lecture; now the difficulty became to
+get a good place to hear their eloquent instructor." By this means much
+good was accomplished for the Church of Scotland, by diffusing amongst
+its ministry a true evangelical spirit. Still we believe that Dr.
+Chalmer's true sphere of labor was the pulpit, and that here alone he
+could exert his widest influence. It is true he preached occasionally
+while occupying the chair of Divinity, and gave a series of lectures on
+Church Establishments, which at that time he earnestly defended. "He
+considered that each established _church_ throughout the land may be
+termed a centre of _emanation_, from which Christianity, with proper
+zeal, be made to move by an aggressive and converting operation, on the
+wide mass of the people; whilst a dissenting _chapel_ he views as a
+centre of _attraction_ only for those who are religiously disposed."
+Recently the Doctor has found his _centre_ of _emanation_ sadly
+curtailed. The union of church and state has proved, even to him, a
+prodigious hindrance and difficulty--a proof this, that theory and fact
+are very different things.
+
+It was while Professor of Theology in Edinburgh, as we believe, that he
+visited London, and attracted so much attention by his sermons and
+lectures. While there, Mr. Canning, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Eldon, the
+Duke of Sussex, with several branches of the Royal Family, whom, as the
+journals remarked, "they were not accustomed to elbow at a place of
+worship," were found anxiously waiting to hear this modern Chrysostom.
+Caught by the irresistible charm of true genius and piety, they listened
+with wonder and delight to his honest and earnest appeals. They felt and
+acknowledged that his sermons, "as far transcended those of the mawkish
+productions to be frequently met with, as does the genius of Milton or
+of Newton surpass that of the common herd of poets and philosophers." It
+was a sublime sight to behold crowds of all ranks and conditions
+listening devoutly to the vehement exhortations of this man of God.
+
+                        "Can earth afford
+    Such genuine state, pre-eminence, so free,
+    As when arrayed in Christ's authority,
+    He from the pulpit lifts his awful hand;
+    Conjures, implores, and labors all he can
+    In resubjecting to Divine command
+    The stubborn spirit of rebellious man?"
+
+    WORDSWORTH.
+
+Dr. Chalmers, as all are aware, is the principal leader of the Free
+Church movement. He has uniformly asserted the supremacy of Christ in
+his own church, and the right of the people to the election of their
+pastors. This being denied and withheld by the legal authorities in
+Scotland, Dr. Chalmers, and the noble host of ministers and churches
+that agreed with him, departed in a body from "the Established Kirk." In
+1843 he relinquished his station as Professor of Theology in the
+University; and since that time has occupied the same office, in
+connection with "the Free Church of Scotland." He is now considerably
+advanced in years. His head is silvered with gray, and much of his
+natural strength is abated. But his mind is yet clear and strong, his
+heart calm and joyful; and we can only hope and pray that he may be
+spared many years to come, as an ornament to his country, and an honor
+to the Church.
+
+It is not our purpose in this place to say much on the subject of the
+published works of Dr. Chalmers. These are quite voluminous. The English
+edition of his works consists of twenty-five duodecimo volumes. Of these
+the two first volumes on _Natural Theology_, the third and fourth on the
+_Evidences of Christianity_, the fifth on _Moral Philosophy_, the sixth,
+_Commercial Discourses_, the seventh, _Astronomical Discourses_, and the
+last four on _Paul's Epistle to the Romans_, are the most interesting
+and valuable.[18] In style and arrangement, in logic and definition,
+they possess some obvious defects, but ever indicate a genius of the
+highest order, a heart burning with love and zeal, a conscience void of
+offence toward God and toward all men; and a devotion, akin to that of
+angels and the spirits of just men made perfect.[19]
+
+[Footnote 18: All these, with the addition of four volumes of Sermons,
+forming the Theological Works of Dr. Chalmers, have been republished, in
+handsome form, by Mr. Carter of New York.]
+
+[Footnote 19: In the introduction to "Vinet's Vital Christianity," I
+have given a more elaborate estimate of the mental peculiarities of Dr.
+Chalmers, in connection with those of Vinet, "the Chalmers of
+Switzerland."
+
+Since the above sketch was written Dr. Chalmers has gone to his rest. He
+died suddenly and unexpectedly on the 31st of May, 1847.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh--Rev. John Brown of
+     Whiteburn--Professor John Brown of Haddington--Rev. Dr.
+     Candlish--Specimen of his Preaching.
+
+
+Before leaving the Edinburgh clergy, I wish to give you some account of
+the Rev. Dr. John Brown, minister of Broughton Place Chapel, and
+Professor of exegetical Theology in the United Secession Church, one of
+the most amiable and accomplished of the Scottish ministers. He is the
+son of the Rev. John Brown of Whiteburn, and the grandson of the Rev.
+John Brown of Haddington, of whom I shall have something to say before
+the close of the chapter.
+
+Dr. Brown is between fifty and sixty years of age, with a fine form and
+expressive countenance. Rather tall and slender, he looks much as one
+might conceive the Apostle John to have done. His countenance is mild
+and dignified, nose slightly aquiline, brow arched and high, eyes dark
+and piercing, and his mouth indicative of mingled firmness and delicacy
+of character. His hair, once dark as the ravens, bears the marks of age
+and thought. In his youth, he was extremely vigorous and active; but he
+is evidently passing into "the sere and yellow leaf."
+
+Dr. Brown is a man of decided talent, though distinguished more for
+clearness and strength of intellect, than for genius and imagination.
+His mind is highly cultivated, but it seldom glows and sparkles. His
+discourses are always interesting and instructive, but not often
+thrilling or overpowering. They never fall below mediocrity, are always
+clear, sensible and useful, but perhaps never rise to the highest heaven
+of invention. In this respect he much resembles the celebrated Dr.
+Wardlaw, though, as a speaker, he is more effective. Dr. Wardlaw
+uniformly reads his sermons, Dr. Brown does not even use notes. He
+preaches probably from memory, as is the case with most of the Scottish
+clergy. They practice "the committing" of their sermons from their
+youth, and acquire astonishing facility in this exercise, on which
+account their preaching is often distinguished as much for its accuracy,
+as its energy and freedom. Dr. Brown appears to great advantage in the
+pulpit. His ease, energy, gracefulness and variety of tone, attitude,
+and expression, are equally striking. Occasionally he hesitates for a
+word, but never fails to find the right one. His language is remarkably
+full and accurate. His topics, too are uniformly well selected, clearly
+divided and thoroughly discussed. If he does not, like Chalmers, awe and
+subdue his audience, he seldom fails to interest and instruct them. His
+style is lucid and vivacious, and well adapted to useful practical
+preaching. A tone of deep and fervid piety pervades the whole, giving
+the impression that a man of God is addressing to you the messages of
+Heaven.
+
+Dr. Brown is orthodox, but liberal in his views and feelings. As a
+theologian he belongs to the school of the moderate Calvinists. In
+connection with the late amiable and accomplished Dr. Balmer of Berwick,
+he was called to account some years ago, for his views of the atonement,
+which he regards not as a restricted, but as a universal blessing, that
+is to say, as a blessing, intended for the benefit not of a class, but
+of the whole world. This gave rise to a war of words, and to much
+useless recrimination in the courts of the United Secession Church,
+which have left the matter pretty much where it was before. Dr. Brown's
+views, however, are becoming prevalent in Scotland.
+
+Dr. Brown has done much to promote the study of Biblical Literature,
+which has received comparatively little attention in Scotland. As
+theologians the Scottish preachers are sound and practical, but with the
+exception of Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, and Dr. McKnight of Edinburgh,
+they have not distinguished themselves for their critical
+investigations. A new spirit begins to prevail among them. The highly
+respectable denomination with which Dr. Brown is connected, is making
+rapid advances in this interesting branch of Biblical study.
+
+Dr. Brown has taken an active part in the discussion of the question
+touching the seperation of Church and State, and has published one or
+two pamphlets upon the subject. In polemics he has always evinced a
+sober and generous spirit.
+
+The family, from which the subject of these remarks is descended, has
+been highly distinguished for its talents and piety. The most of its
+members have been eminent and useful preachers for several generations.
+Dr. Brown's father, the Rev. John Brown, of Whiteburn, was for many
+years one of the most devout and useful ministers of the Secession
+Church. Indeed, he was a perfect patriarch in the rural district, where
+he exercised his ministry. Every one knew him and loved him, as a man of
+singular goodness and apostolic zeal. When a boy the writer used to
+attend his church, and well does he remember his meek and venerable
+countenance, and the thrilling tones of his musical voice. He rode about
+his parish on an old white pony, fat and good-natured like his master;
+and never failed, when he met one of his youthful parishioners, to stop
+and enter into conversation with him. "Weel, my lad," he would say,
+patting my head, "how d'ye do--and how's your faither, and how's your
+mither? And a' the family, are they weel? Gie them my compliments. And
+now you maun be a good boy; dinna forget to say your prayers, and God
+will bless you. Gude day!" So off he would amble with a benignant smile,
+leaving a sweet and holy impression behind him, not forgotten to this
+very day. In preaching, Mr. Brown had a peculiar tone or tune, which at
+times was perfectly thrilling. He frequently used the Scottish dialect
+in the more pathetic and practical parts of his discourses, and by this
+means produced a great impression upon his simple-hearted hearers. His
+style, too, was naturally quaint and terse, and this, set off by his
+benignant look, his varied and tender tones, often made his sermons very
+memorable. Some of his illustrations I remember now, though I ceased to
+hear him preach in my eighth year, having been removed to another part
+of the country. The following are specimens, perhaps not the best that
+might be given, but certainly characteristic. "There are three sorts of
+folks in the world; the butterfly, the wasp, and the bee. The butterfly
+is the gaudy fool, the wasp is the malicious wicked, but the bee is the
+gude Christian!" Imagine this, and the following, uttered with a
+peculiar sing-song and most expressive look and emphasis. "When ye see
+reek coming out at the chimney, ye may conclude there's fire in the
+house; so, when ye hear a man cursing and swearing, ye may be sure that
+the fire of hell is kindled in that man's heart!" "O my friends, hold on
+and persevere in the good ways of the Lord. A few more losses and
+crosses, a few more troubles and trials, and we'll cross the swellings
+o' Jordan, and then, O then, we'll sit and sing thegither on the hills
+of Zion!" "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to
+give you the kingdom. O the heart of our heavenly Father is a heart of
+tenderness and love. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. Why, only
+think on't--ye'r his ain dear bairns; he'll tak you by the han', and
+lead you through the wilderness, till he bring you safe to the Heavenly
+Canaan, the hame of his children, the inheritance of his family!"
+
+Good old man! he has gone, long since, to that blessed "hame" where
+faithful ministers meet their beloved flocks, and "sing together on the
+hills of Zion!"
+
+Mr. Brown had a brother _Ebenezer_, minister of Inverkeithing, who was
+still more distinguished as a preacher. In his boyhood he was "a great
+rogue," and used to teaze his "douce" and pious brother John, and
+occasion a good deal of trouble to his worthy father. But he was
+converted when a young man, and became an exceedingly devout and
+eloquent preacher. I had the pleasure of hearing him preach once in the
+open air, at a sacramental occasion connected with his brother's
+congregation in Whiteburn, but have a very indistinct recollection of
+the discourse. But I well remember his earnest look, and the thrilling
+tones of his powerful voice. He was of small stature, but spoke with
+great force and vehemence, and occasionally with the same sing-song
+voice, common among the old Scottish preachers. The congregation was
+rapt: a solemn stillness pervaded the atmosphere all around, so that one
+could hear the chirpings of the grasshopper, and the song of the bird in
+the neighboring woods, during the pauses of his long and earnest
+sentences.
+
+The father of John Brown of Whiteburn, and grandfather of Dr. John Brown
+of Edinburgh, was the celebrated professor John Brown, author of the
+Self-Interpreting Bible, Exposition of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism,
+and other works; and teacher of Theology in the United Secession Church.
+He was an extraordinary man. When a poor shepherd boy, he conceived the
+idea of learning Latin and Greek, and having procured a few old books,
+actually accomplished the task, while tending his cattle on the hills.
+So successful was he, that some of the old and superstitious people in
+the neighborhood concluded that he must have been assisted by "the evil
+spirit." On one occasion he went to Edinburgh, plaided and barefoot,
+walked into a bookseller's shop, and asked for a Greek Testament. "What
+are you going to do with a Greek Testament?" said the bookseller. "Read
+it," was the prompt reply. "Read it!" exclaimed the sceptical
+bookseller, with a smile; "ye may have it for nothing if ye'll read it."
+Taking the book, he quietly read off a few verses, and gave the
+translation; on which he was permitted to carry off the Greek Testament
+in triumph.
+
+Professor Brown was an eminently holy man. He was equally distinguished
+for his simplicity and dignity of character. His preaching was much
+admired by old and judicious persons. On one occasion, when he and
+others were assisting a brother minister in services preparatory to the
+celebration of the Lord's Supper, which services in Scotland usually
+take place on the last days of the week preceding the "sacramental
+sabbath," and are frequently held in the open air, a couple of gay young
+men had been out hunting, and on their return home drew near to the
+large congregation who were listening at that moment to the preaching of
+an eloquent but somewhat showy divine. After standing a few moments, the
+one said to the other, "Did you ever hear such preaching as that?"
+"No," he replied with an oath, "but he don't believe a word of it!"
+After this preacher had closed, there stood up, in the "tent," (a
+temporary pulpit erected in the open air for the accommodation of the
+ministers,) an old, humble looking man, who announced his text in a
+trembling voice, as if he were afraid to speak in God's name. He went
+on, and became more and more interesting, more and more impressive. The
+young men were awed, and listened with reverent attention to the close,
+when the one, turning to the other, said, "And what d'ye think of that?"
+"Think of it," he replied, "I don't know what to think. Why, didn't you
+see how every now and then he turned round in the tent, as if Jesus
+Christ were behind him, and he was asking, 'Lord, what shall I say
+next?'" This preacher was John Brown, the secret of whose pulpit
+eloquence was, the inspiration of an humble and contrite heart, touched
+by the finger of the Almighty; an eloquence as far transcending that of
+the mere orator as the divine and heavenly transcends the human and
+earthly. This too, was the eloquence of the early Scottish
+preachers,--of Knox and Rutherford, of Guthrie and Erskine, of Cameron
+and Boston. This fired the hearts of the people with a holy and
+all-conquering zeal; this shed a glory over the death of the martyrs,
+and diffused among their descendants the love of "the Covenant" and the
+love of God. May this ever continue to be the eloquence not only of the
+Church in Scotland but of the Church throughout the world!
+
+There is one other preacher in Edinburgh, of whom it would be desirable
+to give a full-length portrait. I refer to Dr. Candlish, certainly one
+of the most popular and effective preachers in the Free Church of
+Scotland. But I am not in possession of the materials for such a
+portrait, having heard him preach only once, and being imperfectly
+acquainted with the events of his life. He is probably about forty-five
+years of age, rather short of stature, and not particularly imposing or
+prepossessing in appearance. His face is rather long and sallow, but set
+off by an immense forehead, dark bushy hair, and a pair of fine black
+eyes. He stands bolt upright in the pulpit, and speaks in a clear,
+strong, deliberate, yet rapid voice. Judging from his published
+discourses, and the single specimen which I heard, I should think him
+destitute of pathetic power. He is evidently most at home in the regions
+of ratiocination. His language is copious, energetic, and harmonious. In
+clearness and finish it is decidedly superior to that of Chalmers, and
+little inferior to Robert Hall's. It possesses a stateliness, combined
+with a bounding energy, which render it very effective. His method is
+remarkably lucid, and his reasoning strong and convincing. In fancy, in
+touching pathos, in overwhelming energy, in the vivid lightning flashes
+of genius, he is greatly inferior to Chalmers; but in clearness of
+definition, in compactness and purity of style, in strength of logic,
+and in completeness of arrangement and finish, he must be acknowledged
+superior. His discourses are highly evangelical. They abound in clear
+and instructive statements, and defences of the cardinal truths of the
+Gospel. If deficient, it is in directness and pungency of appeal, in
+holy pathos, in solemn and subduing unction.
+
+As a debater, Dr. Candlish stands pre-eminent. He may not possess the
+ponderous strength of Cunningham, the overpowering energy of Chalmers,
+the quick and versatile humor of Guthrie, or the eloquent polish of
+Buchanan. But he possesses, in unusual combination, clearness of method,
+logical acumen, force and beauty of style, and an easy, graceful,
+commanding elocution. When Chalmers dies, we predict that Candlish will
+be the leader in the courts of the Free Church of Scotland.
+
+Dr. Candlish has published quite a number of occasional sermons, and a
+volume of lectures on the record of the Creation in the book of Genesis.
+These lectures are interesting and instructive, but to our taste, they
+are too diffuse and elaborate, and not sufficiently critical, or rather
+exegetical and compact. They say much about a thing, without actually
+saying the thing itself. But this is rather the fault of their design or
+plan, than of their execution, which as a whole indicates a high degree
+of talent. They contain many fine passages, and valuable suggestions.
+
+Among his published discourses, one of the best is on the "Incompetency
+of Reason, and the Fitness of Revelation;" from Acts xvii. 23. "Whom
+therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." The following
+passage from that discourse will give a fair idea of his power. Speaking
+of the mournful condition of those who delight to investigate the works
+of God, but have never found God himself, he says:--"They may feel a
+proud and high satisfaction, arising from the importance of the
+knowledge acquired in the successful employment of their powers and
+faculties of mind. But brethren, they scarcely meet, in all the various
+and diversified tracks which they take, and in all the endless varieties
+of objects which encounter their judgments--they scarcely ever meet
+their God; they scarcely ever find him in the way; they scarcely ever
+seek him. In the wondrous elements, the richly scattered treasures of
+power, and wisdom and goodness, through which they make their progress,
+they cannot shut their eyes to the presence of God; they must
+acknowledge a God: but it is God with attributes of their own choosing,
+not the God of Scripture,--the God of nature, not the God of justice.
+_Him_ they exclude from their view; _Him_ they do not like to retain in
+their thoughts; and in the circumstances in which they cultivate the
+idea of a God, if mingling in their researches at all, they strip their
+ideas of all which might remind them of their unsettled controversy with
+Him. Conceive of a man in such a state, so blind as to have exercised
+his powers of discovery, in the full blaze of all the glory and the
+terrible majesty of a just God and a Saviour, without really finding
+him, condemned to carry on his future work of discovery with a clear and
+startling apprehension of all the moral attributes of God--his
+holiness,--his justice,--his truth--all as manifested in the cross of
+Christ, and all still carried on in a carnal mind and a self-condemned
+heart. Where now will be the joy of his lofty inquiries? Where now the
+triumph of his lofty powers of knowledge? Every object he contemplates
+now, is connected with the idea of a righteous God; every subject he can
+examine now, is fraught with the presence of a righteous God; every new
+ray of light that meets his eye, reveals to him a righteous God; every
+sound carries to his ear the name of God, repeated by a thousand echoes.
+He can make no experiment now that will not show him more of the wonders
+and terrors of God. He can look at nothing, he can think of nothing,
+that does not speak to him of God, and remind him of his justice: and
+all the bold traces of his profound discoveries regarding nature, now do
+but suggest reminiscences of nature's God as a God of judgment; and so
+the very faculty which was ever his pride and admiration,--the capacity
+of deep reflection and enlightened inquiry, does but add new sting and
+torture to his reprobate mind, by suggesting always, everywhere, and in
+all things, new images and representations of that awful, that Almighty
+Being, whom he has chosen to make his foe."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     Ride into the Country--The Skylark--Poems on the Skylark by Shelley
+     and the 'Ettrick Shepherd'--Newhall--'The Gentle
+     Shepherd'--Localities and Outlines of the Story--Its Popularity in
+     Scotland.
+
+
+'Tis a beautiful morning in early June. The sun is peeping over Arthur's
+Seat, and glancing from the turrets of the old Castle. The carriage is
+ready, and Sandy the driver is cracking his whip with impatience. So,
+take your place, and let us be off. Passing 'Bruntsfield Links' we
+plunge into the very heart of the country, so rich and varied, with park
+and woodland scenery, handsome villas, and sweet acclivities. Yonder is
+Merchiston Castle, the birth-place of the celebrated Napier, the
+inventor of Logarithms. A little further on, we reach the smiling
+village of Morningside, and pass some pretty country residences, with
+pleasant grounds and picturesque views. We enter a narrow and thickly
+wooded dell, through which tinkles a small rivulet, called the Braid
+Burn. At the bottom we come to the Braid Hermitage, as sweet a sylvan
+retreat as ever greeted the eye of the rural wanderer. Those rocky
+heights above us are the Braid Hills, from which can be enjoyed some of
+the most splendid views in Scotland. Leaving the carriage a few minutes
+we ascend that lofty eminence, and gaze, with delight upon the vast and
+beautiful landscape, including the city of Edinburgh, the Firth of
+Forth, with its "emerald islands," and the winding shores of Fife in the
+distance. Blackford hill, a little to the north of us is the spot
+mentioned in "Marmion:"
+
+    "Still on the spot Lord Marmion stay'd,
+    For fairer scene he ne'er survey'd,
+    When sated with the martial show
+    That peopled all the plains below,
+    The wandering eye could o'er it go,
+    And mark the distant city glow
+      With gloomy splendor red;
+    For on the smoke wreaths, huge and slow,
+    That round her sable turrets flow,
+      The morning beams were shed,
+    And tinged them with a lustre proud,
+    Like that which streaks a thunder cloud;
+    Such dusky grandeur clothed the height,
+    Where the huge castle holds its state,
+      And all the steep slope down,
+    Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky,
+    Piled deep and massy, close and high,
+      Mine own romantic town!
+
+    But northward far with purer blaze
+    On Ochil mountains fell the rays,
+    And as each heathy top they kiss'd,
+    It gleamed a purple amethyst.
+    Yonder the shores of Fife you saw;
+    Here Preston Bay, and Berwick-Law,
+      And broad between them roll'd
+    The gallant Firth the eye might note,
+    Whose islands on its bosom float,
+      Like emeralds chased in gold."
+
+Descending from the hill we resume our journey, musing on the days of
+old, when "shrill fife and martial drum" awakened the echoes of these
+peaceful vales, now resounding with the melody of birds. How delightful
+the gushing music of those sky-larks, which descends upon us from
+"heaven's gates," like a shower of "embodied gladness." Why, it seems as
+if a hundred of them were soaring "i' the lift," and singing with a
+joyous energy, akin to that of the blessed spirits in heaven. To me, the
+lark is the noblest of all birds, the most pure and spirit-like of all
+aerial songsters. In Scotland, too, she seems to sing the sweetest and
+strongest. Others may praise the nightingale, if they please, and my own
+heart has often thrilled, to hear, at the "witching time of night," her
+wild and melancholy strain from some English copsewood, or Italian
+grove. But nothing so rich and beautiful, so spirit-like and divine ever
+greeted my ear as the glad singing of the heaven-aspiring lark. It
+seemed as if the very spirit of song had taken wings, and were ascending
+to God, in a flood of melody. But listen to the following strains
+written by Shelley under the inspiration of the sky-lark's song:
+
+          Hail to thee, blithe spirit,
+            Bird thou never wert,
+          That from heaven or near it
+            Pourest thy full heart
+    In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
+
+          Higher still and higher
+            From the earth thou springest,
+          Like a cloud of fire!
+            The blue deep thou wingest,
+    And singing, still dost soar; and soaring, ever singest.
+
+          In the golden lightning
+            Of the sunken sun,
+          O'er which clouds are brightening,
+            Thou dost float and run;
+    Like an embodied joy, whose race has just begun.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+          All the earth and air
+            With thy voice is loud,
+          As, when night is bare
+            From one lonely cloud,
+    The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed.
+
+          What thou art, we know not.
+            What is most like thee?
+          From rainbow clouds there flow not
+            Drops so bright to see,
+    As from thy presence showers a rain of melody
+
+          Like a poet hidden
+            In the light of thought,
+          Singing hymns unbidden
+            Till the world is wrought
+    To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+          Sound of vernal showers
+            On the twinkling grass,
+          Rain awakened flowers,
+            All that ever was
+    Joyous and fresh and clear thy music doth surpass.
+
+          Teach me, sprite or bird,
+            What sweet thoughts are thine:
+          I have never heard
+            Praise of love or wine
+    That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
+
+          Chorus hymeneal
+            Or triumphant chaunt,
+          Match'd with thine would be all
+            But an empty vaunt--
+    A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
+
+          What objects are the fountains
+            Of thy happy strain?
+          What fields or waves or mountains?
+            What shapes of sky or plain?
+    What love of thine own kind? What ignorance of pain?
+
+          With thy clear keen joyance
+            Languor cannot be:
+          Shadow of annoyance
+            Never came near thee:
+    Thou lovest, but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.
+
+          Waking or asleep
+            Thou of death must deem,
+          Things more true and deep
+            Than we mortals dream,
+    Or how could thy note flow in such a crystal stream?
+
+          We look before and after,
+            And pine for what is not;
+          Our sincerest laughter,
+            With some pain is fraught:
+    Our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought.
+
+          Better than all measures
+            Of delightful sound,
+          Better than all treasures
+            That in books are found,
+    Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
+
+          Teach me half the gladness,
+            That thy brain must know;
+          Such harmonious madness
+            From my lips would flow,
+    The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
+
+Inferior to this, but still very beautiful, more natural, and more
+especially Scottish, are the following lines to the Skylark by the
+"Ettrick Shepherd:"
+
+        Bird of the wilderness,
+        Blithesome and cumberless,
+    Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
+        Emblem of happiness,
+        Blest is thy dwelling place--
+    O to abide in the desert with thee!
+        Wild is thy lay and loud,
+        Far in the downy cloud,
+    Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
+        Where on thy dewy wing,
+        Where art thou journeying?
+    Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.
+
+        O'er fell and fountain sheen,
+        O'er moor and mountain green,
+    O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,
+        Over the cloudlet dim,
+        Over the rainbow's rim,
+    Musical cherub, soar singing away!
+        Then when the gloaming comes
+        Low in the heather blooms,
+    Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
+        Emblem of happiness,
+        Blest is thy dwelling place--
+    O to abide in the desert with thee!
+
+Filled with these pleasant images, we pursue our journey, and wind along
+the edge of the Pentland Hills, with their thrilling memories of
+"Auld-lang-syne;" pass the "bonnie braes" of Woodhouselee, and reach old
+Glencorse Church, "bosomed high 'mong tufted trees;" cross "a bonnie
+burn," called "Logan Water," and get a glimpse of "House of Muir," in
+the vicinity of which the old Scottish Covenanters met with a terrible
+slaughter, from General Dalzell of Binns, the "bluidy Dalzell," as the
+Scots call him to this day. Passing through the humble village of Silver
+Burn, we reach Newhall, once the residence of Dr. Pennycuick, a poet
+and an antiquary, and subsequently of the Forbes family highly
+distinguished for their talents and virtues. Disposing of our carriage,
+let us ramble, at our "own sweet will," amid those beautiful grounds.
+The mansion of Newhall, once a battlemented castle of the Crichtoun
+family, stands on the left bank of the North Esk, within a curvature of
+the stream, under the shadow of the Pentland Hills. On either side is a
+deep ravine, terminating in the glen of the Esk, one of the most
+romantic spots in Scotland. Passing round on the eastern side, we gaze
+down into the ravine, overhung by the remains of a small round tower,
+and densely shaded with tangled trees. A dark rill gurgles at the
+bottom, here and there leaping into beautiful cascades, and flinging its
+glittering spray among the dark woods. Passing to the other side, we
+come to what was formerly the site of an old prison and chapel,
+encircled by a pleasant walk. The ravine beneath is filled with trees
+and shrubbery, but has no stream. From this point the eye glances up
+through the wooded glen, echoing with the songs of the mavis and the
+linnet, and over to a mineral well, sheltered by copsewood and pines.
+
+But Newhall, and the grounds around it, derive their chief interest from
+their connection with the well-known pastoral poem of "Allan Ramsay."
+The very air seems redolent with the poetry of "The Gentle Shepherd."
+Leaving the house, we reach a little "haugh," or low sheltered spot,
+where the Esk and the rivulets from the Harbour Craig mingle their
+waters. At the side of the stream are some romantic gray crags, directly
+fronting the south, and looking up a turn in the glen. These, adorned
+with green birches, shrubs, and copsewood, and shading the limpid stream
+which makes a curve, and then glides underneath their overhanging
+cliffs, form "a shady bield," completely protected from observation. In
+this spot is laid the first act of "The Gentle Shepherd."
+
+    "Beneath the south side of a craggy field,
+    Where crystal springs the halesome water yield,
+    Twa youthful shepherds on the gowans lay,
+    Tenting their flocks ae bonny morn of May."
+
+Ascending the vale, and just behind the house, we come to a considerable
+holm or green, with the babbling burn, now gentler in its movement,
+winding sweetly among the white pebbles. At the head of this quiet
+retreat, on the edge of the burn, are the ruins of an ancient
+washing-house, protected by an aged thorn. It was here that the "twa
+lasses" proposed to wash their "claes," unseen by their lovers.
+
+    "A flowery howm between twa verdant braes,
+    Where lasses use to wash and spread their claes,
+    A trotting burnie wimpling through the ground;
+    Its channel pebbles shining smooth and round."
+
+A little further up the burn we come to a hollow, a little beyond what
+is called "Mary's Bower," where the Esk divides it in the middle, and
+forms a linn or cascade, called the "How Burn;" a small enclosure above
+is called the "Braehead Park;" and this hollow beneath the cascade with
+its bathing pool and little green, its rocks and birches, its wild
+shrubs and natural flowers, and general air of sequestered and romantic
+beauty, in every respect corresponds with the poet's exquisite
+description of the spot called "Habbie's Howe."
+
+    "Gae farer up the burn to Habbie's Howe,
+    Where a' the sweets o' spring and summer grow,
+    There, 'tween twa birks out ower a little linn,
+    The water fa's and mak's a singand din;[20]
+    A pule breast deep, beneath as clear as glass,
+    Kisses wi' easy whirls the bordering grass."
+
+[Footnote 20: Singing noise.]
+
+Ascending yet further, at a place called the "Carlops," (a contraction
+of "Carline's Loups," so called, in consequence of a witch or carline
+having been seen leaping, at night, from one rock to another,) two tall
+rocks shoot up on either side. Near this, by the side of that old ash
+tree, stood Mause's Cottage.
+
+    "The open field, a cottage in a glen,
+    An auld wife spinning at the sunny end,
+    At a sma' distance, by a blasted tree,
+    Wi faulded arms and half-raised look, ye see
+                              Bauldy his lane!"[21]
+
+    "A green kail-yard; a little fount,
+      Where water poplin springs;
+    There sits a wife[22] wi' wrinkled front,
+      An' yet she spins and sings."
+
+[Footnote 21: Alone.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Old woman.]
+
+With these localities in our mind, let us sit down on this "gowan'd
+brae," and run over the story of "The Gentle Shepherd," one of the most
+graphic pictures of Scottish manners, and one of the sweetest pastorals
+in any language.
+
+Patie or Patrick, a humble shepherd-lad, born and bred in the region we
+have entered, about the middle of the seventeenth century, was a
+handsome fellow, and remarkably distinguished for his good temper and
+rustic accomplishments. He was of a gay-hearted cheerful disposition,
+and made the woods and hills ring again with his mirthful songs.
+Moreover, he was sensible and well-informed. His mind, indeed, was
+superior to his station; still he was contented and happy.
+
+Symon Scott, a worthy man and a wealthy farmer, with whom Patie had
+lived from his childhood, was a tenant of Sir William Preston's, owner
+of the neighboring lands, who, to save his head, he having taken part
+with the royalists, had fled his native country, and was living abroad,
+no one knew where.
+
+Patie loved Peggy Forsyth, a "neebor lassie," of excellent character and
+great beauty, who fully requited his attachment. This girl was the
+reputed niece of Glaude Anderson, a comfortable farmer, and a tenant of
+Sir William's. He had found her one summer morning, at his door,
+carefully wrapped in swaddling clothes. Being a warm-hearted man, he had
+adopted the little stranger as his own relative.
+
+The interviews and conversations of the lovers, and their friends, Roger
+and Jenny, who after some embarrassments from Jenny's independence, are
+found to be warmly attached to each other are related by the dramatist
+with great beauty and simplicity. The reader sees them at early morn, or
+amid the shadows of the gloaming, wandering by the "bonnie burnie's
+side," and with hearts of innocence, giving themselves up to the full
+enjoyment of nature's beauties and their own sweet affections. Glaude
+and Symon are fine specimens of the honest and hospitable farmers of
+Scotland. The house of the former is such as one often sees in the rural
+districts:
+
+    "A snug thack[23] house, before the door a green,
+    Hens on the midden, ducks in dubs[24] are seen.
+    On this side stands a barn, on that a byre:[25]
+    A peat stack joins, an' forms a rural square.
+    The house is Glaud's;--there you may see him lean,
+    And to his divot[26] seat invites his frien."
+
+[Footnote 23: Thatch.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Pools.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Barn for the cows.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Turf.]
+
+The character and fate of Bauldy are graphically described. He is a
+wealthy but vulgar minded farmer, attached to Peggy, and resolved, if
+possible, to withdraw her affections from Patie and secure them for
+himself. For this purpose he has recourse to Mause, a sensible and
+worthy old woman, but reputed a witch, from her superiority to the
+common people. Mause agrees to assist him, but secretly resolves to
+expose his ignorance and punish his effrontery. The following is
+Bauldy's account of the matter:
+
+                "Ah! Sir, the witch ca'd Mause,
+    That wins aboon the mill amang the haws,
+    First promised that she'd help me wi' her art,
+    To gain a bonnie thrawart[27] lassie's heart.
+    As she had trysted, I met wi' 'er this night;
+    But may nae frien o' mine get such a fright!
+    For the curst hag, instead of doing me guid,
+    (The very thocht o'ts like to freeze my bluid!)
+    Raised up a ghaist, or deil, I kenna whilk,
+    Like a dead corse, in sheet as white as milk;
+    Black hands it had, and face as wan as death;
+    Upon me fast the witch and it fell baith,
+    And got me down; while I like a great fool
+    Was 'laboured[28] as I used to be at school:
+    My heart out o' its hool[29] was like to loup,
+    I pithless[30] grew wi' fear, an' had nae houp,
+    Till wi' an elritch laugh, they vanished quite;
+    Syne I, hauf dead wi' anger, fear and spite,
+    Crap up, and fled straught frae them."
+
+[Footnote 27: Wayward.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Belabored.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Place or socket.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Powerless.]
+
+Tidings had arrived that Sir William, who had now been absent several
+years, might be expected home, as the king was restored and the royal
+party was now predominant.
+
+This tidings created the liveliest sensations of joy among Sir William's
+tenantry, as he was much beloved for his kindness and generosity of
+disposition. Old Symon Scott and Glaude Anderson were especially
+delighted, and resolved, each of them, to celebrate the event with a
+feast. Symon however had already begun to make preparations for a
+banquet, to which he invited Glaude and all the old and young people of
+the neighborhood:
+
+    "It's Symon's house, please to step in,
+      And vissy't[31] round and round,
+    There's nought superfluous to gie pain,
+      Or costly to be found.
+    Yet a' is clean--a clear peat ingle[32]
+      Glances amidst the floor[33];
+    The green horn spoons, beech luggies[34] mingle
+      On skelfs[35] foregainst the door.
+    While the young brood sport on the green,
+      The auld anes think it best,
+    Wi' the brown cow[36] to clear their een
+      Snuff, crack and tak their rest."
+
+[Footnote 31: Examine it.]
+
+[Footnote 32: A fire of peats.]
+
+[Footnote 33: In Scotland the old peasant houses have the fire in their
+centre.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Cups of beech wood.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Shelves opposite the door.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Brown ale.]
+
+While they are engaged Sir William appears among the young people on the
+green, in the garb of a fortune teller. Jenny runs into the house and
+tells her father, who, particularly good-natured and hospitable at such
+an hour, replies:--
+
+    "Gae bring him in; we'll hear what he can say,
+    Nane shall gae hungry by my house the day.      [_Exit Jenny._
+    But for his telling fortunes, troth I fear
+    He kens nae mair o' that than my grey mare.
+
+    _Glaud._--Spae men![37] the truth o' a' their saws I doubt,
+    For greater lears never ran thereout.
+
+    [_Jenny returns bringing in Sir William;--with them Patie._
+
+    _Symon._--Ye're welcome honest carle, here take a seat.
+
+    _Sir W._--I gie ye thanks, gudeman, I'se be no blate.[38]
+
+    _Glaud._--Come, t'ye[39] frien. How far came ye the day?
+
+    _Sir W._--I pledge ye, neibour, e'en but little way.
+
+    _Symon._--Ye're welcome here to stay a' night wi' me.
+    And tak sic bed and board as we can gie.
+
+    _Sir W._--That's kind unsought.--Weel gin[40] ye hae a bairn.
+    That ye like weel, an wad his fortune learn,
+    I shall employ the farthest o' my skill,
+    To spae it faithfully, be't good or ill.
+
+    _Symon_ (_pointing to Patie_).--Only that lad: alake! I hae nae mae
+    Either to mak me joyfu' now or wae.
+
+    _Sir W._--Young man, let's see your hand; what gars[41] ye sneer?
+
+    _Patie._--Because your skill's but little worth, I fear.
+
+    _Sir W._--Ye cut before the point: but, Billy, bide,
+    I'll wager there's a mouse-mark on your side.
+
+[Footnote 37: Fortune-tellers.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Bashful.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Your health.]
+
+[Footnote 40: If.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Makes.]
+
+This being the case, all are astonished at the old man's knowledge, who
+goes on to predict that Patie, one of these days, will be a rich laird.
+
+    _Elspa._--Hear, ye gudeman, what think ye now?
+
+    _Symon._--I dinna ken! Strange auld man, what art thou?
+    Fair fa[42] your heart, it's guid to bode o' wealth
+    Come, turn the timmer to laird Patie's health.
+
+    (_Patie's health goes round._)
+
+[Footnote 42: Good befall.]
+
+Old Symon, by the request of the spaeman, goes out to meet him, and they
+have much conversation together. At length--
+
+    "Sir William drops his masking beard,
+      Symon transported sees
+    The welcome knight, wi' fond regard,
+      An' grasps him round the knees."
+
+They converse concerning Patie, who is actually Sir William's son and
+heir, and agree to make known his true position. This is accordingly
+done, and produces great excitement among the parties. Patie is glad and
+sorrowful at the same time, and Peggy sees nothing in it but
+disappointment and grief. A gulf has intervened between her and Patie,
+and she feels that she must give him up for ever. But Patie assures her
+of his constant affection, and the "puir thing" absolutely "greets for
+joy to hear his words sae kind."
+
+Next morning--
+
+    "While Peggy laces up her bosom fair
+    Wi' a blue snood, Jenny binds up her hair;
+    Glaud by his morning ingle, taks a beek,[43]
+    The rising sun shines motty[44] thro' the reek,[45]
+    A pipe his mouth, the lasses please his een,
+    An' now and then his joke must intervene."
+
+[Footnote 43: A glass of beer.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Mottled.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Smoke.]
+
+But all parties are sent for to Symon's house--
+
+    "To hear and help to redd[46] some odd debate
+    'Tween Mause and Bauldy, 'bout some witchcraft spell,
+    At Symon's house: the knight sits judge himsell."
+
+[Footnote 46: Clear up, unravel.]
+
+All then are assembled--
+
+    "Sir William fills the twa armed chair,
+      While Symon, Roger, Glaud, and Mause,
+    Attend, and wi' loud laughter hear
+      Daft Bauldy bluntly plead his cause:
+    For now it's tell'd him that the taz[47]
+      Was handled by revengeful Madge,
+    Because he brak guid breeding's laws,
+      And wi' his nonsense raised their rage.
+
+[Footnote 47: _Birch_ or strap.]
+
+Bauldy, however, confesses his wrong, and adds--
+
+                                    "But I had best
+    Haud in my tongue, for yonder comes the _ghaist_[48]
+    An' the young bonny _witch_, whose rosy cheek
+    Sent me, without my wit, the de'il to seek."
+
+    _Sir William_ (_looking at Peggy_).
+    --Whose daughter's she that wears the aurora gown,
+    With face so fair, and locks o' lovely brown?
+    How sparkling are her eyes? What's this I find,
+    The girl brings all my sister to my mind.
+    Such were the features once adorned a face,
+    Which death so soon deprived of sweetest grace.
+    Is this your daughter Glaud?
+
+    _Glaud._--Sir, she's my niece,
+    An' yet she's not, but I shoud haud my peace.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--This is a contradiction. What d' ye mean?
+    She is, and is not! pray thee, Glaud, explain.
+
+    _Glaud._--Because I doubt, if I shou'd mak' appear,
+    What I hae kept a secret thirteen year--
+
+    _Mause._--You may reveal what I can fully clear.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--Speak soon; I'm all impatience.
+
+    _Patie._--Sae am I!
+    For much I hope, an' hardly yet ken why.
+
+    _Glaud._--Then, since my master orders, I obey.
+    This _bonny foundling_, ae' clear morn o' May,
+    Close by the lea-side o' my door I found,
+    A' sweet an' clean an' carefully hapt[49] 'round,
+    In infant weeds, o' rich and gentle make.
+    What could they be, thought I, did thee forsake?
+    Wha, worse than brutes, cou'd leave exposed to air
+    Sae much o' innocence sae sweetly fair,
+    Sae helpless young? for she appeared to me
+    Only about twa towmands[50] auld to be.
+    I took her in my arms; the bairnie smiled,
+    Wi' sic a look, wad mak a savage mild.
+    I hid the story: she has pass'd sinsyne[51]
+    As a poor orphan, an' a niece o' mine:
+    Nor do I rue my care about the wean,
+    For she's weel worth the pains that I hae tane.
+    Ye see she's bonny; I can swear she's guid,
+    An' am right sure she's come o' gentle bluid,
+    O' wham I kenna.[52] Naething I ken mair,
+    Than what I to your honor now declare.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--This tale seems strange!
+
+    _Patie._--The tale delights my ear!
+
+    _Sir Wil._--Command your joys, young man, till truth appear.
+
+    _Mause._--That be my task. Now sir, bid a' be hush;
+    Peggy may smile; thou hast nae cause to blush.
+    Lang hae I wish'd to see this happy day,
+    That I may safely to the truth gi'e way;
+    That I may now Sir William Worthy name,
+    The best and nearest friend that she can claim:
+    He saw 't at first, an' wi' quick eye did trace
+    His sister's beauty in her daughter's face.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--Old woman, do not rave,--prove what you say,
+    It's dangerous in affairs like this to play.
+
+    _Patie._--What reason, Sir, can an auld woman have
+    To tell a lie when she's sae near her grave?
+    But how or why, it should be truth I grant
+    I every thing that looks like reason want.
+
+    _Omnes._--The story's odd! we wish we heard it out.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--Make haste, good woman, and resolve each doubt.
+
+          [_Mause goes forward, leading Peggy to Sir William._]
+
+    _Mause._--Sir, view me weel; has fifteen years sae plow'd
+    A wrinkled face that you hae often viewed,
+    That here I as an unknown stranger stand.
+    Wha nursed her mother that now hauds my hand?
+    Yet stronger proofs I'll gie, if you demand.
+
+    _Sir Wil._--Ha! honest nurse, where were my eyes before?
+    I know thy faithfulness, and need no more;
+    Yet from the lab'rinth to lead out my mind,
+    Say, to expose her, who was so unkind?
+
+          [_Sir William embraces Peggy and makes her sit by him._]
+
+    Yes surely thou'rt my niece; truth must prevail,
+    But no more words till Mause relates the tale."
+
+[Footnote 48: Ghost.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Covered.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Two years.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Since then.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Know not.]
+
+Mause then relates how Peggy's life being threatened by a wicked aunt,
+who wished to take possession of her estate, she herself had stolen her
+away, in the dead of night, and travelled with her some fifty miles, and
+left her at Glaud's door; that she had taken a cottage in the vicinity,
+and had watched over the child ever since. All of course are delighted
+with this discovery. The betrothment of Patie and Peggy is sanctioned by
+Sir William; and even Bauldy
+
+                  "the bewitch'd, has quite forgot
+    Fell Madge's taz, and pawky Madge's plot,"
+
+and exclaims:
+
+    "I'm friends wi' Mause,--wi' very Madge I'm greed,
+    Although they skelpit[53] me when woodly flied:[54]
+    I'm now fu' blithe, an' frankly can forgive
+    To join and sing, 'Lang may Sir William live.'"
+
+[Footnote 53: Whipt.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Sorely frightened.]
+
+Sir William bestows upon "faithful Symon," and "kind Glaud," and upon
+their heirs, "in endless fee," their "mailens," or farms, and takes old
+Mause into his family, in peace
+
+                            "to close her days,
+    With naught to do but sing her Maker's praise."
+
+Glaud consents to give Jenny to Roger, who says;
+
+    "I ne'er was guid o' speaking a' my days,
+    Or ever loo'd to make o'er great a fraise;[55]
+    But for my master, father, an' my wife,
+    I will employ the cares o' a' my life."
+
+[Footnote 55: Fuss or perhaps flattering speech.]
+
+To which, Sir William adds, summing up the whole:
+
+    "My friends I'm satisfied you'll all behave,
+    Each in his station as I'd wish or crave.
+    Be ever virtuous, soon or late you'll find
+    Reward and satisfaction to your mind.
+    The maze o' life sometimes looks dark and wild;
+    And oft when hopes are highest, we're beguiled.
+    Oft when we stand on brinks of dark despair,
+    Some happy turn, with joy, dispels our care."
+
+Thus ends the "Gentle Shepherd," which with all its faults, possesses an
+inimitable charm. In Scotland it is a sort of household poem. Every one,
+young and old, reads it with delight. Indeed, it is probably the most
+popular pastoral drama ever written. The common people, in the rural
+districts of Scotland, know it by heart. The Bible, the Pilgrim's
+Progress, Robinson Crusoe and "the Gentle Shepherd" are read by them a
+thousand times more than any other book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+     Biographical Sketch of Allan Ramsay--Lasswade--Ramble along the
+     banks of the North Esk--Glenesk--A Character--Anecdote of Sir W.
+     Scott--Hawthornden--Drummond the Poet--His Character and
+     Genius--Sonnets--Chapel and Castle of Roslin--Barons of
+     Roslin--Ballad of Rosabelle--Hunting Match between Robert Bruce and
+     Sir William St. Clair.
+
+
+Leaving Habbie's Howe, we will let Sandy drive us along the banks of the
+river, through Auchindinny, Roslin and Hawthornden, to the pretty
+village of Lasswade, where we will spend the night. Sandy can take the
+carriage back to Edinburgh, and to-morrow we will ramble on foot through
+the classic shades of Roslin and Hawthornden, visit Dalkeith and some
+other places, and return to Edinburgh by the railway. In the meantime I
+will give you some account of Allan Ramsay.
+
+Allan was born on the 15th of October, 1686, in Crawford Muir,
+Lanarkshire, and died in the city of Edinburgh, in the year 1784. He was
+at first a wigmaker, and afterwards a bookseller. In 1726 he kept a
+little bookstore opposite Niddry's Wynd in the city of Edinburgh, whence
+he removed to another, somewhat more commodious at the east end of the
+Luckenbooths, having exchanged his old sign of Mercury for the heads of
+Ben Jonson and Drummond of Hawthornden, whom he greatly admired. His
+early education was limited. He attended the village school at
+Leadhills, where, as he himself informs us, he acquired just learning
+enough to read Horace "faintly in the original." Of a vigorous
+constitution, and a cheerful temper, he spent his time happily in the
+country, till his fifteenth year, though his lot seems to have been a
+hard one.
+
+    "Wading through glens wi' chorking feet,
+    Where neither plaid nor kilt could fend[56] the weet;
+    Yet blithely would he bang out o'er the brae,
+    And stend o'er burns as light as ony rae,
+    Hoping the morn[57] might prove a better day."
+
+[Footnote 56: Keep off.]
+
+[Footnote 57: To-morrow.]
+
+He went to Edinburgh, a poor country boy, and gradually made his way to
+competence, and respectability. Whether he was particularly successful
+as a wigmaker we are not informed; but he found the trade of bookseller
+infinitely more congenial. Ensconced behind his counter, he could study,
+write poetry, chat with his customers, and publish his own lucubrations.
+His first principal poem was "Christ's Kirk on the Green," a
+continuation of King James's poem of the same name, a rough but graphic
+and humorous picture of rustic revelry. Its indelicacy is rather gross,
+but it has all the vigor and humor of Hogarth's pictures. His other
+poems, containing songs, fables, pastorals, complimentary verses (of
+which he has a very large number,) stories and epistles are quite
+numerous. They contain a large amount of trash, with here and there
+some beautiful gems. He is mainly successful in Scottish verse. His
+imitations of the English poets are rather poor. "_The Vision_" is one
+of his ablest productions. The Genius of Scotland is painted "with a
+touch of the old heroic Muse:"
+
+    "Great daring darted frae his ee,
+    A braid sword shaggled[58] at his knee,
+      On his left arm a targe;
+    A shining spear filled his right hand,
+    Of stalwart make in bane and brawnd,
+      Of just proportions large;
+    A various rainbow colored plaid
+      Owre his left spaul[59] he threw,
+    Down his braid back, frae his white head
+      The silver wimplers[60] grew.
+        Amazed, I gazed
+          To see, led at command,
+        A stampant and rampant
+          Fierce lion in his hand."
+
+[Footnote 58: Dangled.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Shoulder.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Tassels or dangles.]
+
+But his most popular production is the "Gentle Shepherd" which appeared
+in 1725--and was received with enthusiasm, not only in Scotland, but in
+England and Ireland. It was much admired by Pope and Gay, the latter of
+whom, when on a visit to Scotland, with the Duke and Duchess of
+Queensberry, used to lounge in Allan Ramsay's shop, and obtain from him
+explanations of the Scottish expressions that he might communicate them
+to Pope.
+
+Allan uniformly had an eye to the "main chance." He sedulously courted
+the great, and managed to accumulate a good many pennies. "In the
+mingled spirit of prudence and poetry," he contrived
+
+    "To theek[61] the out and line the inside
+    Of many a douce and witty pash,[62]
+    And baith ways gathered in the cash."
+
+[Footnote 61: Thatch.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Head.]
+
+He was foolish enough however to lay out his gains in the erection of a
+theatre which was prohibited by the magistrates, as an injury to good
+morals. So that Allan lost his cash and his pains together, and not only
+so, but his good temper. This exposed him to much obloquy, in part
+perhaps deserved. He was somewhat Jacobinical in his views, and hated
+the Presbyterian clergy, who were afraid of him, as "a half papist," and
+a some what licentious writer. Hence he lampooned them with great
+severity, in consequence of which he was pretty well lampooned in his
+turn.
+
+After all Allan was a true poet, and by no means a bad man. He was
+honest, kind-hearted and cheerful. Some of his poetical strains indicate
+much elevation and tenderness of spirit.
+
+In personal appearance he was somewhat peculiar. The following amusing
+description he has given of himself:
+
+    "Imprimis, then, for tallness, I
+    Am five foot and four inches high,
+    A black a viced[63] snod dapper fellow,
+    Nor lean, nor overlaid wi' tallow;
+    With phiz of a morocco cut,
+    Resembling a late man of wit,
+    Auld gabbet Spec[64] who was sae cunning,
+    To be a dummie ten years running.
+    Then for the fabric of my mind,
+    'Tis mair to mirth than grief inclined:
+    I rather choose to laugh at folly
+    Than show dislike by melancholy;
+    Well judging a sour heavy face
+    Is not the truest mark of grace.
+    I hate a drunkard or a glutton,
+    Yet I'm nae fae[65] to wine and mutton:
+    Great tables ne'er engaged my wishes
+    When crowded with o'er many dishes;
+    A healthfu' stomach, sharply set,
+    Prefers a back-say,[66] piping het,
+    I never could imagine 't vicious
+    Of a fair fame to be ambitious;
+    Proud to be thought a comic poet,
+    And let a judge of numbers know it,
+    I court occasion thus to show it."
+
+[Footnote 63: Of a dark complexion.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Does this mean Spectator?]
+
+[Footnote 65: Foe.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Sirloin.]
+
+Allan never suffered his poetry to interfere with his business. Indeed
+he abandoned verse altogether in the latter part of his life, rightly
+judging that he might not equal his earlier productions, and feeling
+moreover that other and more serious engagements demanded his attention.
+The following epistle to Mr. Smibert, an eminent painter and intimate
+friend, dated Edinburgh, 10th May, 1736, is highly characteristic;
+
+     "MY DEAR OLD FRIEND:--
+
+     Your health and happiness are ever _ane_ addition to my
+     satisfaction. God make your life ever easy and pleasant. Half a
+     century of years have now row'd oe'r my brow, that begins now to
+     be _lyart_;[67] yet thanks to my Author, I eat, drink, and sleep
+     as sound as I did twenty years _syne_;[68] yes, I laugh heartily
+     too, and find as many subjects to employ that faculty upon as ever;
+     fools, fops and knaves, grow as rank as formerly, yet here and
+     there are to be found good and worthy men, who are _ane_ honor to
+     _human_ life. We have small hopes of seeing you again in our world;
+     then let us be virtuous and hope to meet in heaven. My good _auld_
+     wife is still my bedfellow; my son Allan has been pursuing your
+     science since he was a dozen years _auld_--was with Mr. Hyffidg, at
+     London, for some time, about two years ago--has been since at home,
+     painting here like a Raphael--sets out for the seat of the beast,
+     beyond the Alps, in a month hence--to be away about two years. I'm
+     _sweer_[69] to part with him, but _canna_ stem the current which
+     flows from the advice of his patrons and his own inclination. I
+     have three daughters, one of seventeen, one of sixteen, and one of
+     twelve years of old, and no _rewayled dragle_[70] among them, all
+     fine girls. These six or seven years past I have not written a line
+     of poetry. I e'en gave over in good time, before the coolness of
+     fancy, that attends advanced years, should make me risk the
+     reputation I had acquired.
+
+     Frae twenty-five to five and forty,
+     My muse was neither _sweer_[71] nor _dorty_,[72]
+     My Pegasus wad break her _tether_,[73]
+     E'en at the _shagging_ of a feather;
+     And _throw_[74] ideas scour like _drift_,
+     _Streaking_ his wings up to the lift;
+     Then when my soul was in a low[75]
+     That gart[76] my numbers safely row;[77]
+     But _eild_[78] and judgment _gin_[79] to say,
+     Let be your _sangs_ and learn to pray.
+
+     I am, Sir, your friend and servant,
+     ALLAN RAMSAY."
+
+[Footnote 67: Wrinkled.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Since.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Loth.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Uncouth sloven.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Reluctant.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Proud or stiff.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Halter.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Through.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Blaze.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Caused.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Roll.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Age.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Begin.]
+
+In 1743 his circumstances were such as enabled him to build a small
+octagon shaped house on the north side of the Castle Hill, which he
+named Ramsay Lodge, but which some of his witty friends compared to a
+goose pie. He told Lord Elibank one day of this ungracious comparison.
+"What," said the witty peer, "a goose pie! In good faith, Allan, now that
+I see _you_ in it, I think the house is not ill named." He lived in this
+odd-looking edifice till the day of his death, enjoying the society of
+his friends, and cracking his jokes with perhaps greater quietness, but
+with as much gust and hilarity as ever. He was a man of genius, and has
+exerted great influence on the lighter literature of Scotland. He was an
+immense favorite with Burns, his equal in genius, his superior in depth
+of feeling, in tenderness and beauty of expression. But Burns doubtless
+owed something to the "wood notes wild," of his illustrious predecessor.
+Both have done much to illustrate and beautify their native land.
+
+Next morning at early dawn we are rambling in and around the pretty
+village of Lasswade, which lies so sweetly on the left bank of the North
+Esk. The river runs in many charming sinuosities through the parish, now
+passing over a smooth ledge of rocks, then "wimpling" over shining
+pebbles, then gliding with a scarcely perceptible motion "among the
+green braes," now wetting the pendant branches of the birch and broom,
+anon sleeping in a deep pellucid pool, then leaping "o'er a linn," and
+then gushing with a hollow murmur, among the loose gray rocks. Nothing
+can be more beautiful and picturesque. Many pretty cottages and handsome
+villas adorn the neighborhood. De Quincy, the celebrated English "opium
+eater" lives here, and Sir Walter Scott at one time occupied a cottage
+in the vicinity. The following is a happy description from his pen, of
+the enchanting scenes through which the North and South Esk flow. It is
+taken from his ballad of the "Grey Brother."
+
+    Sweet are the paths--O passing sweet!
+      By Esk's fair streams that run,
+    O'er airy steep, through copsewood's deep,
+      Impervious to the sun.
+
+    There the rapt poet's step may rove,
+      And yield the muse the day;
+    There beauty led by timid love,
+      May shun the tell-tale ray.
+
+    From that fair dome[80] where suit is paid,
+      By blast of bugle free,
+    To Auchindinny's hazel glade,
+      And haunted Woodhouselee.
+
+    Who knows not Melville's beechy groove,
+      And Roslin's rocky glen,
+    Dalkeith, which all the virtues love,
+      And classic Hawthornden.
+
+[Footnote 80: Pennycuick House, the romantic and elegant residence of
+Sir George Clerk, Baronet. "It stands on a flat, in a curve of the
+river, with a picturesque glen behind, carrying up the view to the ruins
+of Branstane Castle, and the western extremity of the Pentlands--a a
+little plain in front, gemmed with a beautiful artificial pond, and
+overhung by ascents which are mantled all over with wood--and swells and
+eminences on each side, dissevered by ravines, and moulded into many
+curvatures of beauty. On the opposite side of the river, at the end of
+an avenue at the top of a bank, stands an obelisk, raised by Sir James
+Clerk, to the memory of his friend and frequent inmate, Allan Ramsay."]
+
+It is not surprising that multitudes from Edinburgh come to reside here
+in the summer time; for what with the varied scenery of rock and river,
+copsewood and fell, the pleasant associations of the present, and the
+thrilling memories of "Auld lang syne," no region can be more attractive
+and agreeable.
+
+Sauntering along, we approach Glenesk, so called from the deep and
+charming glen, formed by the winding river. Yonder is an old man at work
+in his garden, who looks quite patriarchal, and I dare say knows a good
+deal of the neighborhood. Let us accost him.
+
+"Good morning, sir!"
+
+"Gude mornin' gentlemen!"
+
+"You seem to be quite early in your garden this morning."
+
+"Ou aye, we maun mak hay while the sun shines, ye ken, and this is a
+graund time for planting."
+
+"You have lived in the neighborhood a considerable time, I presume."
+
+"A' my days."
+
+"Well, it's a beautiful country."
+
+"Ou aye, it's weel eneuch. My faither before me lived in that bit housie
+out yonder amang the trees, and he used aften to say, gude auld man!
+that the lines had fallen to us in pleasant places, and that we had a
+goodly heritage. For my pairt, I like the country unco weel. The burn
+there is verra pleasant, its sae caller[81] like, wimpling amang the
+rocks and bushes. And what's mair to the pint, it has got a fouth[82] of
+fine fish in 't, though thae new fangled mills are frightening them
+awa."
+
+[Footnote 81: Fresh.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Abundance.]
+
+"Trout, I suppose."
+
+"Yes, sir, and fine anes too. Ah! mony's the day I hae paidlt in that
+burn, when a wee bit callant, catching the trout amang the stanes, when
+the water was low."
+
+"Did you know any thing of Sir Walter Scott? He used to live near
+Lasswade, and I dare say often wandered this way to fish."
+
+"Ken him! That I did fu' weel. And an honest freendly man he was. He cam
+up the burn every noo and then, sometimes wi' a fishing-rod, and
+sometimes wi' a staff in his han. He and I got weel acquaint after a
+time, for he was nane o' your upstarts, but an unco frank, freespoken
+kind of a man. Not that he talked sae muckle himsel, but he was aye
+askin about something or ither, and kept my tongue waggin' a' the time.
+Ah yes, Sir Walter was a canny man. He knew the hail kintra side, and
+used to spier a great many questions about the ways o' the auld folks.
+One day he cam alang the burn side, wi' anither gentleman. I happened to
+be working down there. His line got tangled in a stane, and he got me to
+fetch it out. He then coost it into the deep pule below, making the flee
+skim alang the top o' the water, as skeelfully as onything ye ever saw.
+When up louped a muckle spotted trout, and in a moment dragged the line
+to the other side, then spanked up the burn at an unco rate, running the
+line aff the reel, which birred like a spinnin' wheel. Sir Walter
+hobbled after it as weel as he could. He was lame, ye ken, but managed
+to move pretty quick. The trout plunged and flounced over the shallow
+water, got into another deep pule, and ran into the bank, in the hollow
+of twa big stanes that were lying there. Now, cried Sir Walter, I have
+you my boy; so he kept jerkin awa at him, and out he cam again, when Sir
+Walter gave him a wallop, and laid him flat amang the gowans. 'Twas a
+bonny sight, I tell you. The trout was nae less than a fit and a quarter
+lang, as thick as my arm, and spotted all o'er wi' shining spots, like a
+leopard. Sir Walter was unco pleased--rubbed his hans', and every now
+and then broke into a smile, as he cracked some joke about the trout.
+Hech! it was a guid sight for sair een--to see Sir Walter after the
+trout, and specially to see the trout walloping amang the gowans."
+
+"But don't you think that it was rather cruel sport?"
+
+"Cruel! why man, the fish kens naething ava, and out o' its ain element,
+it gets choked in a minute. And, for my pairt, I dinna see what fish is
+guid for, if not to be catch'd and eaten, specially the big anes! My
+gude auld faither used often to say to us, 'Boys, ye mauna be cruel to
+the dumb beasts, and when ye gang a fishing, be sure to let the wee fish
+gae.'"
+
+"Your father was a worthy man, I dare say."
+
+"That he was, I can assure you. He was respeckit by the hail kintra
+side. When auld and feeble, he wud sit before the door, on a divot seat,
+the hail simmer day, wi' a braid bonnet on his head, and a lang staff by
+his side, reading the Bible, or maybe 'Pilgrim's Progress,' or takin'
+wi' the neebors wha cam to see him."
+
+"Did he belong to the established kirk?"
+
+"Na, na, he was ane o' the auld Covenanters, and used to talk a deal
+about Cameron and McMillen, as unco powerfu' preachers. He thocht the
+present times were wonderfu' degenerate, that the solemn League and
+Covenant o' Scotland was amaist forgotten, and that the people
+now-a-days were a sort o' inferior race. But he was a gude man; unco
+pleasant to look upon, and unco pleasant to hear, when he talked o' the
+faithfulness o' Israel's God, and the comfort and blessedness of being
+his children. When he deed, he seemed to fa' asleep. A smile was on his
+pale face, and his han' lay upon his breast, as it were in token of
+resignation to the will o' heaven. He lies buried in the auld
+kirk-yard, o'er yonder, wi' the words on his head-stane at his ain
+request, 'Blessed are the deed that dee in the Lord.'"
+
+"Are you too a Cameronian?"
+
+"Why no, to tell ye the honest truth. The auld Cameronians are amaist a'
+gane; and I just gang o'er here to the free kirk, where, to my notion,
+we hae as guid sound preachin as ye'll meet wi' in the hail kintra side.
+I'm no sae gude a man as my faither; but I canna forget his counsels and
+his prayers."
+
+"Have you any family, my friend?"
+
+"Ou aye. A bit callant, and twa strapping lasses, one of whom is
+married."
+
+"Well, that's a comfort."
+
+"A great comfort, sir, in my auld days. Jeanie is weel married, and has
+bairns o' her ain. Marion wad a been married, but she was kind a skary,
+and so she stays at hame. The bit callant is no my ain, but a neebor's
+son that we adopted frae pity, seeing his mither is puir, and his
+faither was lost at sea."
+
+"And your wife, is she well?"
+
+"Well! Aye, that she is--in heaven! She's been gane these five
+years--(here the tears started in the old man's eyes.) We maun a' dee.
+(A brief pause.) But, as my gude auld faither used to say, 'The Lord
+gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.'"
+
+"Yes, my good old friend, the hope of a Christian, which you seem to
+cherish, is a source of infinite comfort. It sweetens the cares of life,
+and robs death of its sting. Good morning."
+
+"Gude mornin; and the Lord bless you!"
+
+Ascending the river a short distance, we come to Hawthornden, once the
+property and residence of the celebrated poet and historian, William
+Drummond, the friend of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson. The house, originally
+constructed with reference to strength, surmounts the very edge of a
+precipitous cliff, which rises above the river. Winding around it are
+charming walks, among the green foliage, which fringes the summit and
+sides of the rock, down to the very edge of the water. Wild tangled
+bushes, flowering shrubs, birches and oak trees, are mingled in most
+picturesque and delightful confusion; while the gray cliffs here and
+there, peep out from their sylvan garniture as if sunning themselves in
+the summer radiance. Below, the stream, impeded in its course by huge
+ledges of rocks, hurries unseen, but distinctly heard, amid the woods;
+further on, emerges into the light of day, and forms a broad clear pool,
+on the banks of which you may see some industrious fisherman plying his
+rod.
+
+          "The spot is wild, the banks are steep,
+    With eglantine and hawthorn blossomed o'er,
+    Lychnis and daffodils, and hare-bells blue.
+    From lofty granite crags precipitous,
+    The oak with scanty footing topples o'er,
+    Tossing his limbs to heaven; and from the cleft,
+    Fringing the dark brown, natural battlements,
+    The hazel throws his silvery branches down:
+    There starting into view, a castled cliff,
+    Whose roof is lichen'd o'er, purple and green,
+    O'erhangs thy wandering stream, romantic Esk,
+    And rears its head among the ancient trees."
+
+Standing in front of it you see certain artificial caves, hollowed with
+immense labor, out of the solid rock. These communicate with each other,
+and contain a well of prodigious depth bored from the court-yard of the
+mansion. The caves are reported by tradition to have been a stronghold
+of the ancient Pictish kings, and three of them bear respectively the
+name of 'the king's Gallery, the king's Bed-chamber and the king's
+Guard-room.' They were doubtless hewn out, as places of refuge, during
+the terrible wars between the English and the Picts, or the English and
+the Scots. In the reign of David II, when the English had possession of
+Edinburgh, they and the neighboring caves of Gorton afforded shelter to
+the heroic Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie and his adventurous band.
+
+Adjoining the house, and overlooking the stream, a kind of seat is cut
+in the face of the rock, called 'Cypress Grove,' where Drummond is
+reported to have sat, in the fine summer weather, and composed many of
+his poems. The magnificent woods in the vicinity suggested to Peter
+Pindar the caustic remark respecting Dr. Samuel Johnson, that he
+
+    "Went to Hawthornden's fair scene by night,
+    Lest e'er a Scottish tree should wound the sight."
+
+Crossing the river at a suitable place, we will saunter towards Roslin
+on the other side, and while doing so, will beguile the way by talking
+of Drummond, whose genius haunts every nook and corner of the shady
+dell.
+
+William Drummond was born in 1585 and died in 1649. His father, John
+Drummond, was gentleman usher to King James. He was hence educated in
+profound reverence for royalty and its prerogatives. Indeed his feelings
+upon this subject were entirely slavish; and it is said that his strong
+grief at the death of Charles the First hastened his death.
+
+He was well versed in classic literature, and enjoyed the advantages of
+a refined and liberal education. Having studied civil law for four years
+in France, he succeeded in 1611 to an independent estate, and took up
+his residence in Hawthornden. Its cliffs, caves, and wooded dells were
+in harmony with his genius, and he spent many happy years in this
+beautiful retreat. His first publication was a volume of occasional
+poems, of various merit, to which succeeded a moral treatise, in prose,
+called "Cypress Grove," in allusion probably to the fairy nook on the
+face of the rock where he meditated and wrote, and a second poetical
+work entitled "Flowers of Zion." He also wrote the History of the Five
+James's, a production of no great merit, in which he urges, to an
+extravagant length, the doctrine of the absolute supremacy of kings.
+"The Cypress Grove" contains reflections upon death, written in a solemn
+and agreeable strain, and contains some fine passages. "This earth,"
+says he, "is as a table book, and men are the notes; the first are
+washen out, that new may be written in. They who forewent us did leave
+room for us; and should we grieve to do the same to those who should
+come after us? Who, being suffered to see the exquisite rarities of an
+antiquary's cabinet, is grieved that the curtain be drawn, and to give
+place to new pilgrims? And when the Lord of the Universe hath shown us
+the amazing wonders of his various frame, should we think it hard, when
+he thinketh time, to dislodge? This is his unalterable and inevitable
+decree; as we had no part of our will in our entrance into this life, we
+should not presume to any in our leaving it; but soberly learn to will
+that which he wills, whose very will giveth being to all that it wills."
+
+The death of a beautiful young lady, to whom he was betrothed, affected
+him deeply; and he sought relief to his wounded feelings in foreign
+travel. On returning, some years afterwards, he met a young lady by the
+name of Logan, bearing a strong resemblance to the former object of his
+affections; on account of which he solicited and obtained her hand in
+marriage.
+
+Drummond was intimate with Drayton and Ben Jonson. The latter paid him a
+visit at Hawthornden, and they had much free conversation together.
+Drummond kept private notes of these conversations, which subsequently
+saw the light, and were found to be somewhat injurious to Jonson's
+memory. But Drummond himself had no hand in their publication.
+
+As a poet Drummond belonged to the school of Spenser, though far
+inferior to the latter in strength of conception and splendor of
+imagination. His poems are distinguished for their singular harmony and
+sweetness of versification. They seem to partake of the character of the
+quiet romantic scenery amid which they were composed. His "Tears on the
+Death of Moeliades," (Prince Henry, son of James I.,) and his "River
+Forth Feasting," have been much admired. His sonnets, however, are his
+best productions. They flow with as much grace and beauty, (though not
+perhaps with the same variety,) as the romantic river which murmurs past
+his "wooded seat." His madrigals, complimentary verses, and other short
+pieces, abound in foolish conceits, and what is worse, in coarse and
+licentious language. But he was one of the best poets of the age, and
+only inferior to two or three of his great contemporaries.
+
+The following sonnet--"To His Lute"--is very sweet. It was probably
+written after the death of the lady to whom he was betrothed;
+
+    My lute be as thou wert when thou didst grow,
+    With thy green mother, in some shady grove,
+    When immelodious winds but made thee move,
+    And birds their ramage[83] did on thee bestow.
+    Since that dear voice which did thy sounds approve,
+    Which wont in such harmonious strains to flow,
+    Is reft from earth to join the spheres above,
+    What art thou but a harbinger of woe?
+    Thy pleasing notes be pleasing notes no more,
+    But orphan wailings to the fainting ear,
+    Each stroke a sigh, each sound draws forth a tear;
+    For which be silent as in woods before;
+    Or if that any hand to touch thee deign,
+    Like widowed turtle still her loss complain.
+
+[Footnote 83: Warbling.]
+
+His sonnet "In Praise of a Solitary Life" was written, we can well
+imagine, in his summer bower on the banks of the Esk. It is peculiarly
+harmonious:
+
+    Thrice happy he who by some shady grove,
+    Far from the clamorous world doth live his own,
+    Thou solitary, who is not alone,
+    But doth converse with that eternal love.
+    O how more sweet is bird's harmonious moan,
+    Or the hoarse sobbings of the widowed dove,
+    Than those smooth whisperings near a prince' throne,
+    Which good make doubtful, do the ill approve!
+    O how more sweet is zephyr's wholesome breath,
+    And sighs embalm'd, which new-born flowers unfold,
+    Than that applause vain honor doth bequeath.
+    How sweet are streams, to poison drank in gold!
+    The world is full of horror, troubles, slights:
+    Woods, harmless shades have only true delights.
+
+The following, "To a Nightingale," is still more beautiful:
+
+    Sweet bird! that singst away the early hours
+    Of winters past or coming, void of care,
+    Well pleased with delights which present are,
+    Fair seasons, budding sprays, sweet-smelling flowers:
+    To rocks, to springs, to rills, from leafy bowers,
+    Thou thy Creator's goodness dost declare,
+    And what dear gifts on thee he did not spare,
+    A stain to human sense in sin that lowers.
+    What soul can be so sick as by thy songs
+    (Attired in sweetness) sweetly is not driven
+    Quite to forget earth's turmoils, spites and wrongs,
+    And lift a reverend eye and thought to heaven?
+    Sweet, artless songster! thou my mind dost raise
+    To airs of spheres--yes, and to angels' lays.
+
+But we have entered the vale of Roslin, and there, in its beauty, stands
+the Chapel of Roslin, one of the most exquisite architectural ruins in
+Scotland. It was founded in 1484, or even earlier than that, by the
+Earl of Caithness and Orkney. The whole Chapel is profusely decorated
+with the most delicate sculpture both within and without. The roof, the
+capitals, key-stones and architraves, are all overlaid with sculpture,
+representing foliage and flowers, grotesque figures, sacred history and
+texts of Scripture. The fine fluted column called the "Apprentice's
+Pillar," so named from a tradition which no one believes, and which
+therefore we do not repeat, is exceedingly beautiful, being ornamented
+with wreaths of foliage and flowers twining around it in spiral columns.
+So perfect are these alto relievos, that the author of a pamphlet
+describing them, says that he can liken them to nothing but Brussels
+lace.
+
+How solemn a thing it is in this chequered light, to wander amid these
+sounding aisles and ancient monuments! In the vaults beneath lie the
+Barons of Roslin, all of whom, till the time of James the Seventh, were
+buried without a coffin, in complete armor. This circumstance, and the
+vulgar belief that on the night preceding the death of any of these
+barons, the chapel appeared in flames, has been finely described by
+Walter Scott, in his touching ballad of Rosabelle.
+
+    O listen, listen, ladies gay!
+      No haughty feats of arms I tell;
+    Soft is the note, and sad the lay,
+      That mourns the lovely Rosabelle.
+
+    "Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew!
+      And gentle ladye deign to stay!
+    Rest thee in castle Ravensheuch,
+      Nor tempt the stormy Firth to-day.
+
+    "The blackening wave is edged with white,
+      To inch and rock the sea-mews fly;
+    The fishers have heard the water sprite,
+      Whose screams forebode that wreck is nigh.
+
+    "Last night the gifted seer did view,
+      A wet shroud swathed round ladye gay!
+    Then stay thee, fair, in Ravensheuch;
+      Why cross the gloomy Firth to-day?"
+
+    "'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir,
+      To-night at Roslin leads the ball,
+    But that my ladye mother there,
+      Sits lonely in her castle hall.
+
+    "'Tis not because the ring they ride--
+      And Lindesay at the ring rides well--
+    But that my sire the wine will chide
+      If 'tis not filled by Rosabelle."
+
+    O'er Roslin all that dreary night,
+      A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam,
+    'Twas broader than the watchfire's light,
+      And redder than the bright moonbeam.
+
+    It glared on Roslin's castled rock,
+      It ruddied all the copsewood glen,
+    'Twas seen from Dryden's grove of oak,
+      And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud,
+      Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie,
+    Each baron, for a sable shroud,
+      Sheathed in his iron panoply.
+
+    Seem'd all on fire, within, around,
+      Deep sacristy and altar pale;
+    Shone every pillar, foliage bound,
+      And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
+
+    Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
+      Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair,--
+    So still they blaze, when fate is nigh
+      The lordly line of high St. Clair.
+
+    There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold,
+      Lie buried within that proud chapelle;
+    Each one the holy vault doth hold--
+      But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle.
+
+    And each St. Clair was buried there,
+      With candle, with book, and with knell,
+    But the sea caves rung, and the wild winds sung,
+      The dirge of lovely Rosabelle.
+
+We now pass over a bridge of great height, spanning a deep cut in the
+solid rock, and reach Roslin Castle, with its triple tier of vaults,
+standing upon a peninsular rock overhanging the romantic glen of the
+Esk. This castle was, for ages, the seat of the St. Clairs, or
+Sinclairs, descended from William de Sancto Clare, the son of Waldernus
+de Clare, who came to England with William the Conqueror, and fought at
+the battle of Hastings. The enumeration of their titles, says Sir Walter
+Scott, would take away the breath of a herald. Among others, they were
+Princes of the Orcades, Dukes of Oldenburgh, Lord Admirals of the
+Scottish Seas, Grand Justiciaries of the kingdom, Wardens of the border,
+Earls of Caithness, titularies of more than fifty baronies, patrons and
+Grand Masters of Masonry in Scotland, &c. &c.
+
+Of the grandeur and opulence of the family, some conception may be
+derived from the following description, given in a manuscript in the
+"Advocate's Library," of the state maintained by William St. Clare,
+founder of the chapel.--"About that time (1440) the town of Roslin,
+being next to Edinburgh and Haddington in East Lothian, became very
+populous by the great concourse of all ranks and degrees of visitors
+that resorted to this Prince, at his palace of the Castle of Roslin; for
+he kept a great court, and was royally served at his own table, in
+vessels of gold and silver, Lord Dirleton being his master of the
+household, Lord Borthwick his cup-bearer, and Lord Fleming his carver,
+&c. He had his halls and other apartments richly adorned with
+embroidered hangings. He flourished in the reigns of James the First and
+Second. His princess, Elizabeth Douglass, was served by seventy-five
+gentlewomen, whereof fifty-three were daughters of noblemen, all clothed
+in velvets and silks, with their chains of gold and other ornaments, and
+was attended by two hundred riding gentlemen in all her journeys; and if
+it happened to be dark when she went to Edinburgh, where her lodgings
+were at the foot of Blackfriars' Wynd, eighty lighted torches were
+carried before her."
+
+The old castle is almost entirely gone, and the present structure is a
+comparatively modern one. It belongs to the Earl of Rosslyn, descended
+from a collateral branch of the St. Clair family.
+
+It is interesting to think of the magnificent old barons who kept state
+in the mouldering castles which everywhere adorn the Scottish landscape.
+Some of them were noble specimens of humanity, but the greater
+proportion of them were but splendid barbarians. They led a sort of rude
+animal life, and were distinguished chiefly for their towering pride and
+ungovernable passion. The following story of a hunting match between
+King Robert Bruce and Sir William St. Clair, throws an interesting
+light on the spirit of the age and the history of the St. Clair family.
+"The king had been repeatedly baulked by a fleet white deer which he had
+started in his hunt among the Pentland Hills; and having asked an
+assembled body of his nobles whether any dogs in their possession could
+seize the game that had escaped the royal hounds, Sir William St. Clair
+promptly offered to pledge his head that two favorite dogs of his called
+'Help and Hold,' would kill the deer before she crossed the March burn.
+The king instantly accepted the knight's bold and reckless offer, and
+promised himself to give the forest of Pentland Moor in guerdon of
+success. A few slow hounds having been let loose to beat up the deer,
+and the king having taken post on the best vantage-ground for commanding
+a view of the chase, Sir William stationed himself in the fittest
+position for slipping his dogs, and in the true style of a Romanist, who
+asks a blessing upon a sin, and supposes the giver of the blessing to be
+a creature, earnestly prayed to St. Katherine to give the life of the
+deer to his dogs. Away now came the raised deer, and away in full chase
+went Sir William on a fleet-footed steed; and hind and hunter arrived
+neck and neck at the critical March burn. Sir William threw himself in a
+desperate fling from his horse into the stream; 'Hold,' just at this
+crisis of fate, stopped the deer in the brook, and 'Help' the next
+instant came up, drove back the chase, and killed her on the winning
+side of the stream. The king, who had witnessed the nicely poised
+result, came speedily down from his vantage-ground, embraced Sir
+William, and granted him, in free forestry, the lands of Logan House,
+Kirkton, and Carncraig. Sir William, in gratitude for the fancied
+interference of St. Katherine in his favor, built the chapel of St.
+Katherine in the Hopes. The tomb of the wildly adventurous knight who
+was so canine in his nature as to reckon his life not too high a pledge
+for the fleetness and fierceness of his dogs, is still to be seen in
+Roslin chapel; and it very properly represents the sculpture of his
+armed person to be attended by a greyhound, as a joint claimant of the
+honor and fame of his exploits."
+
+In the neighboring moor of Roslin is the scene of a great battle, in
+1302, in which the Scottish army gained, in one day, three successive
+victories, a circumstance touchingly referred to by _Delta_, Dr. Moir of
+Musselburgh, author of 'Casa Wappy,' 'Wee Willie,' and many other
+exquisite contributions to Blackwood's Magazine.
+
+    "Three triumphs in a day!
+      Three hosts subdued by one!
+    Three armies scattered like the spray,
+      Beneath one summer sun
+    Who pausing 'mid this solitude
+      Of rocky streams and leafy trees,--
+    Who, gazing o'er this quiet wood,
+      Would ever dream of these?
+    Or have a thought that ought intrude
+      Save birds and humming bees?"
+
+How delightful, as we wander amid these hoary ruins and leafy bowers, so
+still and beautiful under the rich light of a summer noon, to think that
+the old stormy times of feudal warfare have passed away forever, and
+that peace, with balmy wing, is brooding over this and other Christian
+lands.
+
+But in this everyday life, the wants of nature must be met. Let us hie
+then to the village inn, just beyond the chapel. With our keen
+appetites, a snug dinner there will relish better than the most splendid
+banquet of the St. Clairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+     Ramble through the Fields--Parish Schools--Recollections of Dominie
+     Meuross--The South Esk--Borthwick and Crichtoun Castles--Newbattle
+     Abbey--Dalkeith--Residence of the Duke of Buccleugh--"Scotland's
+     Skaith," by Hector Macneil--His Character and Writings--Extracts
+     from the "History of Will and Jean."
+
+
+Recrossing the North Esk, we ramble through the country in a
+north-easterly direction, passing through highly cultivated farms, with
+large comfortable homesteads. The fields everywhere are filled with
+laborers, hoeing, ploughing, and weeding, most of them cheerful as
+larks, and making the woods ring with 'whistle and song.' That plain but
+substantial edifice, under the shadow of the great oak tree hard by the
+old church, is a parish school-house, in which perhaps are gathered some
+fifty or sixty boys and girls, from all ranks of society, plying their
+mental tasks, under the supervision of an intelligent schoolmaster.
+Every morning in that school-house the Word of God is reverently read,
+and earnest prayer offered, exerting upon all minds a healthful moral
+influence, and producing impressions of a religious kind, which may last
+forever. Any boy may be fitted for college, or for commercial pursuits,
+in such a school, and the expense to the parent will be next to nothing.
+What then must be the amount of good accomplished by the combined
+influence of all the parish schools in Scotland, equally endowed, and
+supplied with adequate teachers? Popular education has made great
+advances in Scotland within a few years. The greatest zeal for learning
+exists among the people, and they require no compulsive acts, as in
+Germany, to induce them to send their children to school. Not to be able
+to read and write is regarded, in Scotland, as a great disgrace; and
+hence the poorest people are equally ready with the rich to avail
+themselves of the benefits of instruction. Good teachers are uniformly
+secured, because they receive an ample compensation, and none but
+well-educated and truly moral men would be accepted. In this respect
+their situation is greatly superior to that of parish schoolmasters in
+Germany or in the United States. On this subject, Kohl, the German
+traveller, mentions an amusing conversation which he had with the parish
+schoolmaster at Muthil. Having stated to the latter that the situation
+of Scottish teachers was far superior to that of teachers in his
+country, he inquired what was the average pay of schoolmasters there.
+
+"It varies a good deal," was the reply of Kohl. "Some have a hundred,
+some a hundred and fifty, but many no more than fifty dollars."
+
+"How many pounds go to a dollar?" asked he.
+
+"Seven dollars go to a pound."
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, springing up from his chair, "do you mean to tell
+me that they pay a schoolmaster with _seven pounds_ a year?"
+
+"Even so," was the reply, "seven pounds; but how much then do they get
+with you?"
+
+"I know no one who has less than from forty to fifty pounds in all
+Scotland; but the average is seventy or eighty pounds; and many go as
+high as a hundred and fifty pounds."
+
+"What!" cried Kohl, springing up in his turn, "a hundred and fifty
+pounds! that makes one thousand and fifty dollars. A _baron_ would be
+satisfied in Germany with such a revenue as that; and do you mean to say
+that there are schoolmasters who grumble at it?"
+
+"Yes," said he; "but recollect how dear things are with us. Sugar costs
+eighteenpence a pound; coffee two shillings; chocolate is still dearer,
+and tea not much cheaper. And then how dear are good beef, and pork, and
+plums, and puddings, and everything else!"
+
+"I could not deny this," adds Kohl; "but I thought that our poor
+schoolmasters were content if they had but bread."
+
+In former times the parish schoolmasters did not receive so much as they
+now do; but then they were clerks of the parish, frequently _precentors_
+in the church, and received a multitude of little perquisites. Their
+support has been made quite ample, having an average salary of a hundred
+pounds, with a free house.
+
+But the sight of that school-house brings back the days of "lang syne."
+Well do I remember the old parish school--a long thatched building, at
+the "Kirk of Shotts," where I received my preparation for college,
+under the free and easy, but most efficient, administration of 'Dominie
+Meuross,' famed through all the country for his great classical
+attainments, his facetious disposition, his kind-heartedness, and his
+love of the pure 'Glenlivet.' Those were not the days of temperance
+societies, and the Dominie had so much to do with christenings and
+weddings, parish difficulties, "roups" and law-suits, that he was
+greatly tempted by the bottle. But he was a worthy man, and an
+enthusiastic teacher, especially of the classics. Teaching A, B, C, was
+rather a dull business to the Dominie; but oh, how _merrily_ he would
+construe the Odes of Horace, what jokes he would crack over our lessons,
+and what effulgent light he would cast upon the classic page! Yet
+Dominie Meuross was a dignified man--no one more so. The boys, indeed,
+enjoyed considerable latitude, especially at that end of the school
+opposite the one in which the Dominie sat, and many facetious tricks
+were played upon the duller boys, the "sumphs," as we used to call them.
+But the Dominie had only to pull down his glasses from his forehead,
+where they were usually perched, and direct a keen glance to "the other
+end," instantly to bring us all to perfect order. Dear old man! he has
+long ago "gone to the yird," but his memory is green as the grass which
+waves upon his grave.
+
+The school and the church, the light of learning, and the light of
+religion, form the glory of Scotland. These have twined around her
+rustic brow a wreath of fadeless glory. These have given her stability
+and worth, beauty and renown.
+
+But we have reached Dalhousie Castle, with its charming and romantic
+grounds, situated on a branch of the South Esk, a stream similar to the
+North Esk, and running in the same direction. These streams, after
+passing through scenery the most picturesque and beautiful, and watering
+a hundred spots consecrated by song and story, as if by a mutual
+attraction, unite a little above Dalkeith, and fall near the old town of
+Musselburgh into the Firth of Forth. Behind us, at the distance of a few
+miles, are the celebrated ruins of Borthwick and Crichtoun castles, the
+one on a branch of the South Esk, the other somewhat to the right, in
+the vale of Tyne. It was into Borthwick Castle that Queen Mary retired
+after the death of Darnley, and her unhappy marriage with Bothwell, and
+from which she was obliged, a few days afterwards, to flee to Dunbar in
+the guise of a page. Crichtoun Castle is beautifully described by Sir
+Walter Scott, in Marmion, and as we cannot visit this interesting ruin,
+take his description of it as the best substitute.
+
+    "That castle rises on a steep
+      Of the green vale of Tyne;
+    And far beneath, where slow they creep
+    From pool to eddy, dark and deep,
+    Where alders moist, and willows weep,
+      You hear her streams repine.
+    The towers in different ages rose;
+    Their various architecture shows
+      The builders' various hands;
+    A mighty mass, that could oppose,
+    When deadliest hatred fired its foes,
+      The vengeful Douglas' bands.
+
+    "Crichtoun! though now thy miry court
+      But pens the lazy steer and sheep,
+      Thy turrets rude and tottered Keep,
+    Have been the minstrel's loved resort.
+    Oft have I traced within thy fort,
+      Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,
+      Scutcheons of honor or pretence,
+    Quartered in old armorial sort,
+      Remains of rude magnificence.
+    Nor wholly yet hath time defaced
+      Thy lordly gallery fair;
+    Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,
+    Whose twisted knots with roses laced,
+      Adorn thy ruined stair.
+    Still rises unimpaired below,
+    The court-yard's graceful portico:
+    Above its cornice, row and row,
+    Of fair hewn facets richly show,
+      Their pointed diamond form,
+    Though there but houseless cattle go,
+      To shield them from the storm.
+    And shuddering still may we explore,
+      Where oft whilom were captives pent,
+    The darkness of thy Massy More;[84]
+      Or from thy grass-grown battlement.
+    May trace, in undulating line,
+    The sluggish mazes of the Tyne."
+
+[Footnote 84: The prison vault.]
+
+Proceeding along the stream, we pass Cockpen, reminding us of the Laird
+of Cockpen and his amusing courtship, when
+
+    "Dumb-founder'd was he,
+      But nae word did he gae;
+    He mounted his mare,
+      And he rade cannilie.
+
+    But aften he thought,
+      As he gaed through the glen,
+    She's a fule to refuse
+      The Laird o' Cockpen."
+
+We linger a few minutes by Newbattle Abbey, founded by David I., for a
+community of Cistercian monks, brought hither from Melrose, but now the
+residence of the Marquis of Lothian; and soon after reach the old "burgh
+town" of Dalkeith, most delightfully situated between the two Esks, and
+reminding us forcibly of "Mansie Waugh," the _pawkie tailor_ of
+Dalkeith, whose amusing history we read in our boyhood. Dalkeith is a
+considerable place, and has many elegant residences. In its immediate
+vicinity is Dalkeith Palace, seat of the Duke of Buccleugh, standing on
+an overhanging bank of the North Esk. Here too, in earlier times, lived
+the Grahams, and the Douglases; and into this strong retreat, then
+called the "Lion's den," retired the celebrated Regent Morton, who was
+subsequently beheaded. We might enter the house, as this favor is often
+granted to strangers, but we will not now; though it boasts the
+possession of some fine old paintings, and some exquisite pieces of
+furniture. But the grounds around it are infinitely more attractive,
+adorned, as they are, with magnificent trees and shrubbery, and the
+serpentine windings of the two Esks, whose waters unite in the park, a
+little distance below the house. How placidly the stream glides through
+the verdant meadows, and mirrors the green foliage of the overhanging
+trees, or the branching horns of some deer, bent to drink its clear
+waters! How softly and delicately the pencil rays of green and yellow
+light glimmer through those shady retreats to the right. See the
+startled deer bounding through the woods! How softly and lovingly sleeps
+the sunshine on that wide pool at the bottom of the green slope, adorned
+with flowers and honeysuckles! And see, through that shady vista the
+open sky in the distance, "so darkly, deeply, beautifully blue." The
+birds too, mavis, lintie, and bulfinch, are caroling among the trees, as
+if their little hearts were filled with boundless joy.
+
+The cottage of "Jeanie Gairlace," supposed to be conferred upon her by
+the Duchess of Buccleugh, is placed by Macneil, the author of
+"Scotland's Skaith," in this beautiful vicinity. As we have yet to wait
+some time for the rail cars that are to take us to Edinburgh, let us sit
+down on this rustic seat, and I will give you some account of Macneil,
+and his touching poem of "Will and Jean."
+
+Hector Macneil was born in 1746, and died in 1818. He was brought up to
+mercantile pursuits, but did not succeed in business. He cultivated in
+secret his passion for the muses, and published at intervals several
+poetical effusions, among which were "The Harp, a Legendary Poem,"--"The
+Links of the Forth, or a Parting Peep at the Carse of Sterling," and
+"Scotland's Skaith, or the History of Will and Jean," his most natural
+and successful production. Though not successful in lyrical effusions,
+or in song writing, he is the author, we believe, of that exquisite
+ballad, "Bonny Wee Mary o' Castlecary." He also wrote some prose tales,
+in which he laments the effects of modern changes and improvements. In
+the latter years of his life, he resided in comparative comfort, at
+Edinburgh, enjoying the congenial society of its refined and literary
+circles.
+
+"Scotland's Skaith (curse) or the History of Will and Jean," is intended
+to depict the ruinous effects of intemperance, and the possibility of
+reform, with the happiness thence resulting. A happy couple, in humble
+life are gradually drawn into the vortex of intemperance, and at last
+are reduced to the deepest extremities. The husband enlists as a
+soldier, and the wife is compelled, with her children, to beg her bread.
+In the commencement of the poem Willie is represented as passing a
+rustic alehouse, whose attractions prove too much for him. The situation
+of the alehouse, and the commencement of Willie's career as a drunkard,
+are admirably described. The rhythm of the poem is peculiarly harmonious
+and lively.
+
+    In a howm[85] whose bonnie burnie,
+      Whimpering rowed its crystal flood,
+    Near the road where travellers turn aye,
+      Neat and bield[86] a cot house stood.
+
+    White the wa's, wi' roof new theckit,[87]
+      Window broads[88] just painted red;
+    Lown[89] 'mang trees and braes it reekit,[90]
+      Hafflins[91] seen and hafflins hid.
+
+    Up the gavel[92] end thick spreading,
+      Crap the clasping ivy green,
+    Back owre firs the high craigs cleadin,[93]
+      Raised around a cosey screen.
+
+    Down below a flowery meadow;
+      Joined the burnies rambling line,
+    Here it was that Howe the widow
+      That same day set up her sign.
+
+    Brattling[94] down the brae, and near its
+      Bottom, Will first marvelling sees
+    'Porter, ale, and British spirits,'
+      Painted bright between twa trees.
+
+    'Godsake Tam! here's walth for drinking!
+      Wha can this new-comer be?'
+    'Hout,' quo Tam, 'there's drouth in thinking--
+      Let's in Will, and syne[95] we'll see.'
+
+[Footnote 85: Hollow, or glen.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Sheltered.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Thatched.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Boards.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Serene and lonely.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Smoked.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Half.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Gable.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Clothing.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Rattling, or running.]
+
+[Footnote 95: Then.]
+
+The two thoughtless friends have "a jolly meeting," and do not break up
+till "'tween twa and three" next morning. A weekly club is set up at the
+alehouse, a newspaper is procured, and things move on bravely. Willie
+becomes a "pot-house politician," and a hard drinker, the consequence of
+which is that he speedily goes to ruin. His wife also, to drown her
+sorrows, takes to drinking. The contrast between their past and present
+condition is touchingly described by the poet.
+
+    Wha was ance like Willie Gairlace?
+      Wha in neeboring town or farm?
+    Beauty's bloom shone in his fair face,
+      Deadly strength was in his arm.
+
+    When he first saw Jeanie Miller,
+      Wha wi' Jeanie could compare?
+    Thousands had mair braws and siller.[96]
+      But war ony half so fair?
+
+    See them now! how chang'd wi' drinking!
+      A' their youthfu' beauty gane!
+    Davered,[97] doited,[98] dazed[99] and blinking--
+      Worn to perfect skin and bane.
+
+    In the cauld month o' November,
+      (Claise,[100] and cash, and credit out,)
+    Cowering o'er a dying ember,
+      Wi' ilk face as white's a clout.[101]
+
+    Bond and bill, and debts a' stoppit,
+      Ilka sheaf selt[102] on the bent;[103]
+    Cattle, beds, and blankets roupit,[104]
+      Now to pay the laird his rent.
+
+    No anither night to lodge here--
+      No a friend their cause to plead!
+    He's ta'en[105] on to be a sodger,
+      She wi' weans[106] to beg her bread!
+
+[Footnote 96: Fine clothing and money.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Bewildered.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Foolish.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Stupid.]
+
+[Footnote 100: Clothes.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Cloth.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Sold.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Stubble field.]
+
+[Footnote 104: Sold at auction.]
+
+[Footnote 105: Engaged.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Children.]
+
+Fortunately, Jeanie attracts the attention of the Duchess of Buccleugh,
+and obtains from her a pretty cottage, rent free, and such aid and
+protection as her circumstances demand. Willie loses a leg in battle,
+and returns a changed man, with a pension from government. Finding his
+wife and family, he is received to their embrace. The soldier's return,
+and the situation of the cottage are beautifully depicted.
+
+    Sometimes briskly, sometimes flaggin',
+      Sometimes helpit, Will gat forth;
+    On a cart or in a wagon,
+      Hirplin[107] aye towards the north.
+
+    Tired ae e'ening, stepping hooly,[108]
+      Pondering on his thraward[109] fate,
+    In the bonny month o' July,
+      Willie, heedless, tent[110] his gate.[111]
+
+    Saft the southland breeze was blowing,
+      Sweetly sughed[112] the green oak wood;
+    Loud the din o' streams fast fa'ing,
+      Strack the ear with thundering thud.
+
+    Ewes and lambs on braes ran bleating;
+      Linties chirped on ilka tree;
+    Frae the west the sun near setting,
+      Flamed on Roslin's towers sae hie.[113]
+
+    Roslin's towers and braes sae bonny!
+      Craigs and water, woods and glen!
+    Roslin's banks unpeered by ony,
+      Save the Muses' Hawthornden!
+
+    Ilka sound and charm delighting,
+      Will (though hardly fit to gang,)[114]
+    Wandered on through scenes inviting,
+      Listening to the mavis' sang.
+
+    Faint at length, the day fast closing,
+      On a fragrant strawberry steep,
+    Esk's sweet dream to rest composing,
+      Wearied nature drapt asleep.
+
+    'Soldier, rise!--the dews o' e'ening,
+      Gathering fa' wi' deadly skaith!--
+    Wounded soldier! if complaining,
+      Sleep na here, and catch your death.'
+
+[Footnote 107: Limping.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Carefully.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Untoward.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Lost.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Way.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Sighed.]
+
+[Footnote 113: High.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Walk.]
+
+Accepting an invitation to take shelter in a neighboring cottage,
+slowfully and painfully he followed his guide.
+
+    Silent stept he on, poor fellow!
+      Listening to his guide before,
+    O'er green knowe, and flowery hollow,
+      Till they reached the cot-house door.
+
+    Laigh[115] it was, yet sweet and humble:
+      Decked wi' honeysuckle round;
+    Clear below Esk's waters rumble,
+      Deep glens murmuring back the sound.
+
+    Melville's towers sae white and stately,
+      Dim by gloaming glint[116] to view;
+    Through Lasswade's dark woods keek[117] sweetly,
+      Skies sae red and lift sae blue.
+
+    Entering now in transport mingle,
+      Mother fond, and happy wean,[118]
+    Smiling round a canty[119] ingle,
+      Bleezing on a clean hearth-stane.
+
+    'Soldier, welcome! Come, be cheery!
+      Here ye'se[120] rest, and tak' your bed--
+    Faint, waes me! ye seem and weary,
+      Pale's your cheek, sae lately red!'
+
+    'Changed I am,' sighed Willie till[121] her;
+      'Changed nae doubt, as changed[122] can be;
+    Yet, alas! does Jeanie Miller
+      Naught o' Willie Gairlace see?'
+
+    Hae ye mark'd the dews o' morning,
+      Glittering in the sunny ray,
+    Quickly fa' when, without warning,
+      Rough blasts came and shook the spray?
+
+    Hae ye seen the bird fast fleeing,
+      Drap when pierced by death mair fleet?
+    Then see Jean, wi' color deeing,[123]
+      Senseless drap at Willie's feet.
+
+    After three lang years' affliction,
+      A' their waes now hush'd to rest,
+    Jean ance mair, in fond affection,
+      Clasps her Willie to her breast.
+
+[Footnote 115: Low.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Gleam.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Peep.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Child.]
+
+[Footnote 119: Merry.]
+
+[Footnote 120: You shall.]
+
+[Footnote 121: To.]
+
+[Footnote 122: As much as possible.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Dying.]
+
+But hark! the first bell rings for the cars; so let us be off, and get
+our places. The sun has slipped down behind the trees yonder, and it
+will be gloaming, if not ''tween and supper time,' before we get to
+Edinburgh.
+
+All is right, and off we go, whirring through the quiet and beautiful
+scenery of these highly cultivated regions. We pass through "Samson's
+ribs," that is, the granite rocks of Duddingston, by means of a tunnel,
+glide along the base of Arthur's Seat, on whose summit linger the last
+rays of evening; and land at the upper end of the city, well prepared to
+relish a Scottish supper of substantial edibles, and after that, "tired
+nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     City of Glasgow--Spirit of the place--Trade and Manufactures--The
+     Broomielaw--Steam--George's Square--Monuments to Sir Walter Scott,
+     Sir John Moore, and James Watt--Sketch of the Life of Watt--Glasgow
+     University--Reminiscences--Brougham--Sir D. K. Sandford--Professor
+     Nichol and others--High Kirk, or Glasgow Cathedral--Martyrdom of
+     Jerome Russel and John Kennedy.
+
+
+Taking the steam-cars from Edinburgh, we arrive at Glasgow, a distance
+of forty-four miles, in a couple of hours. As Edinburgh is the
+representative of Scottish literature and refinement, Glasgow is the
+representative of its commerce and manufactures. It is an immense city,
+and contains a prodigious number of inhabitants. At the period of the
+Union it had a population of only twelve thousand: since which time it
+has doubled this number twelve or thirteen times, and now contains
+nearly three hundred thousand inhabitants. It owes this unprecedented
+increase to its trade, domestic and foreign, which is almost
+unparalleled in its extent. There is probably not a single inland town
+in Great Britain, with the exception of London, which can show such a
+shipping list.
+
+Glasgow has ever been distinguished for its mechanical ingenuity, its
+industry and enterprise. Its situation doubtless is highly favorable,
+but without an intelligent, ingenious and active population, it could
+never have reached such a height of prosperity.
+
+But it is not our intention to visit this commercial city as tourists.
+There are enough such to describe her agreeable situation, and handsome
+public edifices, her long and elegant streets, her beautiful "green,"
+and magnificent river. At present we shall not fatigue ourselves with
+visiting the Royal Exchange, the Royal Bank, the Tontine and the
+Assembly Rooms. Neither shall we trouble our readers to go with us
+through Queen street, St. Vincent street, Greenhill Place, or Woodside
+Crescent.
+
+It might be worth while however, to look into some of those immense
+factories; from which rise innumerable huge chimnies, some of which
+overtop the steeples and towers of the churches, and reach far up into
+the heavens.[124] Thousands and thousands of spindles and power looms,
+with thousands and thousands of human hands and heads are moving there
+from morn to night, and from night to morn. What masses of complicated
+and beautiful machinery! What prodigious steam-engines, great hearts of
+power in the centres of little worlds, giving life energy and motion to
+the whole. Here is a single warehouse, as it is called, for the sale of
+manufactured goods, containing no less than two hundred clerks. What
+piles of silks and shawls, cottons and calicoes! The productions of
+Glasgow reach every part of the world. You will find them in India,
+China, and the United States, in the wilds of Africa and the jungles of
+Burmah, amid the snows of Labrador, and the savannahs of Georgia.
+
+[Footnote 124: One of these chimnies is said to be over 400 feet high.]
+
+But let us go down to the Broomielaw, and take a look at the river
+Clyde. That mile of masts, and those immense steamers, plying up and
+down the river, connect Glasgow with every part of the British Empire
+and the world.
+
+What grand agency has accomplished all this? Steam!--steam, under the
+guidance and control of genius and enterprise. The extended prosperity
+of Glasgow commenced with the inventions of Watt, the greatest
+mechanical genius of the age, and the first man that constructed a
+steam-engine of much practical use. Steam has raised all those huge
+factories which we have been admiring, and keeps their innumerable
+wheels and pistons, spindles and power looms in motion. Steam it is
+which brings untold masses of coal and iron from the bowels of the
+earth, and converts them into machinery and motive power. Yonder it
+comes, rolling and dashing, in a long train of cars and carriages filled
+with the produce and population of the land. Here it gives life and
+energy to a cotton mill with a thousand looms! There it casts off, from
+day to day, the myriads of printed sheets which spread intelligence
+through the country. All around us it moves the cranks and pullies,
+ropes and wires, wheels and tools, which work such wonders in beating
+and grinding, cutting and carving, polishing and dyeing. Steam has added
+thousands, nay millions to the annual income of Glasgow. It has
+augmented the resources of Great Britain to such an extent that it
+saves seventy millions of dollars annually in the matter of motive
+power alone! No pen can describe the additions which it has made in
+other parts of the world to their manufactures and commerce. It has
+brought all nations into more intimate relations, and is yet destined,
+in many respects, to revolutionize the world.
+
+Let us go then to George's Square, near the centre of the city, and look
+at Chantrey's monument of the man who has done so much to bring about
+such a change. The Square contains also a fine monument of Sir Walter
+Scott, in the form of a fluted Doric column, about eighty feet high,
+surmounted by a colossal statue of "the great magician of the north." He
+is represented standing in an easy attitude, with a shepherd's plaid
+thrown half around his body. The likeness is said to be remarkably good.
+It has that expression of shrewdness, honesty and good nature for which
+he was distinguished, but none of that ideal elevation which graces the
+countenances of Schiller, Goethe and Shakspeare. Immediately in front of
+this monument, is a beautiful pedestrian statue in bronze, by Flaxman,
+of Sir John Moore, the subject of Wolfe's exquisite lyric,--
+
+    "Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
+      As his corpse to the ramparts we hurried,
+    Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,
+      O'er the grave where our hero we buried."
+
+Sir John Moore was a citizen of Glasgow, and his townsmen have erected
+this statue as expressive of their veneration for his memory. To the
+right of this monument, in the south-west angle of the square, you see
+in bronze, and of colossal magnitude, the noble figure of James Watt. He
+is represented in a sitting posture on a circular pedestal of Aberdeen
+granite. It is considered one of the happiest productions of the
+distinguished Chantrey. The fine meditative features of the great
+inventor are strikingly developed. Watt was born in Greenock, on the
+19th of January, 1736, but conducted his experiments chiefly in Glasgow.
+He came thither in 1757, first as a mathematical instrument maker to the
+college, and subsequently as an engineer. In early life he gave
+indications of his peculiar genius, by various little mechanical
+contrivances. At the age of six years, he was occasionally found
+stretched on the floor, delineating with chalk the lines of a
+geometrical problem. At other times he greatly obliged his young
+companions by making and repairing their toys; and before he had reached
+his seventeenth year he had amused them with the wonders of an
+electrical machine of his own construction. He had also instructed
+himself by making experiments on the steam of a tea-kettle. He
+subsequently stored his mind with the wonders of physics, chemistry and
+medicine.
+
+In the University of Glasgow, Watt was employed to fit up the
+instruments of the Macfarlane Observatory, which gave him an opportunity
+of becoming acquainted with Adam Smith, Joseph Black, and Robert Simson,
+names immortal in the scientific annals of Scotland. Here also he formed
+an intimacy with John Robinson, then a student at college, and
+subsequently the celebrated Dr. Robinson, who first called the attention
+of Watt to the subject of steam engines, and threw out the idea of
+applying them to steam carriages and other purposes.
+
+The steam-engine had existed before this time, but it was extremely
+imperfect, and, moreover, of no great practical use. Hence Mr. Watt was
+not, properly speaking, the inventor but the improver of the
+steam-engine. Still his improvement was equal to an invention of the
+highest order. It made the instrument _available_ for the highest
+practical purposes. "He found the crazy machines of Savery and Newcomen
+laboring and creaking at our mine heads, and occupying the same rank as
+prime movers with the wind-mill and the water-wheel; and by a succession
+of _inventions_ and _discoveries_, deduced from the most profound
+chemical knowledge, and applied by the most exquisite mechanical skill,
+he brought the steam-engine to such a degree of perfection as to stamp
+it the most precious gift which man ever bequeathed to his race."[125]
+
+[Footnote 125: Edinburgh Review.]
+
+Watt had "a sore fight of existence," at least in the early part of his
+career, and he came near being deprived of the emolument which was his
+just due as a benefactor of his race. But he eventually triumphed over
+all opposition, retired from business, and continued to reside during
+the rest of his life on his estate at Heathfield Soho. He was
+exceedingly happy in his domestic relations, though called, in 1804, to
+suffer a painful bereavement in the loss of his youngest son Gregory,
+who had given high promise of literary and scientific eminence. In 1808
+he was elected a corresponding member of the Institute of France; and in
+1814, he was nominated by the Academy of Sciences as one of its _eight_
+foreign correspondents. In 1819 his health suffered a rapid decline, and
+he himself felt that this was his last illness. "Resigned, himself, he
+endeavored to make others resigned. He pointed out to his son the topics
+of consolation which should occupy his mind; and expressing his sincere
+gratitude to Providence for the length of days he had enjoyed, for his
+exemption from most of the infirmities of age, and for the serenity and
+cheerfulness which marked the close of his life; he expired at
+Heathfield on the 25th of August, 1819." He was interred in the parish
+church of Handsworth; and over his tomb his son erected an elegant
+Gothic chapel, containing a beautiful marble bust by Chantrey. Another
+bust by the same artist has been placed in one of the halls of Glasgow
+College. A colossal statue of Carrara marble, procured at great expense
+by public subscription, graces the recesses of Westminster Abbey.
+
+The most useful memorial of Watt, however, exists in Greenock, in the
+form of a large and handsome building for a public library, erected by
+his son, in which the citizens have caused to be placed a handsome
+marble statue, with an inscription from the pen of Lord Jeffrey. Lord
+Brougham concluded an eloquent speech on the merits of Mr. Watt, in the
+following striking terms:--"If in old times the temples of false gods
+were appropriately filled with the images of men who had carried
+devastation over the face of the earth, surely our temples cannot be
+more worthily adorned with the likenesses of those whose triumphs have
+been splendid indeed, but unattended by sorrow to any--who have achieved
+victories, not for one country only, but to enlarge the power and
+increase the happiness of the whole human race."
+
+Passing up High Street, we come to an arched gateway, and find ourselves
+in a quadrangular court, with antique looking buildings on each side.
+Beyond this we come to another quadrangle, also surrounded by buildings
+of perhaps more recent date. Passing straight on we reach a handsome
+edifice of polished freestone, directly in front of us, and standing
+alone, which is nothing less than the Hunterian museum. These then are
+the buildings of Glasgow University. Beyond us is the college-green,
+ornamented with trees, and divided into two parts by a sluggish stream
+which passes through the centre. A number of the students, having laid
+aside their scarlet gowns, are playing at football, a violent but
+delightful and invigorating exercise.
+
+The University of Glasgow was founded in 1450, in the time of James the
+Second. Bishop Turnbull was then in possession of the see, and his
+successors were appointed chancellors. The history of the institution
+has been various; but, generally speaking, it has enjoyed a high degree
+of prosperity. Of late years the number of students has declined, from
+what cause we know not. The number, in all the departments, does not
+exceed a thousand, whereas, in 1824, when the writer was a student in
+Glasgow, there were from fourteen to fifteen hundred. Well does he
+remember the enthusiasm with which they welcomed their popular candidate
+for rector, Henry Brougham, Esq., M. P., as he was then termed, and the
+eager interest with which they listened to his inaugural discourse. Sir
+James McIntosh, a fine hearty looking man, with bland expressive eyes,
+and two of the sons of Robert Burns, tall, good looking young men, but
+with no particular resemblance to their illustrious father, were
+present, with others, to grace the occasion. Brougham was in the
+maturity of his strength, and the hey-day of his fame. Tall, muscular,
+and wiry, with searching visage, dark complexion, keen piercing eyes,
+ample forehead, and long outstretched finger, he stood up the very
+personification of strength and eloquence. But Brougham has been
+frequently described, and we therefore pass him by. The next rector that
+was chosen was Thomas Campbell, the poet, once a member of the college,
+and one of its most distinguished ornaments. A large portion, if not the
+whole of the "Pleasures of Hope" was written while he was a student at
+college.
+
+Many distinguished men have been professors in this institution. Among
+these Dr. Reid and Dr. Hutcheson, Dr. Simpson and Dr. Moore, Adam Smith,
+and Professor Sandford stand pre-eminent. Well does the writer remember
+the accomplished, but unfortunate Sandford, and the profound enthusiasm
+for the Greek classics which he inspired in his students. He was a son
+of the venerable Bishop Sandford, a distinguished graduate of Oxford,
+and a man of the highest attainments in Greek and English literature. Of
+small stature, he yet possessed an elegant and commanding form. His pale
+face, finely chiselled mouth, dark eyes, and marble forehead are before
+me now. I hear his clear, musical voice, rolling out, _ore rotundo_, the
+resounding periods of Homer, or the energetic lines of Eschylus. No man
+ever recited Greek with such enthusiasm and energy. It was a perfect
+treat to hear him read the odes of Anacreon or the choral hymns of
+Eschylus; to say nothing of his elegant translations, or his fine
+critical remarks. He was created a baronet by the government, and bade
+fair to be one of the most distinguished and influential literary men in
+the country. But he was seduced into party politics, was sent as the
+representative of Glasgow to parliament, and failed--failed utterly and
+forever; for his want of success in the House of Commons preyed upon his
+spirits, and caused his death.
+
+Among the distinguished men now occupying places in this university we
+find Mr. Lushington, of Trinity College, Cambridge, professor of Greek,
+and Dr. Nichol, author of the popular Lectures on the Wonders of the
+Heavens, professor of practical astronomy. Mr. Mylne, professor of moral
+philosophy, and Mr. Buchanan, professor of logic, are acute and learned
+men.
+
+Leaving the college, we ascend High Street, and after reaching the top
+of the hill, a little to the right, we see before us the "High Kirk," or
+rather the old cathedral of Glasgow, one of the finest remains of
+antiquity, surrounded by a vast church-yard, containing many rich and
+ancient monumental tombs, and the mouldering bones of many by-gone
+generations. It has a superb crypt, "equalled by none in the
+kingdom,"--once used as a place of worship, but now as a place for
+burying the dead. The author of Waverley has invested it with additional
+interest by making it the scene of a striking incident in Rob Roy. The
+whole edifice has a most commanding appearance.
+
+At the north-east end of the cathedral the spot is yet to be seen where
+papal bigotry and superstition lighted the fires of religious
+persecution. There in the year 1538, Jerome Russel, a member of the
+convent of Franciscan friars, in Glasgow, a man of considerable talents,
+and John Kennedy, a young man from Ayr, of high family, only about
+eighteen years of age, were burned for having embraced the doctrines of
+the infant Reformation. They sustained the terrible ordeal through which
+they passed to glory with a becoming dignity and fortitude. "This is
+your hour and power of darkness," said Russel, "now you sit as judges,
+and we are wrongfully condemned, but the day cometh which will clear our
+innocency, and you shall see your own blindness to your everlasting
+confusion--go on and fulfil the measure of your iniquity." Is it
+surprising that the reaction of reform which followed such proceedings
+should occasionally have gone to unjustifiable lengths, and that the
+people should have torn down "the rookeries," which sheltered those
+birds of prey, as the papal tyrants of that day might well be termed?
+Never were a nobler or more heroic set of men than the martyrs and
+confessors of that trying time! Knox, Melville, and Wishart might be
+stern, but they were men of godlike temper and heroic zeal, of whom the
+world was not worthy; and whatever poetasters and novelists, sentimental
+journalists, and infidel historians may say of them, they will be found
+at last, occupying an honored place, at God's right hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+     The Necropolis--Jewish Burial Place--Monument to John
+     Knox--Monuments of William Macgavin and Dr.
+     Dick--Reminiscences--Character and Writings of Dr. Dick--Pollok and
+     'the Course of Time'--Grave of Motherwell--Sketch of his Life--His
+     Genius and Poetry--'Jeanie Morrison.'--'My Heid is like to rend,
+     Willie.'--'A Summer Sabbath Noon.'
+
+
+East of the Cathedral, a few steps, lies the Necropolis, on the brow of
+a hill which overlooks the city and the surrounding regions. We pass
+over the "Bridge of Sighs," so named from its leading to the Cemetery,
+and consisting of a handsome arch, spanning the "Molendinar Burn," a
+brawling rivulet, whose waters, collected into a small basin, dash over
+an artificial cascade into the ravine below. The Necropolis covers the
+rocky eminence formerly crowned with dark firs, and supposed, in ancient
+times to have been a retreat of the Druids, who here performed their
+fearful rites. But how sweet and peaceful now, ornamented with fine
+trees and shrubbery, shady walks, and beautiful monuments, a serene
+retreat for the peaceful dead. In point of situation and appearance, the
+Necropolis is superior to "Pere la Chaise," though certainly inferior to
+"Greenwood" and "Mount Auburn," in our opinion the most attractive
+burying-places in the world. Still, each of these has a beauty of its
+own, well fitted to soften and subdue those feelings of grief and
+horror naturally excited by death and the grave. Such sweet and
+attractive places of burial are in harmony with the genius of the
+Gospel. The ancient Greeks, from their very horror of death and their
+ignorance of futurity, endeavored to invest the tomb with festal
+associations. Why, then, should not we, upon whom the light of
+immortality has descended, lay those we love in scenes of quiet beauty,
+where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest?" Does
+not Holy Writ declare, "_Blessed_ are the dead that die in the Lord?" It
+is therefore meet to place their bodies only in scenes which remind us
+of rest, of hope, and of Heaven.
+
+                "The Dead cannot grieve,
+    Not a sob nor a sigh meets mine ear,
+      Which compassion itself could relieve.
+    Ah, sweetly they slumber, nor love, hope, or fear;
+    Peace! peace is the watchword, the only one here."
+
+Let affection, then, bury her dead and build her tombs amid the trees
+and the flowers, which preach to us of the resurrection-morn and the
+paradise of God.
+
+      "The first tabernacle to Hope we will build,
+    And look for the sleepers around us to rise!
+      The second to Faith which insures it fulfilled;
+    And the third to the Lamb of the great sacrifice,
+    Who bequeathed us them both when he rose from the skies!"
+
+This cemetery was founded in 1831, and the first sale was to the Jews,
+who require a burying-place for themselves. It lies in the north-west
+corner of the grounds. The enclosure contains the requisite
+accommodations for washing the bodies before interment as required by
+the Jewish law, which also forbids one body to be deposited above
+another. The place is ornamented with excellent taste. On the left is a
+beautiful pillar, in imitation of Absalom's pillar in the "King's dale."
+On the front of this column, and immediately under its capital, is a
+piece of fret-work, formed of Hebrew letters, representing the words,
+"Who among the gods is like unto Jehovah?" On the shaft of the column
+are those touching stanzas from Byron's Hebrew Melodies, concluding
+thus:
+
+    "Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
+    Where shall ye flee away and be at rest;
+    The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
+    Mankind their country--Israel but the grave."
+
+On the lower part of the column is the following:
+
+     "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let
+     thy widows trust in me."
+
+On the other side of the gateway are engraved the following verses:
+
+     "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel
+     weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children,
+     because they were not."
+
+     "Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine
+     eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord,
+     and they shall come again from the land of the enemy."
+
+     "And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children
+     shall come again to their own border."
+
+And on the opposite pillar is the following:
+
+     "How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Sion with a cloud in
+     his anger, and cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of
+     Israel, and removed not his footstool in the day of his anger."
+
+     "But though he caused grief, yet will he have compassion according
+     to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly,
+     nor grieve the children of men."
+
+On the summit of the hill, and towering above the rest, is the
+commanding monument of John Knox, intended to be commemorative of the
+Reformation. On a lofty square pedestal, stands the statue of the stern
+old Reformer, with the Bible in one hand, and the other stretched out,
+as if in the act of addressing the multitude. On one side of the
+pedestal is the following inscription:
+
+               To testify gratitude for inestimable services
+          In the cause of Religion, Education, and Civil Liberty,
+                           To awaken admiration
+             Of that Integrity, Disinterestedness and Courage,
+                Which stood unshaken in the midst of trials,
+              And in the maintenance of the highest objects--
+                                 Finally,
+      To cherish unceasing reverence for the principles and blessings
+         of that Great Reformation, by the influence of which our
+            country, though in the midst of difficulties, has
+               risen to honor, prosperity, and happiness,
+           This Monument is erected by Voluntary Subscription,
+                            To the Memory of
+                               JOHN KNOX,
+           The chief instrument, under God, of the Reformation
+                              in Scotland,
+                      On the 22d day of Sept. 1825.
+    He died rejoicing in the faith of the Gospel, at Edinburgh, on the
+              24th of Nov. 1532, in the 69th year of his age.
+
+On the other sides are the following:
+
+     "The Reformation produced a revolution in the sentiments of
+     mankind, the greatest as well as most beneficial that has happened
+     since the publication of Christianity."
+
+     "In 1547, and in the city where his friend George Wishart had
+     suffered, John Knox, surrounded with dangers, first preached the
+     doctrines of the Reformation. In 1559, on the 24th of August, the
+     parliament of Scotland adopted the confession of faith, presented
+     by the reformed ministers, and declared popery no longer to be the
+     religion of this kingdom.
+
+     "John Knox became then a minister of Edinburgh, where he continued
+     to his death, the incorruptible guardian of our best interests.
+
+     "'I can take God to witness,' he declared, 'that I never preached
+     in contempt of any man, and wise men will consider that a true
+     friend cannot flatter; especially in a case that involves the
+     salvation of the bodies and the souls, not of a few persons, but of
+     the whole realm.' When laid in the grave, the Regent said: 'There
+     lieth he who never feared the face of man, who was often threatened
+     with pistol and dagger, yet hath ended his days in peace and
+     honor.'
+
+     "Patrick Hamilton, a youth of high rank and distinguished
+     attainments, was the first martyr in Scotland in the cause of the
+     Reformation. He was condemned to the flames in St. Andrews, in
+     1528, and the 24th year of his age.
+
+     "From 1530 to 1540, persecution raged in every quarter, many
+     suffered the most cruel deaths, and many fled to England and the
+     continent. Among these early martyrs were Jerome Russel and
+     Alexander Kennedy, two young men of great piety and talent, who
+     suffered at Glasgow. William Wishart returned to Scotland, from
+     which he had been banished, and preached the Gospel in various
+     quarters. In 1546, this heavenly-minded man, the friend and
+     instructor of Knox, was committed to the flames at St. Andrews."
+
+Let the thoughtful ponder these interesting memorials, and say whether
+the Reformation in Scotland was not a glorious event!
+
+At a little distance from Knox's monument, is one to the memory of Mr.
+Macgavin, a banker in Glasgow, and author of "the Protestant;" and
+another of great elegance and beauty, to the memory of Dr. Dick, late
+professor of theology in the United Secession Church. "Say not that the
+good ever die," and "he sleeps a sacred sleep," are engraven, in Greek,
+upon the sides of the monument, beautiful and appropriate sentiments for
+the tomb of a Christian. Dr. Dick was pre-eminently a good man, and not
+only so but a man of the highest attainments. Well does the writer
+remember his dignified bearing, fine countenance, and silver hair. But a
+few years ago, he sat at the feet of this venerable man, as his
+instructor in theology, and received from his lips lessons of holy
+wisdom. While professor of theology, the reverend doctor was also pastor
+of one of the largest and most influential of the Secession churches in
+the city of Glasgow. He was greatly venerated, both by the people of his
+charge and by his theological pupils, for his dignity and purity of
+character, his clear, well balanced intellect, his calm and consistent
+piety. He wrote lucidly and elegantly on the "Inspiration of the
+Scriptures," a work which a distinguished English bishop so much admired
+that he carried it about with him in his pocket. His "Lectures on the
+Acts of the Apostles," though inferior to the production just named, is
+also a valuable work. Since his death, his "Theological Prelections"
+have been published, and are much esteemed for their clear statement,
+and defence of evangelical truth. Always lucid, always logical and
+satisfactory, he is never profound or original. His style glides in
+pellucid beauty, like a rivulet through the meadow, mirroring in its
+calm depths the green foliage which adorns its banks, and the blue
+heavens bending above it, but never cutting itself a new channel, or
+sweeping onward, with majestic force, like a torrent to the sea. The
+labors of Dr. Dick were pre-eminently useful; and a host of young men,
+educated under his influence, now fill posts of the highest
+responsibility in Scotland, and in other parts of the world. Pollok was
+a student of the Doctor's at the same time with the writer, but was not
+known to be possessed of any extraordinary genius till after the
+publication of "The Course of Time." He was considered a man of talent,
+however, and had written two or three sermons, containing passages of
+considerable power. But his heart was in his great poem during the whole
+of his student life. So intensely did he work upon it, that he had often
+to be assisted to bed, from sheer exhaustion. "The Course of Time" has
+many obvious faults, but abounds in strokes of genius and power. A great
+soul has poured itself into this rugged and sometimes gloomy channel,
+which, traversing the whole course of time, finally loses itself in the
+ocean of eternity. Pollok was tall, well proportioned, of a dark
+complexion, "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," with deep-set
+eyes, heavy eyebrows and black bushy hair. A smothered light burned in
+his dark orbs, which flashed, with a meteor brilliancy, whenever he
+spoke with enthusiasm and energy. He was born in 1798, at North
+Muirhouse, in the parish of Eaglesham, Renfrewshire,--
+
+                "'Mong hills and streams
+    And melancholy deserts, where the sun
+    Saw as he pass'd, a shepherd only here
+    And there, watching his little flock; or heard
+    The ploughman talking to his steers."
+
+His father was an honest farmer, and his early home a scene of much
+domestic endearment. To the trees which overshadowed the paternal
+mansion he thus pays homage in his verse:
+
+    "Much of my native scenery appears,
+    And presses forward, to be in my song;
+    But must not now; for much behind awaits,
+    Of higher note. Four trees I pass not by,
+    Which o'er our house their evening shadow threw;--
+    Three ash, and one of elm. Tall trees they were,
+    And old; and had been old a century
+    Before my day. None living could say aught
+    About their youth; but they were goodly trees;
+    And oft I wondered, as I sat and thought
+    Beneath their summer shade, or in the night
+    Of winter heard the spirits of the wind
+    Growling among their boughs--how they had grown
+    So high, in such a rough, tempestuous place:
+    And when a hapless branch, torn by the blast
+    Fell down, I mourned as if a friend had fallen."
+
+Pollok had just finished his studies, and was licensed as a preacher, by
+the United Secession Church, when he published his poem which thrilled
+all hearts in Scotland, and struck his fellow-students with perfect
+amazement, not unmingled, however, with delight. But he was then sick.
+His over-wrought frame began to yield, and he sought health in a foreign
+country, which he did not live to reach. He died in England in the
+autumn of 1827, the same year in which he had published his poem,
+having lived just long enough to complete it, and receive the applause
+of his countrymen.
+
+Before leaving the Necropolis, we must visit a grave at one corner of
+the grounds, in a quiet, shady spot, as if retired somewhat from the
+rest. There it is, the grave of William Motherwell, one of the sweetest
+of the Scottish poets, the author of "Bonnie Jeanie Morrison" and "My
+Heid is like to rend, Willie," and many other poems of exquisite grace
+and pathos.
+
+William Motherwell was born in the city of Glasgow in the year 1797, and
+died there in 1835. In his eleventh year he was transferred to the care
+of his uncle in Paisley, who brought him up. Here he received a liberal
+education, and commenced the study of law. At the age of twenty-one he
+was appointed Deputy to the Sheriff-Clerk of Paisley, a highly
+respectable but not lucrative situation. He early evinced a love of
+poetry, and in 1819 became editor of a miscellany, called "The Harp of
+Renfrewshire," which he conducted with much taste and judgment. A relish
+for antiquarian research led him to investigate the subject of the
+ballad poetry of Scotland, the results of which he published in 1827, in
+two volumes, entitled "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern." His introduction
+to this collection is admirably written, and must form the basis of all
+future investigations upon this subject. He seems to have been unusually
+successful in recovering many of the old ballads, which were never
+committed to writing, and known to very few persons. Some of these,
+though rude and grotesque in thought or style, are exquisitely
+beautiful. Allan Cunningham, another of Scotland's sweetest poets, had
+labored in this field, but not with the same success. But the genius of
+both of these poets was deeply imbued with the spirit of the old ballad
+rhymes. They had conned them in their minds so frequently that they
+naturally wrote their own effusions in the same simple and touching
+style. Soon after the publication of his "Ancient Minstrelsy,"
+Motherwell became editor of a weekly journal in Paisley, and established
+a magazine there, to which he contributed some of his finest poems. The
+talent and spirit which he evinced in these literary labors, were the
+occasion of his being removed to the city of Glasgow, to the editorial
+care of the Glasgow Courier, in which situation he continued till his
+death. He conducted this paper with great ability.
+
+Motherwell was of small stature, but thick set and muscular. His head
+was large and finely formed; his eyes were bright and penetrating. In
+mixed society he was rather reserved, "but appeared internally to enjoy
+the feast of reason and the flow of soul." Somewhat pensive in his mood,
+he lived much in the solitude of his own thoughts, and at times gave way
+to a profound melancholy. This spirit pervades his poetry. The wailings
+of a wounded heart mingle with his fine descriptions of nature, and his
+lofty aspirations after the beautiful and true.
+
+In 1832 he collected and published his poems in one volume. He was also
+associated with the Ettrick Shepherd in editing the works of Burns, and
+at the time of his death was collecting materials for the life of
+Tannahill, an humble weaver in Paisley, but one of the finest
+song-writers Scotland has ever produced. "Accompanied by a literary
+friend, on the first of November, 1835, he had been dining in the
+country, about a couple of miles from Glasgow, and on his return home,
+feeling indisposed, he went to bed. In a few hours thereafter he
+awakened, and complained of a pain in the head, which increased so much
+as to render him speechless. Medical assistance was speedily obtained;
+but alas! it was of no avail--the blow was struck, and the curtain had
+finally fallen over the life and fortunes of William Motherwell. One
+universal feeling of regret and sympathy seemed to extend over society,
+when the sudden and premature decease of this accomplished poet and
+elegant writer became known. His funeral was attended by a large body of
+the citizens, by the most eminent and learned of the literary
+professions, and by persons of all shades of political opinions. He was
+interred in the Necropolis of Glasgow, not far from the resting-place of
+his fast friend, Mr. William Henderson."
+
+Though Motherwell's death was thus sudden and unexpected, he seems to
+have had something like a premonition of it. The following touching
+lines were given to a friend, a day or two before his decease:
+
+    When I beneath the cold red earth am sleeping,
+                Life's fever o'er,
+    Will there for me be any bright eye weeping,
+                That I'm no more?
+    Will there be any heart still memory keeping,
+                Of heretofore?
+
+    When the great winds through leafless forests rushing,
+                Sad music make?
+    When the swollen streams, o'er crag and gully gushing,
+                Like full hearts break,
+    Will there then one whose heart despair is crushing,
+                Mourn for my sake?
+
+    When the bright sun upon that spot is shining,
+                With purest ray,
+    And the small flowers their buds and blossoms twining,
+                Burst through that clay,
+    Will there be one still on that spot repining,
+                Lost hopes all day?
+
+    When no star twinkles with its eye of glory,
+                On that low mound,
+    And wintry storms have with their ruins hoary,
+                Its loneness crowned;
+    Will there be then one versed in misery's story,
+                Pacing it round?
+
+    It may be so,--but this is selfish sorrow,
+                To ask such meed--
+    A weakness and a wickedness to borrow
+                From hearts that bleed,
+    The waitings of to-day for what to-morrow
+                Shall never need.
+
+    Lay me then gently in my narrow dwelling,
+                Thou gentle heart;
+    And though thy bosom should with grief be swelling,
+                Let no tear start;
+    It were in vain--for Time hath long been knelling--
+                Sad one, depart!
+
+These are mournful, but somewhat hopeful strains; for one who feels
+that "time has long been knelling, sad one, depart!" must, if not a
+sceptic, have looked beyond the grave, and descried in better worlds,
+rest and solace for the aching heart. Here, in his "narrow dwelling," he
+gently sleeps, while pilgrims from afar drop tears of sympathy upon its
+"grassy mound."
+
+Motherwell was a man of pure genius. His poems are distinguished for
+their deep tenderness and exquisite melody. They are gemmed, moreover,
+with beautiful conceptions, with original and striking expressions.
+There is nothing, in the whole range of Scottish poetry, except Burns's
+"Highland Mary," equal in beauty and pathos to
+
+
+              "JEANIE MORRISON."
+
+    I've wandered east I've wandered west,
+      Through mony a weary way;
+    But never, never can forget,
+      The luve o' life's young day!
+    The fire that's blawn on Beltane[126] e'en,
+      May weel be black 'gin[127] Yule,[128]
+    But blacker fa' awaits the heart
+      When first fond luve grows cule.
+
+    O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,
+      The thochts of bygane years,
+    Still fling their shadows o'er my path,
+      And blind my een wi' tears:
+    They blind my een wi' saut,[129] saut tears,
+      And sair and sick I pine,
+    As memory idly summons up
+      The blithe blinks[130] o' lang syne.
+
+    'Twas then we luvit ilk[131] ither weel,
+      'Twas then we twa did part;
+    Sweet time--sad time! twa bairns at school,
+      Twa bairns and but ae[132] heart!
+    'Twas then we sat on ae laigh[133] bink,
+      To lier[134] ilk ither lear;
+    And tones, and looks, and smiles were shed,
+      Remembered evermair.
+
+    I wonder, Jeanie, aften yet,
+      When sitting on that bink,
+    Cheek touchin' cheek, loof[135] locked in loof,
+      What our wee heads could think.
+    When baith bent down o'er ae braid page
+      Wi' ae buik on our knee,
+    Thy lips were on thy lesson, but
+      My lesson was in thee.
+
+    O mind[136] ye how we hung our heads,
+      How cheeks brent red wi' shame,
+    Whene'er the schule[137] weans laughin' said,
+      We cleeked[138] thegither hame?
+    And mind ye o' the Saturdays,
+      (The schule then skail't[139] at noon,)
+    When we ran aff to speel[140] the braes,
+      The broomy braes o' June?
+
+    My heid runs round and round about,
+      My heart flows like a sea,
+    As ane by ane the thochts rush back,
+      O' schule time and o' thee.
+    O mornin' life! O mornin' luve!
+      O lichtsome days and lang,
+    When hinnied[141] hopes around our hearts,
+      Like simmer blossoms sprang!
+
+    O mind ye, luve, how aft we left
+      The deavin'[142] dinsome[143] toun,
+    To wander by the green burnside,
+      And hear its waters croon?[144]
+    The simmer leaves hung ower our heads,
+      The flowers burst round our feet,
+    And in the gloamin' o' the wood,
+      The throssil[145] whusslit sweet.
+
+    The throssil whusslit in the wood,
+      The burn sang to the trees,
+    And we wi' Nature's heart in tune,
+      Concerted harmonies;
+    And on the knowe[146] abune the burn,
+      For hours thegither sat:
+    In the silentness o' joy, till baith
+      Wi' very, very gladness grat.[147]
+
+    Ay, ay, dear Jeanie Morrison,
+      Tears trinkled down your cheek,
+    Like dew-beads on a rose, yet nane
+      Had ony power to speak!
+    That was a time, a blessed time,
+      When hearts were fresh and young,
+    When freely gushed all feelings forth,
+      Unsyllabled,--unsung!
+
+    I marvel, Jeanie Morrison,
+      Gin[148] I hae been to thee,
+    As closely twined wi' earliest thochts,
+      As ye hae been to me?
+    O! tell me gin their music fills
+      Thine ear as it does mine;
+    O! say gin e'er your heart grows[149] grit
+      Wi' dreamings o' lang syne?
+
+    I've wandered east, I've wandered west,
+      I've borne a weary lot;
+    But in my wanderings far or near,
+      Ye never were forgot.
+    The fount that first burst frae this heart,
+      Still travels on its way;
+    And channels deeper as it runs,
+      The luve o' life's young day.
+
+    O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,
+      Since we were sindered young,
+    I've never seen your face, nor heard
+      The music o' your tongue;
+    But I could hug all wretchedness,
+      And happy could I die,
+    Did I but ken your heart still dreamed,
+      O' bygane days and me!
+
+[Footnote 126: Holyrood day.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Until.]
+
+[Footnote 128: Christmas.]
+
+[Footnote 129: Salt.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Gleams, or flashes.]
+
+[Footnote 131: Each other.]
+
+[Footnote 132: One.]
+
+[Footnote 133: Low bench.]
+
+[Footnote 134: To teach.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Hand.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Remember.]
+
+[Footnote 137: School children.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Clasped.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Dismissed.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Climb.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Honied.]
+
+[Footnote 142: Deafening.]
+
+[Footnote 143: Noisy.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Murmur.]
+
+[Footnote 145: Thrush or mavis.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Knoll.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Wept.]
+
+[Footnote 148: If.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Swells.]
+
+Equally beautiful and still more pathetic, is "_My Heid is like to rend,
+Willie_." Indeed, we know of nothing so affecting as the last stanzas of
+this exquisite ballad. The poor heart-broken girl gives abundant
+evidence of her profound penitence:
+
+    O! dinna mind my words, Willie,
+      I downa seek to blame,--
+    But O! it's hard to live, Willie,
+      And dree a world's shame!
+    Het tears are hailin' ower your cheek,
+      And hailin' ower your chin;
+    Why weep ye sae for worthlessness,
+      For sorrow and for sin.
+
+    I'm weary o' this warld, Willie,
+      And sick wi' a' I see,--
+    I canna live as I hae lived,
+      Or be as I should be.
+    But fauld unto your heart, Willie,
+      The heart that still is thine,--
+    And kiss ance mair the white, white cheek,
+      Ye said was red lang syne.
+
+    A stoun[150] gaes through my heid, Willie,
+      A sair stoun through my heart,--
+    O! hand me up, and let me kiss
+      Thy brow, ere we twa pairt.
+    Anither, and anither yet!--
+      How fast my life's strings break!--
+    Farewell! farewell! through yon kirk-yard
+      Step lichtly for my sake!
+
+    The lav'rock[151] in the lift,[152] Willie,
+      That lilts[153] far ower our heid,
+    Will sing the morn as merrilie
+      Abune the clay-cauld deid;
+    And this green turf we're sittin' on,
+      Wi' dew-draps shimmerin' sheen,
+    Will hap[154] the heart that luvit thee,
+      As warld has seldom seen.
+
+    But O! remember me, Willie,
+      On land where'er ye be,--
+    And O! think on the leal, leal heart,
+      That ne'er luvit ane but thee!
+    And O! think on the cauld, cauld mools,[155]
+      That file[156] my yellow hair,--
+    That kiss the cheek, that kiss the chin,
+      Ye never sail kiss mair.
+
+[Footnote 150: A darting pain.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Lark.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Sky.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Sings.]
+
+[Footnote 154: Cover.]
+
+[Footnote 155: Clods.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Soil.]
+
+As a specimen of Motherwell's descriptive powers, the exquisite grace of
+his diction, and the deep-toned melody of his verse, and not only so,
+but of his high devotional feelings, we give the following:
+
+            A SABBATH SUMMER NOON.
+
+    The calmness of this noontide hour,
+      The shadow of this wood,
+    The fragrance of each wilding flower
+      Are marvelously good;
+    O! here crazed spirits breathe the balm,
+      Of nature's solitude!
+
+    It is a most delicious calm
+      That resteth everywhere,--
+    The holiness of soul-sung psalm,
+      Of felt, but voiceless prayer!
+    With hearts too full to speak their bliss,
+      God's creatures silent are.
+
+    They silent are; but not the less
+      In this most tranquil hour,
+    Of deep, unbroken dreaminess,
+      They own that Love and Power,
+    Which like the softest sunshine rests,
+      On every leaf and flower.
+
+    How silent are the song-filled nests
+      That crowd this drowsy tree,--
+    How mute is every feathered breast
+      That swelled with melody!
+    And yet bright bead-like eyes declare,
+      This hour is exstacy.
+
+    Heart forth! as uncaged bird through air,
+      And mingle in the tide
+    Of blessed things, that, lacking care,
+      How full of beauty glide,
+    Around thee, in their angel hues
+      Of joy and sinless pride.
+
+    Here on this green bank that o'er-views
+      The far retreating glen,
+    Beneath the spreading beech-tree muse,
+      On all within thy ken;
+    For lovelier scene shall never break,
+      On thy dimmed sight again.
+
+    Slow stealing from the tangled brake,
+      That skirts the distant hill,
+    With noiseless hoof two bright fawns make
+      For yonder lapsing rill;
+    Meek children of the forest gloom,
+      Drink on, and fear no ill!
+
+    And buried in the yellow broom,
+      That crowns the neighboring height,
+    Couches a loutish shepherd groom,
+      With all his flocks in sight;
+    Which dot the green braes gloriously,
+      With spots o' living light.
+
+    It is a sight that filleth me
+      With meditative joy,
+    To mark these dumb things curiously
+      Crowd round the guardian boy;
+    As if they felt this Sabbath hour
+      Of bliss lacked all alloy.
+
+    I bend me towards the tiny flower,
+      That underneath this tree,
+    Opens its little breast of sweets
+      In meekest modesty,
+    And breathes the eloquence of love,
+      In muteness, Lord! to thee.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    The silentness of night doth brood
+      O'er this bright summer noon;
+    And nature, in her holiest mood,
+      Doth all things well attune,
+    To joy in the religious dreams
+      Of green and leafy June.
+
+    Far down the glen in distance gleams,
+      The hamlet's tapering spire,
+    And glittering in meridial beams
+      Its vane is tongued with fire;
+    And hark, how sweet its silvery bell,--
+      And hark, the rustic choir!
+
+    The holy sounds float up the dell
+      To fill my ravished ear,
+    And now the glorious anthems swell,--
+      Of worshippers sincere,--
+    Of hearts bowed in the dust, that shed
+      Faith's penitential tear.
+
+    Dear Lord! thy shadow is forth spread,
+      On all mine eye can see;
+    And filled at the pure fountain-head
+      Of deepest piety,
+    My heart loves all created things,
+      And travels home to thee.
+
+    Around me while the sunshine flings,
+      A flood of mocky gold,
+    My chastened spirit once more sings,
+      As it was wont of old,
+    That lay of gratitude which burst
+      From young heart uncontrolled.
+
+    When in the midst of nature nursed,
+      Sweet influences fell,
+    On childly hearts that were athirst,
+      Like soft dews in the bell
+    Of tender flowers, that bowed their heads,
+      And breathed a fresher smell.
+
+    So, even now this hour hath sped,
+      In rapturous thought o'er me,
+    Feeling myself with nature wed,--
+      A holy mystery,--
+    A part of earth, a part of heaven,
+      A part, great God! of Thee.
+
+    Fast fade the cares of life's dull even,
+      They perish as the weed,
+    While unto me the power is given,
+      A moral deep to read,
+    In every silent throe of mind,
+      Eternal beauties breed.
+
+It would be pleasant, but we have not time, to make the acquaintance of
+some of the Glasgow clergy, particularly of the classic Wardlaw, the
+vigorous Heugh,[157] the accomplished King, the energetic Robson, the
+intelligent Buchanan, the eloquent Willis, the strong "in knee'd"
+Anderson, and others of equal distinction. A fair specimen of the
+Scottish clergy has been given in the ministers of Edinburgh, and that
+must suffice for the present.
+
+[Footnote 157: Since the above was written, the Rev. Dr. Heugh has gone
+to his reward in heaven. He was a man of fine talents, deep piety, and
+most engaging manners. We met him some years ago on the banks of Lake
+Leman, whither he had gone for his health, in company with Merle
+D'Aubigne, Joseph J. Gurney and others; on which occasion Dr. Heugh gave
+an interesting and graphic account of the Free Church movement, which
+was translated for the benefit of those who did not understand English,
+by Professor La Harpe. Never shall we forget that interview. There were
+present, French and English, German and Swiss, Scots and Americans. Some
+of these were Presbyterians, others Episcopalians, and others Baptists,
+Lutherans and Quakers; but all were "one in Christ Jesus." Joseph J.
+Gurney closed our interview with a prayer in the French language, the
+most simple, solemn, and touching we ever heard. Ah! little did we think
+that one of the most agreeable of that happy company was so soon to pass
+away from the scenes of earth. The following sketch of Dr. Heugh as a
+preacher, is from a funeral sermon by Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh.
+
+"As a preacher, he was judicious, faithful, discriminating; not
+exclusively doctrinal or practical, or experimental, but all by turns,
+and often all in the same discourse. The matter of his discourses was
+drawn from the living oracles, and his constant aim was to explain and
+to apply the saving doctrines of the cross--to bring the mind and hearts
+of men into harmony with the mind and will of God, especially as those
+are revealed in the person and work of his incarnate Son. He was
+eminently a scriptural preacher, both in substance and in form. The
+commands of the Master, 'Divide rightly the word of truth,' 'Feed my
+sheep,' 'Feed my lambs,' seemed to be ever present to his mind, and to
+guide all his ministerial studies; and hence it was that his pulpit
+services were marked by a lucid, pointed, and affectionate inculcation
+of those varied truths which the circumstances of his hearers required.
+There was nothing trivial or extraneous in his discussions. He stated
+massy important thoughts, wide and comprehensive views--the result of
+much reflection and experience--illustrative of his subject and suited
+to the occasion--in simple and appropriate words; and the hearer was
+made to feel that he was not listening to human speculations, but that
+Christ was, by the preacher, unfolding his mind and will--'making
+manifest the savor of his knowledge.'
+
+"His manner in the pulpit was singularly easy, graceful and pleasing.
+All that he said and did was natural and becoming. His fine open
+countenance, his animated appearance, his fluency of utterance, the
+pleasantly modulated tones of his voice, his graceful action, and the
+solemn devotional feeling which obviously pervaded all these, rivetted
+attention, and threw a peculiar charm over his whole discourse. There
+was no seeking for effect, no going out of the way for ornaments, no
+efforts to dazzle and to overwhelm. He was occupied with his subject,
+and sought to fill the minds of his hearers with it, as his own mind was
+filled with it. There were occasionally passages of great beauty,
+touchingly tender statements, stirring suddenly the deeper emotions of
+the heart; but the ordinary character of his eloquence was instructive
+and pleasing, rather than affecting or overpowering."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     Dumbarton Castle--Lochlomond--Luss--Ascent of
+     Benlomond--Magnificent Views--Ride to Loch-Katrine--Rob Roy
+     Macgregor--'Gathering of Clan Gregor'--Loch-Katrine and the
+     Trosachs--The city of Perth--Martyrdom of Helen Stark and her
+     husband.
+
+
+Embarking in a steamer at Glasgow, we glide down the Clyde as far as
+Dumbarton Castle, which rises, in stern and solitary majesty, from the
+bosom of the river,--
+
+                          "A castled steep,
+    Whose banner hangeth o'er the time-worn tower
+    So idly, that rapt fancy deemeth it
+    A metaphor of peace."
+
+In ancient times, however, those old battlements frequently stood the
+shock of invading war. Dumbarton was the "Alcluith" of the ancient
+Britons, subsequently "Dumbriton," or "the fortified hill of the
+Britons." The vale of the Clyde was called "Strathclutha," and here was
+the capital of the kingdom of the "Strathclyde Britons." "Alcluith" is
+the "Balclutha" of Ossian; _balla_ signifying a _wall_ or _bulwark_,
+from the Latin _vallum_, a _wall_. "I have seen the walls of Balclutha,"
+sings Ossian, in the poem of Carron, "but they were desolate. The fire
+had resounded in the halls; and the voice of the people is heard no
+more. The stream of the Clutha (Clyde) was removed from its place by
+the fall of the walls. The thistle shook here its lonely head; the moss
+whistled to the wind. The fox looked out from the windows; the rank
+grass of the walls waved round its head. Desolate is the dwelling of
+Morna; silence is in the house of her fathers." In the reign of Queen
+Mary this stronghold was taken by an escalade. This was accomplished by
+Captain Crawford, an officer of great energy and talent, who acted for
+the confederated lords who opposed Queen Mary after the death of her
+husband, Henry Darnley. Provided with scaling-ladders, and whatever else
+was necessary, Crawford set out from Glasgow with a small but determined
+body of men. The night was dark and misty, when they reached the
+castle-walls. Crawford, and a soldier who acted as a guide, scrambled up
+to a ledge of rock, where they fastened a ladder to a tree, which grew
+on one of its cliffs. Ascending by this means, the whole party stood
+together with their chief on this natural parapet. But they were far
+from the point which they hoped to reach. Again the ladder was planted,
+and the ascent begun. But all at once one of the foremost soldiers, when
+half way up the ladder, was seized with a sudden fit, and clung to the
+ladder stiff and motionless. All further progress was at an end. What to
+do they knew not. To cut him down would be cruel, and besides might
+awaken the garrison. In this emergency, Crawford had the man secured, by
+means of ropes to the ladder, which was turned over and all passed up in
+safety to the foot of the wall. Day began to break, and they hastened
+to scale the wall. The first man who reached the parapet was seen by a
+sentinel, who was quickly knocked in the head. The whole party, with
+furious shouts, rushed over the wall, and took possession of the
+magazine, seized the cannon, and before the besieged could help
+themselves, had entire control of the Castle.
+
+But we cannot linger here; so, bidding adieu to Dumbarton, with its
+martial associations, we strike off from the river at right angles, and,
+after a pleasant ride of four or five miles, through a peaceful and
+agreeable country, we reach the south end of Lochlomond, the "Queen of
+the Scottish lakes," where we find a little steamer in waiting, which
+takes us, and a company of sportsmen, travellers and others, over the
+placid waves of this magnificent sheet of water. The lake is some thirty
+miles in length, and of unequal breadth, being sometimes four or five
+miles, and then again not more than a single mile in width, gorgeously
+begemmed with verdant and beautifully wooded islands, of larger and
+smaller size, to the number of thirty, and shaded here and there by
+mountains, covered with verdure and trees to their summits, or grim
+cliffs, towering, in solitary grandeur, above the dark and heaving
+waters beneath. How finely our little steamer dashes the water from her
+prow, as if she really enjoyed the trip, among the beautiful scenery of
+this charming lake! What variety of light and shade! What diversity of
+scene, as isle after isle, bold headland, lofty cliff, or wooded
+acclivity, meets the gaze! How earth and air and sky, yon fleecy clouds
+that skirt the horizon, wild crags, and verdant slopes, clumps of trees
+on the water's edge, islands of green mirroring their foliage in the
+bosom of the lake, mingle and intermingle in ever varying forms of
+beauty and grandeur! Yonder, too, is Benlomond, the genius of the place,
+towering above the lesser mountains, and looking down, as if
+protectingly, upon the lake he loves. The shores are exceedingly
+beautiful; on one side lying low, "undulating with fields and groves,
+where many a pleasant dwelling is embowered, into lines of hills that
+gradually soften away into another land. On the other side, sloping
+back, or overhanging, mounts beautiful in their bareness, for they are
+green as emerald; others, scarcely more beautiful, studded with fair
+trees, some altogether woods. They soon form into mountains, and the
+mountains become more and more majestical, yet beauty never deserts
+them, and her spirit continues to tame that of the frowning cliffs."
+"The islands," continues Professor Wilson, from whom we make this fine
+extract, "are forever arranging themselves into new forms, every one
+more and more beautiful; at least so they seem to be, perpetually
+occurring, yet always unexpected; and there is a pleasure even in such a
+series of slight surprises that enhances the delight of admiration."
+
+The southern part of the lake is the most beautiful, but the northern
+the most sublime. The channel narrows, and the mountains rise higher and
+higher, casting dark shadows into the water. For a moment it seems
+gloomy, but high up in the mountains you discover spots of green; and
+the sunlight glancing down, between the masses of shadow, lights up the
+waves of the lake with a strange beauty, as if it were something purer
+and more spirit-like than the beauty of the ordinary world.
+
+But we will stop at the village of Luss, near the edge of the lake,
+surrounded by mountain scenery, in some places rough and bleak, but
+charmingly diversified by deep wooded glens, and romantic ravines.
+
+The sun is sinking behind the western hills--the evening shadows are
+resting in the vallies, while the tops of those craggy heights around us
+are still burning with the last rays of departing day. We wander towards
+the southern part of the parish, with feelings subdued by the
+magnificent scenery which everywhere meets our gaze, and the solemn
+stillness which reigns among the mountains, broken only by the tinkling
+of a small stream winding its way to the lake, as if seeking a home in
+its bosom, like the soul of a true Christian, which is ever tending
+onward to the infinite and immortal. At length, while the sweet and long
+continued "gloaming" of the Scottish summer envelopes everything in its
+soft and dubious light, we reach the remains of a large cairn, a mound
+of stones and earth, called "Carn-na-Cheasoig," the cairn of St. Kessog.
+Here then, according to tradition, lies the dust of St. Kessog, who is
+said to have suffered martyrdom near the site of this cairn, in the
+sixth century, and who anciently was venerated as the guardian saint of
+Luss. Was St. Kessog a true martyr? We trust he was, and can easily
+imagine the cruel but triumphant death of the holy man. At such an hour,
+and in such a scene, with the shadow of these great, sky-pointing
+mountains, resting on our spirits, we might almost believe anything;
+anything, at least, lofty and heart-stirring. It is not surprising that
+the Highlanders are superstitious: but it is surprising that they are
+not more religious. An infidel or a fanatic among the hills seems an
+impossibility. Nor are the inhabitants of these high regions inclined
+either to scepticism or fanatacism. But they are ignorant of
+Christianity in its purer forms; and hence are easily subjected to
+superstitious fears. But we are not yet among the Highlanders; for Luss
+and the regions around are naturally subjected to Lowland influences.
+
+Next morning we pass over the lake in a small boat to Rowardennan, on
+the eastern shore, whence we commence the ascent of Benlomond, which
+rises to a height of something more than three thousand feet. The
+distance from Rowardennan to the top is generally reckoned about six
+miles. Wending along the sides of the mountain we gradually ascend to
+the bare and craggy summit, but not without resting here and there, and
+stopping to gaze upon the expanding landscape, as it spreads further and
+further towards the distant seas. We are somewhat fatigued, but how
+refreshing the mountain breeze, and how exhilarating the magnificent
+scenery which opens on every side, and absolutely reaches from sea to
+sea! There, beneath us, like a belt of liquid light, stretches the long
+and beautiful Lochlomond, sparkling under the rays of the sun, fringed
+with hills, rocks, and woods, and adorned with green isles, reposing on
+its heaving bosom, like gems of emerald chased in gold. Far off are the
+islands of Bute and Arran, and nearer the fertile Strath-Clutha, through
+which flows the river Clyde, adorned with villages, castles and
+country-seats, the city of Glasgow, covered with a misty vapor, the
+whole of Lanarkshire, the city of Edinburgh, and the vast and delightful
+tract of country beyond, the Firth of Forth, Stirling Castle, and the
+links of the Forth gliding in peaceful beauty through its green and
+wooded vale. To the north a scene presents itself of wild and varied
+grandeur, long ranges of Alpine heights, mighty crags towering to the
+sky, dark lakes, and deep-cloven ravines, wild and desolate moors,
+straggling forests, and rich secluded vales. Near us rises the hoary
+Benvoirloich; and further north, among inferior mountains, Bencruachan
+and Bennevis lift their lofty heads. Taking a wider range we get a
+distant glimpse of the wide Atlantic, and the coast of green Erin, the
+mountains of Cumberland, and the German Ocean, washing the north-eastern
+coasts of Scotland. But the eye rests, as if by enchantment, upon the
+magnificent mountain scenery to the north, inferior only in grandeur and
+beauty to the mountains of Switzerland.
+
+    "Crags, knolls and mounds, confusedly hurled,
+    The fragments of an earlier world;
+    And mountains that like giants stand,
+    To sentinel enchanted land."
+
+How elevating such a position, and such scenery. How the soul dilates
+and rejoices, as if it were a part of the mighty spectacle. Ah! this
+were a place for angels to light upon, and hymn the praise of that
+infinite Being "whose are the mountains, and the vallies, and the
+resplendent rivers."
+
+But it is time to descend, though it would be pleasant, doubtless, to
+linger here till sunset, and see those mountain heights shining like
+stars in the departing radiance, while all beneath was covered with
+shadow; and if the evening were still, to listen to the mingled murmur
+which ever ascends through the calm air, from a region of streams and
+torrents.
+
+Coasting along the lake we reach Inversnaid mill at its upper extremity,
+and securing some Highland ponies, little tough shaggy fellows,
+sure-footed and self-willed, we ramble through a lonely, rock-bound
+glen, the scene of the feats of Rob Roy Macgregor. In one of the smoky
+huts of this glen we are shown a long Spanish musket, six feet and a
+half in length, said to have belonged to the famous outlaw, whose
+original residence was in this lonely region. We also pass the hut in
+which Helen Macgregor, his wife, was born and brought up. By forgetting
+a few years, one can easily imagine the whole region filled with wild
+'kilted' Highlanders, shouting the war-cry of Macdonald, Glengarry, or
+Macgregor. The spirit of these wild clans has been admirably depicted by
+Sir Walter Scott. Nothing can be more spirited than his "Gathering of
+Clan-Gregor," which in this rough glen, seems to gather a peculiar
+intensity of meaning.
+
+    "The moon's on the lake, the mist's on the brae,
+    And the clan has a name that is nameless by day;
+            Then gather, gather, gather, Gregalich!
+
+    Our signal for fight that from monarchs we drew,
+    Must be heard but by night in our vengeful haloo;
+            Then haloo, Gregalich, haloo Gregalich!
+
+    Glen Orchy's proud mountains, Coalchuirn and her towers,
+    Glenstrae and Glenlyon no longer are ours;
+            We're landless, landless, Gregalich!
+
+    But doomed and devoted by vassal and lord,
+    Macgregor has still both his heart and his sword;
+            Then courage, courage, courage, Gregalich!
+
+    If they rob us of name, and pursue us with beagles,
+    Give their roofs to the flame, and their flesh to the eagles;
+            Then vengeance, vengeance, vengeance, Gregalich!
+
+    While there's leaves in the forest, or foam on the river,
+    Macgregor despite them, shall flourish forever!
+            Come then, Gregalich! Come then, Gregalich!
+
+    Through the depths of Lochkatrine the steed shall career,
+    O'er the peak of Benlomond the galley shall steer,
+    And the rocks of Craig-Royston, like icicles melt,
+    Ere our wrongs be forgot, or our vengeance unfelt!
+            Then gather, gather, gather, Gregalich!"
+
+We reach Lochkatrine, a narrow sheet of water, ten miles in length,
+winding, in serpentine turns, among the huge mountains which guard it on
+every side. This, and the wild glen called the Trosachs, are embalmed in
+the poetry of Sir Walter Scott, whose ethereal genius has imparted to
+them a charm which they would not otherwise possess. Wild and grand the
+scenery certainly is, secluded so far among the mountains, and guarded
+so wondrously by
+
+    "Rocky summits, split and rent,"
+
+which, gleaming under the rays of the morning sun, appeared to the eye
+of poetical inspiration,
+
+    "Like turret, dome or battlement,
+    Or seemed fantastically set
+    With cupola or minaret,
+    Wild crests as pagod ever deck'd,
+    Or mosque of Eastern minaret."
+
+And not only so, but richly adorned with forest-trees and wild flowers
+among the rifted rocks and the "smiling glades between," lovelier by far
+than ever met any but a poet's eye.
+
+    "Boon nature scattered free and wild,
+    Each plant or flower, the mountains' child.
+    Here eglantine embalmed the air,
+    Hawthorne and hazel mingled there;
+    The primrose, pale and violet flower,
+    Found in each cliff a narrow bower;
+    Foxglove and nightshade, side by side,
+    Emblems of punishment and pride,
+    Group'd their dark hues with every stain
+    The weather-beaten crags retain.
+    With boughs that quaked at every breath
+    Gray birch and aspen wept beneath;
+    Aloft the ash and warrior oak,
+    Cast anchor in the rifted rock;
+    And higher yet the pine tree hung
+    His shattered trunk, and frequent flung,
+    When seemed the cliffs to mount on high,
+    His boughs athwart the narrow'd sky.
+    Highest of all, where white peaks glanced,
+    Where glistening streamers waved and danced,
+    The wanderer's eye could barely view
+    The summer heaven's delicious blue;
+    So wondrous wild, the whole might seem
+    The scenery of a fairy dream."
+
+The scenery at the east end of Lochkatrine, where the lake narrows, like
+a placid river, under the eye of Benvenue, the lower parts of which are
+richly wooded, is exceedingly beautiful. Through the whole of this glen,
+the Highland guides point out the localities and incidents mentioned in
+the "Lady of the Lake," as if it were a historical verity. Such is the
+power of genius, which "gives to airy nothings a local habitation and a
+name."
+
+    "Oh! who would think, in cheerless solitude,
+      Who o'er these twilight waters glided slow,
+      That genius, with a time-surviving glow,
+    These wild lone scenes so proudly hath imbued!
+    Or that from 'hum of men' so far remote,
+      Where blue waves gleam, and mountains darken round,
+      And trees, with broad boughs shed a gloom profound,
+    A poet here should from his trackless thought
+    Elysian prospects conjure up, and sing
+      Of bright achievement in the olden days,
+      When chieftain valor sued for beauty's praise,
+    And magic virtues charmed St. Fillan's spring;
+      Until in worlds where Chilian mountains raise
+    Their cloud-capt heads admiring souls should wing
+      Hither their flight, to wilds whereon I gaze."
+
+Leaving Lochkatrine, we pass in a south-easterly direction, through
+Callendar to Auchterarder, a parish famous in the annals of the Free
+Church of Scotland, and thence, travelling through a delightful country,
+reach "the bonnie town o' Perth," which lies so charmingly on the banks
+of the Tay. Surrounded by some of the finest scenery in Scotland, with
+Kinnoul House and Kinfauns Castle on the one side, and Scone, the old
+palace in which the kings of Scotland were crowned, on the other,
+clustering with memories of the olden time, and withal being a
+well-built city, with some venerable churches and handsome public
+edifices, Perth is one of the most interesting places in Scotland.
+Moreover, it was anciently the capital of the kingdom, and contains a
+good many relics of its former glory. Here the doctrines of the
+Reformation early took root, and some of the citizens suffered martyrdom
+for Christ's sake. Helen Stark and her husband, for refusing to pray to
+the Virgin Mary, were condemned to die. She desired to be executed with
+her husband, but her request was refused. On the way to the scaffold,
+she exhorted him to constancy in the cause of Christ, and as she parted
+with him, said, "Husband, be glad; we have lived together many joyful
+days, and this day of our death we ought to esteem the most joyful of
+them all, for we shall have joy forever; therefore, I will not bid you
+good night, for we shall shortly meet in the kingdom of Heaven." After
+the men were executed, Helen was taken to a pool of water yard by, when,
+having recommended her dear children to the charity of her neighbors,
+her infant having been taken from her breast, "she was drowned, and
+died," says the historian of the town, "with great courage and comfort."
+
+Perth rejoices in the possession of two beautiful "Commons," or
+"Inches," as they are called, green as emerald, and bordered by long
+avenues of magnificent trees. The Tay gleams through the verdant
+foliage, and is seen winding, in serene beauty, far down among the rich
+meadows and smooth lawns which adorn its banks. Behind it are the Sidlaw
+hills, and looming up, in the distance, the blue ridges of the
+Grampians. The lands around it are highly cultivated, and support a
+numerous race of farmers, many of whom have grown rich from the produce
+of the soil.
+
+But the shadows of evening are beginning to fall upon the landscape;
+to-morrow is "the rest of the holy Sabbath," and a comfortable "'tween
+and supper-time" awaits us at the house of a friend at some distance
+from Perth, which we must immediately leave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     Sabbath Morning-- 'The Sabbath,' by James Grahame--Sketch of his
+     Life--Extracts from his Poetry--The Cameronians--'Dream of the
+     Martyrs,' by James Hislop--Sabbath Morning Walk--Country
+     Church--The old Preacher--The Interval of Worship--Conversation in
+     the Church-yard--Going Home from Church--Sabbath Evening.
+
+
+Sabbath morning dawns upon us, bright and clear, and all around a hushed
+stillness pervades the air.
+
+    "With silent awe I hail the sacred morn,
+    That scarcely wakes while all the fields are still;
+    A soothing calm on every breeze is borne,
+    A graver murmur echoes from the hill,
+    And softer sings the linnet from the thorn;
+    The skylark warbles in a tone less shrill.
+    Hail, light serene! hail, sacred Sabbath morn!
+    The sky a placid yellow lustre throws;
+    The gales that lately sighed along the grove
+    Have hushed their drowsy wings in dead repose;
+    The hovering rack of clouds forgets to move,
+    So soft the day when the first morn arose."
+
+Thus sang Leyden, the celebrated scholar, poet, and traveller, who, like
+all true sons of Scotland, revered the holy Sabbath, regarding it as the
+best of days, the sweetest, purest, calmest of the seven! The same
+images, borrowed not from Leyden, but from nature and his own heart, are
+used by Grahame, in his delightful poem of 'The Sabbath,' a production
+not without defects, but one of the most popular in Scotland.
+
+    "How still the morning of the hallowed day!
+    Mute is the voice of rural labor, hush'd
+    The ploughboy's whistle and the milkmaid's song.
+    The scythe lies glittering in the dewy wreath
+    Of tedded grass, mingled with fading flowers,
+    That yestermorn bloomed waving in the breeze.
+    Sounds the most faint attract the ear--the hum
+    Of early bee, the trickling of the dew,
+    The distant bleating, midway up the hill.
+    Calmness seems throned on yon unmoving cloud.
+    To him who wanders o'er the upland leas,
+    The blackbird's note comes mellower from the dale;
+    And sweeter from the sky the gladsome lark
+    Warbles his heaven-tuned song; the lulling brook
+    Murmurs more gently down the deep-sunk glen;
+    While from yon lowly roof, whose curling smoke
+    O'ermounts the mist, is heard at intervals
+    The voice of psalm, the simple song of praise."
+
+The Rev. James Grahame, the author of 'The Sabbath,' 'The Birds of
+Scotland,' 'Biblical Pictures,' and so forth, was born in 1765, in the
+city of Glasgow. He studied law, but afterwards took orders in the
+Church of England, and officiated as curate in the counties of
+Gloucester and Durham. He is said to have been a popular and useful
+preacher. Possessed of great simplicity of character, purity of morals,
+and kindness of heart, he won the affections of all his parishioners.
+Suffering from ill health, he gave up his curacy, and returned to
+Scotland, where he acted, we believe, as a school-teacher. His poems,
+particularly that of 'The Sabbath,' attracted much attention in his
+native land, which he dearly loved. A deep religious vein pervades the
+whole. Attached to the ritual of his own church, he could yet appreciate
+the solemn 'hill worship' of the Covenanters. His descriptions of
+Scottish scenery are accurate and beautiful. His Sabbath is the Sabbath
+of Scotland. All its pictures are drawn from real life. His verse may
+seem prosaic at times, but it is melodious as a whole. Nothing can be
+more natural or agreeable, in its easy gentle flow. Moreover, it often
+sparkles with original turns of thought, and felicitous expressions.
+
+An interesting anecdote is told of Grahame in connection with the
+publication of 'The Sabbath.' He had finished the poem, and sent it to
+the press unknown to his wife. When it was issued he brought her a copy,
+and requested her to read it. As his name was not prefixed to the work,
+she did not dream that he had anything to do with it. As she went on
+reading, the sensitive author walked up and down the room. At length she
+broke out in praise of the poem, and turning to him said: "Ah! James, if
+you could but produce a poem like this." Judge then of her delighted
+surprise when told that he was its author. The effect upon her is said
+to have been almost overwhelming.
+
+After describing the solemn and delightful worship of God's house,
+particularly the music, ascending in 'a thousand notes symphonious,' he
+touchingly adds:
+
+                              "Afar they float,
+    Wafting glad tidings to the sick man's couch:
+    Raised on his arm, he lists the cadence close,
+    Yet thinks he hears it still: his heart is cheered;
+    He smiles on death; but, ah! a wish will rise--
+    Would I were now beneath that echoing roof!
+    No lukewarm accents from my lips would flow;
+    My heart would sing: and many a Sabbath day
+    My steps should thither turn; or wandering far
+    In solitary paths, where wild flowers blow,
+    Then would I bless his name who led me forth
+    From death's dark vale, to walk amid those sweets--
+    Who gives the bloom of health once more to glow
+    Upon this cheek, and lights this languid eye."
+
+His description of the shepherd boy's Sabbath worship among the hills is
+a passage of great beauty.
+
+    "It is not only in the sacred fane
+    That homage should be paid to the Most High;
+    There is a temple, one not made with hands,
+    The vaulted firmament. Far in the woods,
+    Almost beyond the sound of city chime,
+    At intervals heard through the breezeless air;
+    When not the limberest leaf is seen to move,
+    Save when the linnet lights upon the spray
+    When not a flow'ret bends its little stalk,
+    Save when a bee alights upon the bloom--
+    Then rapt in gratitude, in joy, and love
+    The man of God will pass his Sabbath noon;
+    Silence his praise; his disembodied thoughts
+    Loosed from the load of words, will high ascend
+    Beyond the empyrean.
+    Nor yet less pleasing at the heavenly throne,
+    The Sabbath service of the shepherd boy!
+    In some lone glen, when every sound is lulled
+    To slumber, save the tinkling of the rill,
+    Or bleat of lamb, or hovering falcon's cry,
+    Stretched on the sward, he reads of Jesse's Son;
+    Or sheds a tear o'er him to Egypt sold,
+    And wonders why he weeps: the volume closed,
+    With thyme sprig laid between the leaves, he sings
+    The sacred lays, his weekly lesson conned
+    With meikle care beneath the lowly roof,
+    Where humble love is learnt, where humble worth
+    Pines unrewarded by a thankless state.
+    Thus reading, hymning, all alone, unseen,
+    The shepherd boy the Sabbath holy keeps,
+    Till on the heights he marks the straggling bands
+    Returning homeward from the house of prayer."
+
+The hill worship of the Covenanters is also described with much beauty
+and pathos.
+
+    "With them each day was holy, every hour
+    They stood prepared to die, a people doomed
+    To death--old men, and youths, and simple maids.
+    With them each day was holy; but that morn
+    On which the angel said, 'See where the Lord
+    Was laid,' joyous arose--to die that day
+    Was bliss. Long ere the dawn, by devious ways,
+    O'er hills, through woods, o'er dreary wastes, they sought
+    The upland moors, where rivers, there but brooks
+    Dispart to different seas. Fast by such brooks
+    A little glen is sometimes scooped, a plat
+    With greensward gay, and flowers that strangers seem
+    Amid the heathery wild, that all around
+    Fatigues the eye: in solitudes like these
+    Thy persecuted children, Scotia, foiled
+    A tyrant's and a bigot's bloody laws;
+    There, leaning on his spear, (one of the array
+    That in the times of old had scathed the rose
+    On England's banner, and had powerless struck
+    The infatuate monarch and his wavering host,
+    Yet ranged itself to aid his son dethroned,)
+    The lyart veteran heard the Word of God
+    By Cameron thundered, or by Renwick poured
+    In gentle stream: then rose the song, the loud
+    Acclaim of praise; the wheeling plover ceased
+    Her plaint; the solitary place was glad.
+    And on the distant cairns, the watcher's ear
+    Caught doubtfully at times, the breeze-borne note.
+    But years more gloomy followed, and no more
+    The assembled people dared, in face of day,
+    To worship God, or even at the dead
+    Of night, save when the wint'ry storm raved fierce,
+    And thunder peals compelled the men of blood
+    To crouch within their dens, then dauntlessly
+    The scattered few would meet, in some deep dell
+    By rocks o'ercanopied, to hear the voice,
+    Their faithful pastor's voice: he, by the gleam
+    Of sheeted lightning, oped the sacred Book,
+    And words of comfort spoke: over their souls
+    His accents soothing came--as to her young
+    The heathfowl's plumes, when at the close of eve
+    She gathers in her mournful brood, dispersed
+    By murderous sport, and o'er the remnant spreads
+    Fondly her wings, close nestling 'neath her breast
+    They cherished, cower amid the purple blooms."
+
+This is finely pictured; and, coming from a member of the Episcopal
+Church, does honor to his heart and head. Sir Walter Scott has somewhat
+injured the memory of the Scottish Covenanters, by presenting the darker
+features of their character, and forgetting utterly their earnest piety,
+their generous fervor, their heroic endurance. Many of them, doubtless,
+were deficient in high-bred courtesy and learned refinement. Others were
+narrow-minded and superstitious. But the great mass of them were men of
+lofty faith, of generous self-sacrifice. They feared God, and perilled
+their lives for freedom, in the high places of the field. "Lately," says
+a vigorous writer in Blackwood's Magazine, "the Mighty Warlock of
+Caledonia has shed a natural and a supernatural light round the founders
+of the Cameronian dynasty; and as his business was to grapple with the
+ruder and fiercer portion of their character, the gentle graces of
+their nature were not called into action, and the storm and tempest and
+thick darkness of John Balfour of Burley, have darkened the whole
+breathing congregation of the Cameronians, and turned their sunny
+hillside into a dreary desert." It requires men of no ordinary character
+to become martyrs for principle, especially when that principle is one
+of the highest order, and has been chosen calmly, deliberately, and in
+the fear of God. When such men go forth to defend the right, and shed
+their life's blood for its enthronement, their's is no vulgar
+enthusiasm, no unnatural and infuriate fanaticism. Read the following
+from James Hislop, once a poor shepherd boy, and afterwards a
+school-teacher, written near the grave of the pious and redoubtable
+Cameron, and several of his followers, slain by tyrants in the moor of
+Aird's-moss, and say whether such martyrs for truth are worthy of our
+reverence!
+
+    "In a dream of the night I was wafted away
+    To the muirland of mist where the martyrs lay,
+    Where Cameron's sword and his Bible are seen,
+    Engraved on the stone where the heather grows green.
+
+    'Twas a dream of those ages of darkness and blood,
+    When the minister's home was the mountain and wood;
+    When in Wellwood's dark valley the standard of Zion,
+    All bloody and torn 'mong the heather was lying.
+
+    'Twas morning, and summer's young sun from the east
+    Lay in loving repose on the green mountain's breast;
+    On Wardlaw and Cairntable the clear shining dew,
+    Glistened there 'mong the heath bells and mountain flowers blue.
+
+    And far up in heaven near the white sunny cloud,
+    The song of the lark was melodious and loud,
+    And in Glenmuir's wild solitude, lengthened and deep,
+    Were the whistling of plovers and bleating of sheep.
+
+    And Wellwood's sweet valley breathed music and gladness,
+    The fresh meadow blooms hung in beauty and redness;
+    Its daughters were happy to hail the returning,
+    And drink the delights of July's sweet morning.
+
+    But oh! there were hearts cherished far other feelings,
+    Illumed by the light of prophetic revealings,
+    Who drank from the scenery of beauty but sorrow,
+    For they knew that their blood would bedew it to-morrow.
+
+    'Twas the few faithful ones, who with Cameron were lying
+    Concealed 'mong the mist where the heathfowl was flying,
+    For the horsemen of Earlshall around them were hovering,
+    And their bridle reins rung through the thin misty covering.
+
+    Their faces grew pale, and their swords were unsheathed,
+    But the vengeance that darkened their brow was unbreathed;
+    With eyes turned to heaven, in calm resignation,
+    They sung their last song to the God of salvation.
+
+    The hills with the deep mournful music were ringing,
+    The curlew and plover in concert were singing:
+    But the melody died 'mid derision and laughter,
+    As the host of ungodly rushed on to the slaughter.
+
+    Though in mist and in darkness and fire they were shrouded,
+    Yet the souls of the righteous were calm and unclouded,
+    Their dark eyes flashed lightning, as firm and unbending,
+    They stood like the rock which the thunder is rending.
+
+    The muskets were flashing, the blue swords were gleaming,
+    The helmets were cleft, and the red blood was streaming,
+    The heavens grew dark, and the thunder was rolling,
+    When in Wellwood's dark muirlands the mighty were falling.
+
+    When the righteous had fallen, and the combat was ended,
+    A chariot of fire through the dark cloud descended,
+    Its drivers were angels on horses of whiteness,
+    And its burning wheels turned on axles of brightness.
+
+    A seraph unfolded its doors bright and shining,
+    All dazzling like gold of the seventh refining,
+    And the souls that came forth out of great tribulation
+    Have mounted the chariot and steeds of salvation.
+
+    On the arch of the rainbow the chariot is gliding,
+    Through the path of the thunder the horsemen are riding;
+    Glide swiftly, bright spirits! the prize is before ye,
+    A crown never fading, a kingdom of glory!"
+
+But we are forgetting ourselves; and as we propose spending the Sabbath
+in a small country hamlet, at some distance, we must be off immediately.
+It would be gratifying to return to Perth and hear some of the clergymen
+there, Dr. Young especially, who is a preacher of great depth and
+energy; but the Sabbath will be sweeter amidst the woods and hills.
+
+We enter a quiet unfrequented road, skirting around those fine clumps of
+trees, and that green hill to the west, and after wandering a few miles,
+we pass into a narrow vale, through which a small wooded stream makes
+its noiseless way, and adorned on either side with rich green slopes,
+clumps of birches, and tufts of flowering broom. As you ascend the vale,
+it gradually widens, the acclivities on either side recede to a
+considerable distance, and the road, taking a sudden turn, runs over the
+hill to the left, and dives into a sort of natural amphitheatre, formed
+by the woods and braes around it. On the further side you descry a small
+antique-looking church, with two or three huge ash trees, and one or two
+silver larches shading it, at one end, a pretty mansion built of
+freestone, and handsomely slated, at a little distance at the other.
+Approaching, we find a few stragglers, as if in haste, entering the
+church door; the bell has ceased tolling, and the service probably is
+about to commence. We enter, and find seats near the door. How tenderly
+and solemnly that old minister, with his bland look, and silver locks,
+reads the eighty-fourth psalm, and how reverently the whole
+congregation, with book in hand, follow him to the close. A precentor,
+as he is called, sitting in a sort of desk under the pulpit, strikes the
+tune, and all, young and old, rich and poor, immediately accompany him.
+The minister then offers a prayer, in simple Scripture language,
+somewhat long, but solemn and affecting. He then reads another psalm,
+which is sung, as the first was, by the whole congregation, and with
+such earnest and visible delight, that you feel at once that their
+hearts are in the service. The preacher then rises in the pulpit and
+reads the twenty-third psalm, as the subject of his exposition, or
+lecture, as the Scottish preachers uniformly style their morning's
+discourse. His exposition is plain and practical, occasionally rising to
+the pathetic and beautiful. Ah, how sweetly he dwells upon the good
+Shepherd of the sheep, and how tenderly he depicts the security and
+repose of the good man passing through the dark valley and the shadow of
+death. His reverend look, the tremulous tones of his voice, his Scottish
+accent, and occasionally Scottish phrases, his abundant use of
+Scriptural quotations, and a certain Oriental cast of mind, derived, no
+doubt, from intimate communion with prophets and apostles, invest his
+discourse with a peculiar charm. It is not learned; neither is it
+original and profound; but it is _good_, good for the heart--good for
+the conscience and the life. Old preachers, like old wine, in our humble
+opinion, are by far the best. Their freedom from earthly ambition, their
+deep experience of men and things, their profound acquaintance with
+their own heart, their evident nearness to heaven, their natural
+simplicity and authority, their reverend looks and tremulous tones, all
+unite to invest their preaching with a peculiar spiritual interest, such
+as seldom attaches to that of young divines. Everything, of course,
+depends upon personal character, and a young preacher may be truly
+pious, and thus speak with much simplicity and power. But, other things
+being equal, old preachers and old physicians, old friends and old
+places possess qualities peculiar to themselves.
+
+After the sermon, prayer is offered, and the whole congregation unite in
+a psalm of praise. The interval of worship, it is announced, will be one
+hour. A portion of the congregation return to their homes, but most of
+them remain. Some repair to a house of refreshment in the neighborhood,
+where they regale themselves on the simplest fare, such as bread and
+milk, or bread and beer. Others wander off, in parties, to the green
+woods or sunny knolls around, and seated on the greensward, eat their
+bread and cheese, converse about the sermon, or such topics as happen to
+interest them most. The younger people and children are inclined to
+ramble, but are not permitted to do so. Yet the little fellows will
+romp, '_a very little_,' and occasionally run off, but not so far as to
+be beyond call. A large number of the people have gone into the
+grave-yard connected with the church. Some are seated on the old flat
+tombstones, others on the greensward, dotted all around with the graves
+of their fathers. See that group there. The old man, with "lyart
+haffets" and broad bonnet, looks like one of the old Covenanters. The
+old lady, evidently his wife, wears a sort of hooded cloak, from which
+peeps forth a nicely plaited cap of lace, which wonderfully sets off her
+demure but agreeable features. These young people around them are
+evidently their children and grandchildren. How contented they look, and
+how reverently they listen to the old man. Let us draw near, and hear
+the conversation.
+
+"Why, grandfaither," says one of the younger lads, "don't you think the
+auld Covenanters were rather sour kind o' bodies?"
+
+"Sour!" replies the old man, "they had eneuch to mak' them sour. Hunted
+from mountain to mountain, like wild beasts, it's nae wonder if they
+felt waefu' at times, or that they let human passion gain a moment's
+ascendancy. But they were guid men for a' that. They were the chosen o'
+God, and wrastled hard against principalities and powers, against the
+rulers o' the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
+high places. Reading their lives, I've aften thocht they must ha'e been
+kind o' inspired. Like the auld prophets and martyrs, they were very
+zealous for the Lord God, and endured, cheerfully, mair distress and
+tribulation than we can well imagine."
+
+"Weel, weel!" says one of the girls, "I wish they had been a wee bit
+gentler in their ways, and mair charitable to their enemies."
+
+"Ah, Nancy," is the quick reply of the old man, "ye ken but little about
+it. A fine thing it is for us, sitting here in this peacefu' kirk-yard,
+wi' nane to molest us or mak' us afraid, to talk about gentleness and
+charity. But the auld Covenanters had to encounter fire and steel. They
+wandered over muir and fell, in poverty and sorrow, being destitute,
+afflicted, tormented. But oh, my bairns! they loved and served the Lord!
+They endured as seeing him who is invisible; and when they cam' to dee,
+they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. Nae
+doot, some of them were carnal men, and ithers o' them had great
+imperfections. But the maist o' them were unco holy men, men o' prayer,
+men o' faith, aye, and men of charity of whom the world was not worthy."
+
+This answer silences all objections.
+
+But the bell, from the old church tower, begins to toll.
+
+    "Slowly the throng moves o'er the tomb-paved ground,
+    The aged man, the bowed down, the blind
+    Led by the thoughtless boy, and he who breathes
+    With pain, and eyes the new-made grave, well-pleased,
+    These, mingled with the young, the gay, approach
+    The house of God--these, spite of all their ills,
+    A glow of gladness feel; with silent praise
+    They enter in; a placid stillness reigns,
+    Until the man of God, worthy the name,
+    Opens the book, and reverentially
+    The stated portion reads."
+
+The services of the afternoon are much the same as those of the morning,
+except that the preacher comments briefly on the portion of Scripture
+read at the opening of the service, and delivers a regular discourse,
+from a single text. The congregation follow the preacher with evident
+attention, and look up in their Bibles, which all have in their hands,
+the passages of Scripture cited as proofs and illustrations. This, with
+an occasional cough, and a little rustling from the children, are the
+only sounds which break the solemn stillness of the scene.
+
+Dismissed, with a solemn benediction, all take their several ways
+homeward. The sun is going down; but its mellow light yet lingers upon
+the uplands, and tinges the foliage of the trees with supernal tints. A
+sabbath stillness reigns over hill and dale. The very trees appear to
+slumber; the birds are silent, except a single thrush, which, in the
+deep recesses of that shadowy copsewood, appears to be singing "her hymn
+to the evening." A little later, you might hear the voice of psalms from
+the low thatched cottage, on the hillside or in the glen. For, in
+Scotland, family worship is generally maintained, and singing, in which
+the whole family join, always forms a part of the exercises.
+
+    "They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
+      They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim;
+    Perhaps _Dundee's_ wild warbling measures rise,
+      Or plaintive _Martyrs_, worthy of the name,
+    Or noble _Elgin_ beets the heavenward flame,
+      The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays."
+
+Wandering thus, through the fields, with Sabbath influences all around
+us, it is impossible not to be grateful and devout. A holy calm steals
+upon the mind--a heavenly beatitude, akin to that of angels and the
+spirits of just men made perfect.
+
+    "Oh Scotland! much I love thy tranquil dales;
+    But most on Sabbath eve, when low the sun
+    Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight,
+    Wandering and stopping oft, to hear the song
+    Of kindred praise arise from humble roofs;
+    Or when the simple service ends, to hear
+    The lifted latch, and mark the grey-haired man,
+    The father and the priest, walk forth alone
+    Into his garden plat and little field,
+    To commune with his God in secret prayer--
+    To bless the Lord that in his downward years
+    His children are about him: sweet, meantime
+    The thrush that sings upon the aged thorn,
+    Brings to his view the days of youthful years,
+    When that same aged thorn was but a bush!
+    Nor is the contrast between youth and age
+    To him a painful thought; he joys to think
+    His journey near a close; heaven is his home."
+
+Thus, in his own simple and charming style, Grahame describes the
+Sabbath evening. So beautiful it is, so Sabbath-like, in its spirit and
+tone, that we venture one extract more.
+
+    "Now, when the downward sun has left the glens,
+    Each mountain's rugged lineaments are traced
+    Upon the adverse slope, where stalks gigantic
+    The shepherd's shadow, thrown athwart the chasm,
+    As on the topmost ridge he homeward hies.
+    How deep the hush! the torrent's channel dry,
+    Presents a stony steep, the echo's haunt.
+    But hark, a plaintive sound floating along!
+    'Tis from yon heath-roofed shieling; now it dies
+    Away, now rises full; it is the song
+    Which He, who listens to the hallelujahs
+    Of choiring seraphim, delights to hear;
+    It is the music of the heart, the voice
+    Of venerable age, of guileless youth,
+    In kindly circle seated on the ground
+    Before their wicker door. Behold the man,
+    The grandsire and the saint; his silvery locks
+    Beam in the parting ray; before him lies,
+    Upon the smooth-cropt sward the open book,
+    His comfort, stay, and ever new delight;
+    While heedless at his side, the lisping boy
+    Fondles the lamb that nightly shares his couch."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     Lochleven--Escape of Queen Mary from Lochleven Castle--Michael
+     Bruce--Sketch of his Life--Boyhood--College
+     Life--Poetry--"Lochleven"--Sickness--"Ode to Spring"--Death--"Ode
+     to the Cuckoo."
+
+
+Pursuing our journey southward, next day finds us on the banks of
+Lochleven, distinguished not so much from the beauty of its situation,
+as from its poetic and historical associations. It is adorned with four
+small islands, the principal of which are St. Serf's Isle near the east
+end, so called from its having been the site of a priory dedicated to
+St. Serf, and another near the shore on the west side, which immediately
+attracts the eye, from its containing the picturesque ruins of Lochleven
+Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, was confined, and from which she
+made her wonderful escape. Here, also, Patrick Graham, Archbishop of St.
+Andrews, and grandson of Robert the Third, was imprisoned, in
+consequence of a generous attempt to reform the profligate lives of the
+Catholic clergy. In this place he died, and was buried in the monastery
+of St. Serf. The keys of the castle, thrown into the lake at the time of
+Queen Mary's flight, have recently been found by a young man belonging
+to Kinross, and are now in the possession of the Earl of Morton.
+
+The castle, with its massive tower yet standing, looks dismal enough,
+but how much it is beautified by the fine old trees and shrubbery which
+encircle it, and the mellow light which mantles its hoary sides!
+
+    "Gothic the pile, and high the solid walls,
+    With warlike ramparts, and the strong defence
+    Of jutting battlements: an age's toil!
+    No more its arches echo to the noise
+    Of joy and festive mirth. No more the glance
+    Of blazing taper through its window beams,
+    And quivers on the undulating wave;
+    But naked stand the melancholy walls,
+    Lash'd by the wint'ry tempest, cold and bleak
+    That whistles mournful through the empty halls
+    And piecemeal crumble down the towers to dust."
+
+This description is by Michael Bruce, whose early promise and premature
+death have awakened so much sympathy among all classes in Scotland. He
+was born in the vicinity of Lochleven, and has written a poem of
+considerable merit descriptive of the lake and surrounding scenery. His
+"Ode to Spring," and especially his "Ode to the Cuckoo," now universally
+acknowledged to be his, are among the most beautiful poems in the
+English language. He was born at Kinnesswood, parish of Portmoak, on the
+27th of March, 1746. By going round to the north-east bank of the lake,
+we shall find this village, insignificant in itself, but sweetly
+situated on the south-west declivity of the Lomond hills. Ascending a
+narrow lane, we reach, near its centre, the house in which Bruce was
+born. It consists of two stories, with a thatched roof. Michael's
+parents were very poor, and occupied only the upper part of the house,
+which served them at once for a workshop and dwelling. "A true nestling
+place of genius," exclaims his biographer, quoting the words of
+Washington Irving respecting the birth-place of Shakspeare, "which
+delights to hatch its offspring in bye corners." Mean as it is, an
+angelic soul has been here, and a charm lingers upon its homely walls.
+Dr. Huie of Edinburgh has given the following touching account of a
+visit which he paid to this place, in company with one of Bruce's old
+friends. "On returning," says he, "from Portmoak church-yard, where
+Bruce is buried, I attended my venerable guide to the lowly dwelling
+where the parents of the poet resided. We first entered the garden:
+'This,' said Mr. B. 'was a spot of much interest to Michael. Here he
+used alternately to work and to meditate. There stood a row of trees
+which he particularly cherished, but they are now cut down,' added the
+good old man, and as he said this, he sighed. 'Here again,' said he,
+'was a bank of soft grass on which Michael was accustomed to recline
+after he became too weak to walk; and here his father would sit beside
+him in the evening, and read to amuse him.' We next entered the house. I
+experienced an involuntary feeling of awe when I found myself in the
+humble abode, where neglected worth and talents had pined away and died.
+The little square windows cast but a feeble light over the apartment,
+and the sombre shades of evening, for the sun had now set, were
+strikingly in unison with the scene. 'There,' said my conductor, 'auld
+Saunders used to sit at his loom. In that corner stood the bed where the
+auld couple slept, in this the bed which was occupied by Michael, and in
+which he died,' The good old man's eyes filled as he spoke. I found it
+necessary to wipe my own. I was not ashamed of my tears. They were a
+tribute to departed genius, and there was nothing unmanly in their
+flow."
+
+Saunders Bruce, as he was called, the father of Michael, had eight
+children, and as the business of weaving has always been a poor one in
+Scotland, it was with extreme difficulty that he was enabled to give
+Michael a suitable education, though early perceiving in him the seeds
+of genius. Saunders was a pious thoughtful man, universally respected,
+and a sort of village chronicle. He is supposed to be referred to in the
+poem of Lochleven, in the lines commencing,--
+
+    "I knew an aged swain whose hoary head
+    Was bent with years, the village chronicle," etc.
+
+Of his mother we have no means of forming a judgment, and suspect that
+her character was not particularly marked. It is his father to whom
+Michael himself, and the friends that knew him, chiefly refer in
+connection with his early studies and pursuits. Some indeed have
+intimated that the stern orthodoxy of the old man was called into
+requisition to repress the youthful aspirings of his son, particularly
+in the matter of books, but of this not the slightest evidence can be
+adduced.
+
+He succeeded in procuring copies of Shakspeare, Pope, Milton, Fontenelle
+and Young, all of which he devoured with avidity and delight. The
+Scriptures he read at home and at school, and thus became familiar with
+the magnificent images and thrilling conceptions of oriental
+inspiration.
+
+Michael was a great favorite at school, and made rapid progress in his
+studies. But he was frequently called away from school, partly by
+sickness, to which he was subject at an early age, and partly by his
+fathers straitened circumstances. On this latter account he was employed
+for a time as a shepherd, on the Lomond hills, which rise in verdant
+beauty behind his native village. This, however, was rather a benefit
+than an injury to his mind as well as body. His poem of "Lochleven" is
+made up of reminiscences of the romantic scenes with which at that time
+he became familiar:--
+
+    "Where he could trace the cowslip-covered bank
+    Of Leven, and the landscape measure round."
+
+"The late proprietor of the upper Kinneston, a small estate upon the
+south-west declivity of the Lomond hills, used to relate with much
+feeling, the amusing stories told him, and the strange questions put to
+him by Michael when herding his father's cattle, and how he would offer
+his services to carry the boys' meals to the hill, for the sake of
+having half an hour's conversation with this interesting youth."[158]
+While his progress in learning was much interrupted in this way, his
+mind was advancing, nevertheless, by communion with nature and his own
+individual heart. Besides, his frequent absence from school was
+compensated by the prosecution of his studies on the hillside, or by his
+father's ingle, so that when he returned to school, it took him but a
+few days to reach the top of his class. Though modest, and even shy, he
+had great influence with his school-fellows. Somehow they regarded him
+as a sort of superior being, and his word among them was law. This,
+doubtless, arose from the originality of his character, which developed
+itself at a very early age.
+
+[Footnote 158: Memoir of Bruce, by Dr. Mackelvie, to which I am chiefly
+indebted for the facts of which the accompanying sketch is composed.]
+
+        "Silent when glad, affectionate though shy,
+      And now his look was most demurely sad,
+      And now he laughed aloud, and none knew why,
+      And neighbors stared and sighed, and bless'd the lad;
+    Some deemed him wondrous wise, and some believed him mad."
+
+    BEATTIE'S MINSTREL.
+
+The same deference, it is said, was paid him at home. Indeed, he was the
+pet of the family, and all vied to make Michael comfortable and happy, a
+homage to genius and worth infinitely more precious than the plaudits of
+the world.
+
+While attending school, he formed some interesting friendships,
+particularly with William Arnot, a peculiarly amiable young man, who
+died in early life, and to whom Bruce makes a touching reference in
+"Lochleven." Through the son he became acquainted with the father, a
+wise and liberal man, who greatly assisted Michael in his studies, and
+gave him the free use of his library. It is to him the following
+description refers.
+
+    "How blest the man, who, in these peaceful plains,
+    Ploughs his paternal field; far from the noise,
+    The care and bustle of a busy world!
+    All in the sacred, sweet, sequestered vale
+    Of solitude, the secret primrose path
+    Of rural life he dwells; and with him dwells
+    Peace and content, twins of the sylvan shade,
+    And all the graces of the golden age.
+    Such is Agricola, the wise, the good;
+    By nature formed for the calm retreat,
+    The silent path of life. Learned, but not fraught
+    With self-importance, as the starched fool
+    Who challenges respect by solemn face,
+    By studied accent, and high-sounding phrase,
+    Enamored of the shade, but not morose,
+    Politeness, raised in courts by frigid rules
+    With him spontaneous grows. Not books alone,
+    But man his study, and the better part;
+    To tread the ways of virtue, and to act
+    The various scenes of life with God's applause.
+    Deep in the bottom of the flowery vale,
+    With blooming sallows, and the leafy twine
+    Of verdant alders fenced, his dwelling stands
+    Complete in rural elegance. The door
+    By which the poor or pilgrim never passed
+    Still open, speaks the master's bounteous heart.
+    Then, O how sweet! amid the fragrant shrubs,
+    At evening cool to sit; while, on their boughs
+    The nested songsters twitter o'er their young;
+    And the hoarse low of folded cattle breaks
+    The silence, wafted o'er the sleeping lakes,
+    Whose waters glow beneath the purple tinge
+    Of western cloud; while converse sweet deceives
+    The stealing foot of time!"
+
+He found an opportunity of acquiring the Latin language and preparing
+for college, with a Mr. Dun, who, for the sake of his son, formed a
+class of boys, of which Michael was decidedly the best scholar, as all
+acknowledged.
+
+But he was of a slender make, and gave early indications of pulmonary
+consumption. In his personal appearance he is said to have resembled
+Shelley; having yellowish curling hair, a long neck and narrow chest,
+skin white and shining, and his cheeks "tinged with red rather than
+ruddy." He was "early smitten with the love of song," and began
+occasionally to write verses. Possessed of a fine musical ear, he was
+impatient to get hold of all sorts of old ballads and songs; and while
+the other children of the village or school were amusing themselves with
+play, or spending their money on trash, he was poring with delighted
+eyes over "Chevy Chase," or "The Flowers of the Forest." When he had
+made himself familiar with the music and sentiments of these ballads, he
+would endeavor "to supply his lack of novelty with verses of his own."
+It is in this way, probably, that his fine ballad of "Sir James the
+Ross," and some of his pastorals originated.
+
+After he had left school, and saw no way of pursuing his studies, a
+relative left him the sum of two hundred merks Scots, about sixty
+dollars, when it was resolved forthwith that Michael should repair to
+Edinburgh University. Mr. Arnot encouraged him in this enterprise, and
+promised some assistance, in the shape of provisions and so forth.
+Accordingly he set out for the metropolis, and entered college. But he
+was often subjected to severe privations. Some of his fellow students
+who suspected his poverty were willing to share their meals with him,
+but he could not bear the thought of being fed out of pity, and whenever
+he imagined the invitation to proceed from this feeling he uniformly
+declined it. He was high-spirited; and yet he was truly pious. Indeed,
+he had devoted himself to Heaven in his boyhood, and never swerved from
+the high principles of Christian integrity.
+
+At college Bruce became acquainted with several young men who
+subsequently acquired distinction. Dr. Lawson and the Rev. John Logan
+were his fellow students and warmly attached friends. His relations with
+Logan subsequently became involved, much to the discredit of the latter,
+who is suspected of having dealt ungenerously with his friend's poems,
+which, after the death of Bruce, were committed to his care. He is
+charged particularly with purloining the "Ode to the Cuckoo," and
+publishing it as his own. Logan was a singular man--an orator of a high
+order, an accomplished scholar, and an elegant poet. Some of his poems,
+particularly his "Visit to the Country in Autumn," "The Braes of
+Yarrow," "The Lament of Nature," and other odes and hymns, are beautiful
+and finished productions. Some of his discourses, preached at Leith,
+though not profound, are eloquent and effective. But he was imperfectly
+imbued with the high principles which he endeavored to recommend to
+others, and he has greatly tarnished his fair fame by the use which he
+is supposed to have made of the labors of Bruce. It is probable,
+however, that the "Ode to the Cuckoo" was only drafted by Bruce, and
+subsequently polished into its present state of perfection by the
+classic pen of Logan.
+
+The companion to whom, of all others, Bruce became the most attached at
+college, was Mr. William Dryburgh, from Dysart. Like Bruce, he was
+possessed of piety and genius, and like him, too, suffered from
+pulmonary disease, and died in early life. Both had a presentiment that
+they were destined to a premature grave. And this, with their bright
+hope of a blessed immortality, was the frequent subject of their
+conversations. Dryburgh died in his eighteenth year, and Bruce followed
+him in less than a year after. How keenly he felt this separation may be
+gathered from the following letter to a friend, written on receiving the
+intelligence of Dryburgh's death:--
+
+"I have not many friends, but I love them well. Death has been among the
+few I have. Poor Dryburgh!--but he is happy. I expected to have been his
+companion through life, and that we should have stepped into the grave
+together; but Heaven has seen meet to dispose of him otherwise. What
+think you of this world? I think it very little worth. You and I have
+not a great deal to make us fond of it; and yet I would not exchange my
+condition with any unfeeling fool in the universe, if I were to have his
+dull hard heart into the bargain. Farewell, my rival in immortal hope!
+My companion, I trust, for eternity! Though far distant, I take thee to
+my heart; souls suffer no separation from the obstruction of matter, or
+distance of place. Oceans may roll between us, and climates interpose in
+vain--the whole material creation is no bar to the winged mind.
+Farewell! through boundless ages, fare thee well! May'st thou shine when
+the sun is darkened. May'st thou live and triumph when time expires! It
+is at least possible that we meet no more in this foreign land, in this
+gloomy apartment of the universe of God. But there is a better world in
+which we may meet to part no more. Adieu."
+
+But the grief of a true poet embodies itself in verse. The following
+lines, on the death of Dryburgh, were found among Bruce's papers.
+
+    Alas! we fondly thought that heaven designed
+      His bright example mankind to improve;
+    All they should be was pictured in his mind,
+      His thoughts were virtue, and his heart was love.
+
+    Calm as the summer sun's unruffled face,
+      He looked unmoved on life's precarious game,
+    And smiled at mortals toiling in the chase
+      Of empty phantoms, opulence and fame.
+
+    Steady he followed virtue's onward path,
+      Inflexible to error's devious way,
+    And firm at last, in hope and fixed faith
+      Through death's dark vale he trod without dismay.
+
+    Whence then these sighs? And whence this falling tear
+      In sad remembrance of his merit just?
+    Still must I mourn! for he to me was dear
+      And still is dear, though buried in the dust.
+
+Bruce's father made great efforts, by means of saving and borrowing, to
+assist his son during his college course, and Mr. Arnot continued to
+send him occasional supplies from his farm and dairy. But he was sadly
+straitened in the matter of books. The following letter upon this
+subject is characteristic and striking.
+
+"Edinburgh, Nov. 27, 1764.--I daily meet with proofs that money is a
+necessary evil. When in an auction, I often say to myself, how happy
+should I be if I had money to purchase such a book! How well should my
+library be furnished, 'nisi obstat res angusta domi,'
+
+    'My lot forbids, nor circumscribes alone
+    My growing virtues, but my crimes confines.'
+
+Whether any virtues would have accompanied me in a more elevated station
+is uncertain, but that a number of vices of which my sphere is
+incapable, would have been its attendants, is unquestionable. The
+Supreme Wisdom has seen this meet, and the Supreme Wisdom cannot err."
+
+The annual session in the colleges of Scotland lasts only from six to
+eight months, and thus leaves considerable time for relaxation and
+private study, or for other occupations necessary to recruit the
+students' exhausted finances. At the end of each of these terms, Michael
+returned home, much exhausted by his application to study. His system,
+however, soon recovered its wonted energy in the congenial scenes of his
+boyhood, and the kind attentions of the proprietor of Portmoak. Still he
+was seldom in perfect health, and often complained of headache and
+depression of spirits. Most of his time during the summer months, the
+season of vacation, was spent either in reading or in writing poetry.
+
+During his last session at College, Michael accepted a proposal to teach
+a small school at Gairney Bridge, which lies on a small stream running
+into Lochleven. He finished his collegiate studies honorably, having
+distinguished himself chiefly in _rhetoric_ and _belles lettres_. At
+Gairney Bridge he had some thirty or forty pupils under his care, whom
+he governed entirely without the rod, then pretty thoroughly used in
+Scotland. But the compensation was a mere trifle, not exceeding more
+than sixty or seventy dollars a year.
+
+It was in this place that he wrote several of his poems, and became
+deeply attached to a beautiful young woman in the neighborhood, to whom,
+however, he never declared his passion.
+
+About this time he joined the church in Kinross, under the pastoral care
+of the Rev. Mr. Swanston, recently appointed professor of Theology in
+the United Secession Church. This learned and amiable man conceived a
+strong attachment for Michael, and ever treated him with the greatest
+consideration and kindness. Subsequently he engaged to teach a school at
+Forest Mill, a dreary sort of place, with miserable school
+accommodations. His health too, was declining. While fording the Devon
+on horseback, the horse stumbled and immersed him in the stream, a
+circumstance which greatly aggravated his consumptive tendency. Moreover
+he was disappointed in his school, and his health and spirits rapidly
+declined. In a letter to Mr. Arnot, he says, "I expected to be happy
+here, but I am not. The easiest part of my life is past. I sometimes
+compare my condition with that of others, and imagine if I was in theirs
+it would be well. But is not everybody thus! Perhaps he whom I envy
+thinks he would be glad to change with me, and yet neither would be
+better for the change. Since it is so, let us, my friend, moderate our
+hopes and fears, resign ourselves to the will of Him who doeth all
+things well, and who hath assured us that he careth for us.
+
+    'Si res sola potest facere et servare beatum
+    Hoc primus repetas opus, hoc postremus omittas.'
+
+"Things are not very well in the world, but they are pretty well. They
+might have been worse, and such as they are may please us who have but a
+few short days to use them. This scene of affairs, though a very
+perplexed, is a very short one, and in a little while all will be
+cleared up. Let us endeavor to please God, our fellow creatures and
+ourselves. In such a course of life we shall be as happy as we can
+expect in such a world as this. Thus you, who cultivate your farm with
+your own hands, and I who teach a dozen blockheads for bread, may be
+happier than he, who having more than he can use, tortures his brain to
+invent some new methods of killing himself with the superfluity." In
+this letter, worthy of Cowper or of Foster, we see a brave spirit
+struggling with the direst misfortunes, poverty and disease, and
+overcoming both by the silent might of a believing spirit.
+
+Another thing which greatly afflicted Bruce at Forest Mill, was the
+total want of agreeable scenery, and it was only by an effort of memory
+and imagination that he could, in some measure make up this deficiency,
+by recalling the delightful scenery of his early home. To this
+combination of unfavorable circumstances he touchingly refers in the
+poem of Lochleven, which was actually produced under their influence, as
+a means of relaxation and enjoyment.
+
+    "Thus sang the youth amid unfertile wilds,
+    And nameless deserts, unpoetic ground!
+    Far from his friends he strayed, recording thus
+    The dear remembrance of his native fields,
+    To cheer the tedious night, while slow disease
+    Preyed on his pining vitals, and the blasts
+    Of dark December shook his humble cot."
+
+"Lochleven" is his longest, and in most respects, his most beautiful
+poem. It has defects, obvious enough to a critical eye, but its general
+excellence strikes every reader. Its descriptions and delineations are
+natural and striking, its imagery is simple and poetical, and its
+measure sweet and melodious. Nearly the whole of it has been "used up,"
+in beautiful extracts by different writers of distinction.
+
+But the composition of this poem seems to have been too much for Bruce's
+shattered frame; for he was compelled almost immediately to relinquish
+his school. He had just strength to walk home to Kinnesswood, a
+distance of nearly twenty miles, resting only a short time at Turf-hills
+on the way. Though nowhere on earth could he be happier than in the
+humble cottage of his parents, it was yet the worst place in the world
+for his disease. "The vapors rising from the lake," says his biographer,
+"particularly in spring, keep the atmosphere constantly in a state of
+moisture, whilst in the mornings and evenings the eastern haars, as the
+fogs which come up from the sea are called by the inhabitants, come
+rolling down the hills, and hang suspended over Kinnesswood like a
+dripping curtain."
+
+He had expected, in the quiet of his father's home and in the vicinity
+of his dear Lochleven, a restoration of health; but in this hope he was
+disappointed. The mark of death was upon him. The heart of the beauteous
+tree was poisoned by disease, and all its leaves faded and fell to the
+ground. It was under the consciousness of this fact, that he wrote his
+beautiful and affecting "Ode to Spring," which he sent to a dear friend
+to apprise him of his approaching dissolution. The following are its
+concluding stanzas.
+
+    Now spring returns: but not to me returns
+      The vernal joy my better years have known;
+    Dim in my breast, life's dying taper burns,
+      And all the joys of life with health are flown.
+
+    Starting and shivering in the inconstant wind,
+      Meagre and pale, the ghost of what I was,
+    Beneath some blasted tree I lie reclined,
+      And count the silent moments as they pass:
+
+    The winged moments, whose unstaying speed
+      No art can stop, or in their course arrest;
+    Whose flight shall shortly count me with the dead,
+      And lay me down in peace with them at rest.
+
+    Oft morning dreams presage approaching fate;
+      And morning dreams, as poets tell, are true;
+    Led by pale ghosts, I enter Death's dark gate,
+      And bid the realms of light and life adieu.
+
+    I hear the helpless wail, the shriek of wo;
+      I see the muddy wave, the dreary shore,
+    The sluggish streams that slowly sleep below,
+      Which mortals visit, and return no more.
+
+    Farewell, ye blooming fields! ye cheerful plains!
+      Enough for me the church-yard's lonely mound,
+    Where melancholy with still silence reigns,
+      And the rank grass waves o'er the cheerless ground.
+
+    There let me wander at the shut of eve,
+      When sleep sits dewy on the laborer's eyes;
+    The world and all its busy follies leave,
+      And talk with Wisdom where my Daphne lies.
+
+    There let me sleep, forgotten in the clay,
+      When death shall shut these weary, aching eyes;
+    Rest in the hopes of an eternal day,
+      Till the long night is gone, and the last morn arise.
+
+He intimated his approaching death to another friend, in prose, as
+affecting as his poetry, and if possible, more instructive.
+
+"A few mornings ago, as I was taking a walk on an eminence which
+commands a view of the Forth, with the vessels sailing along, I sat
+down, and taking out my Latin Bible, opened by accident, at a place in
+the Book of Job, chap, ix: 23, 'Now my days are passed away as the swift
+ships.' Shutting the book, I fell a musing on this affecting
+comparison. Whether the following happened to me in a dream or waking
+reverie I cannot tell, but I fancied myself on the bank of a river or
+sea, the opposite side of which was hid from view, being involved in
+clouds of mist. On the shore stood a multitude, which no man could
+number, waiting for passage. I saw a great many ships taking in
+passengers, and several persons going about in the garb of pilots,
+offering their service. Being ignorant, and curious to know what all
+these things meant, I applied to a grave old man who stood by giving
+instructions to the departing passengers. His name, I remember, was the
+GENIUS OF HUMAN LIFE. 'My son,' said he, 'you stand on the banks of the
+stream of TIME. All these people are bound for ETERNITY, that
+undiscovered country whence no traveller ever returns. The country is
+very large, and divided into two parts, the one is called the _Land of
+Glory_, the other the _Kingdom of Darkness_. The names of those in the
+garb of pilots, are _Religion_, _Virtue_, _Pleasure_. They who are so
+wise as to choose Religion for their guide, have a safe, though
+frequently a rough passage; they are at last landed in the happy climes
+where sorrow and sighing forever flee away. They have likewise a
+secondary director, _Virtue_; but there is a spurious Virtue, who
+pretends to govern by himself; but the wretches who trust to him, as
+well as those who have Pleasure for their pilot, are either shipwrecked
+or are cast away on the Kingdom of Darkness. _But the vessel in which
+you must embark, approaches, and you must be gone._ Remember what
+depends upon your conduct.' No sooner had he left me, than I found
+myself surrounded by those pilots I mentioned before. Immediately I
+forgot all that the old man said to me, and seduced by the fair promises
+of Pleasure, chose him for my director. We weighed anchor with a fair
+gale, the sky serene, the sea calm. Innumerable little isles lifted
+their green heads around us, covered with trees in full blossom;
+dissolved in stupid mirth, we were carried on regardless of the past, of
+the future unmindful. On a sudden the sky was darkened, the winds
+roared, the seas raged; red rose the sand from the bottom of the deep.
+The angel of the waters lifted up his voice. At that instant, a strong
+ship passed by; I saw Religion at the helm. 'Come out from among these,'
+he cried. I and a few others threw ourselves out into his ship. The
+wretches we left were now tossed on the swelling deep. The waters on
+every side poured, through the riven vessel. They cursed the Lord; when
+lo! a fiend rose from the deep, and in a voice like distant thunder,
+thus spoke:--'I am Abaddon, the first-born of death;--ye are my prey.
+Open thou abyss to receive them!' As he thus spoke they sunk, and the
+waves closed over their heads. The storm was turned into a calm, and we
+heard a voice saying, 'Fear not, I am with you. When you pass through
+the waters they shall not overflow you.' Our hearts were filled with
+joy. I was engaged in discourse with one of my new companions, when one
+from the top of the mast cried out, 'Courage, my friends, I see the
+fair haven, the land that is yet afar off.' Looking up, I found it was a
+certain friend, who had mounted up for the benefit of contemplating the
+country before him. Upon seeing _you_, (the friend to whom he was
+writing,) I was so affected that I started and awaked. Farewell, my
+friend,--Farewell!"
+
+See that fragile form, then, with the glowing spirit within, panting for
+freedom and its "native skies," borne along in the vessel of Religion,
+upon a calm and sunny sea. He looks aloft, and anticipates with serene
+and joyful trust, his entrance into the port of everlasting peace. The
+vessel glides, with increasing velocity, her sails all set, and gleaming
+in the reflected radiance of the spirit-world. Now she enters the port,
+and nears that blessed shore,
+
+    "Where tempests never beat, nor billows roar."
+
+The few days which remained to Michael on earth, he spent in correcting
+his poem of the "Last Judgment," and in pluming his spirit for its
+upward flight. His bodily strength was exhausted, and he was obliged to
+keep his bed. His mind was meditative and hopeful, dwelling almost
+wholly upon various passages of Holy Writ, which he would repeat and
+comment upon to his friends.
+
+Mr. George Lawson, afterwards Dr. Lawson, professor of theology in the
+"Secession Church," being called to preach for a settlement in the
+neighborhood of Kinnesswood, hastened upon his arrival there, to see his
+friend Bruce. He found him in bed, with his countenance pale as death,
+while his eyes shone like lamps in a sepulchre. The poet was delighted
+to see him, and spoke with as much ease and freedom as if he had been in
+perfect health. Mr. Lawson remarked to him that he was glad to see him
+so cheerful. "And why," said he, "should not a man be cheerful on the
+verge of heaven?" "But," said Mr. L., "you look so emaciated. I am
+afraid you cannot last long." "You remind me," he replied, "of the story
+of the Irishman, who was told that his hovel was about to fall, and I
+answer with him, _Let it fall, it is not mine!_"
+
+This cheerfulness continued during his illness, till his mother, one
+morning, announced to him, just as he was awaking out of sleep, that Mr.
+Swanston was dead. He looked at her with a fixed stare, as if stunned by
+the intelligence. Upon recovering he satisfied himself as to the
+correctness of the statement, and was never afterwards seen to smile!
+Still we do not attach much importance to this circumstance; for it
+often happens that when the countenance is cold and ghastly, the heart
+within is warm and serene. He lingered for a month, manifesting little
+interest in what was said or done around him, and on the 5th of July,
+calmly and imperceptibly fell asleep, aged twenty-one years and three
+months.
+
+    So fades a summer cloud away,
+      So sinks the gale when storms are o'er,
+    So gently shuts the eye of day,
+      So fades a wave along the shore.
+
+    Life's labor done, as sinks the clay,
+      Light from its load the spirit flies,
+    While heaven and earth combine to say,
+      How bless'd the Christian when he dies!
+
+His Bible was found upon his pillow, marked down at Jer. xxii: 10, "Weep
+ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him;" and on the blank leaf this
+homely but expressive verse was written:--
+
+    "'Tis very vain for me to boast,
+    How small a price my Bible cost;
+    The day of judgment will make clear,
+    'Twas very cheap or very dear."
+
+He was buried in the church-yard of Portmoak, in the very centre of the
+scenes hallowed and beautified by his muse. A monument has been erected
+to Bruce through the subscription of his friends, of which the following
+is the simple but appropriate inscription:
+
+                     MICHAEL BRUCE,
+              Born in 1747 at Kinnesswood,
+               In the County of Kinross,
+             Died at the age of twenty-one.
+                  In this brief space,
+       Under the pressure of indigence and sickness,
+               He displayed talents truly
+                       Poetical.
+        For his aged mother's and his own support
+                He taught a school here.
+    The village was then skirted with old ash trees,
+              The cottage in which he dwelt
+            Was distinguished by a honeysuckle
+              Which he had trained round its
+                      Lashed window.
+         Certain inhabitants of his native county,
+                      His admirers,
+                 Have erected this stone
+                    To mark the abode
+                           Of
+                    Genius and Virtue.
+
+Bruce was designed for the service of the church. In this view, as well
+as with reference to the cultivation of his fine poetical talents, his
+death may be deemed a calamity. And yet, such a view of the case may
+fairly be questioned. For himself, is he not happier, in the bosom of
+his God; and for us, does he not, by means of his Christian life, his
+heroic death, his ethereal strains, embalmed in blessed memories of the
+past, preach more effectually than he could have done, even had he lived
+to occupy a material pulpit. "Being dead he yet speaketh," and speaketh
+with a power and pathos which can be reached only by the dead.
+
+Had we room we might give many pleasant extracts from his poetry; but we
+must content ourselves with his "Ode to the Cuckoo," in our judgment one
+of the most beautiful and perfect little poems in any language.
+
+              TO THE CUCKOO.
+
+    Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove!
+      Thou messenger of Spring!
+    Now heaven repairs thy rural seat,
+      And woods thy welcome sing.
+
+    What time the daisy decks the green,
+      Thy certain voice we hear;
+    Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
+      Or mark the rolling year?
+
+    Delightful visitant! with thee,
+      I hail the time of flowers,
+    And hear the sound of music sweet,
+      From birds among the bowers.
+
+    The schoolboy wandering through the wood,
+      To pull the primrose gay,
+    Starts the new voice of spring to hear,[159]
+      And imitates thy lay.
+
+    What time the pea puts on the bloom,
+      Thou fliest thy local vale,
+    Another guest in other lands,
+      Another spring to hail.
+
+    Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,
+      Thy sky is ever clear;
+    Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
+      No winter in thy year!
+
+    O could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
+      We'd make, with joyful wing,
+    Our annual visit o'er the globe,
+      Companions of the spring.
+
+[Footnote 159: In his own copy Bruce had written, "Starts thy curious
+voice to hear;" _curious_ is a Scotticism, being equivalent to
+_strange_. This Logan probably altered to save the quantity. But the
+original expression is preferred by good judges, as more natural and
+poetical. "It marks the unusual resemblance of the note of the cuckoo to
+the human _voice_ the cause of the _start_ and _imitation_ which
+follow."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     Dunfermline--Ruins of the Abbey--Grave of Robert Bruce--Malcolm
+     Canmore's Palace--William Henryson, the poet--William
+     Dunbar--Stirling Castle--Views from its Summit--City of
+     Stirling--George Buchanan and Dr. Arthur
+     Johnston--Falkirk--Linlithgow--Story of the Capture of Linlithgow
+     Castle--Spirit of War--Arrival in Edinburgh.
+
+
+Bidding adieu to Lochleven, we journey slowly through a pleasant and
+highly cultivated region, till we reach the ancient town of Dunfermline,
+in which some of the old Scottish kings formerly held court, and which
+is yet adorned with the remains of a magnificent abbey. Robert Bruce was
+interred here, in complete armor, and much interest was excited, a few
+years ago, by the discovery of his skeleton. In the vicinity are the
+ruins of Malcolm Canmore's palace and stronghold, standing on the edge
+of a deep romantic glen, in which, more than three hundred years ago,
+the poet Henryson, a schoolmaster in Dunfermline, was wont to wander,
+singing his beautiful lays, in the quaint and difficult dialect of
+former times.
+
+    "In myddis of June, that jolly sweet sessoun,
+      Quhen that fair Phoebus, with his beamis brycht,
+    Had dryit up the clew fra daill and doun,
+      And all the land made with his lemys lycht;
+      In a morning betwene mid-day and nycht,
+    I raiss and put all sluith and sleep on syde;
+    Ontill a wod I went allone, but gyd. (glad?)
+
+    Sueit was the smell of flowris quhyt and reid,
+      The noyis of birdis rycht delitious;
+    The bewis brod blumyt abune my heid;
+      The grund gowand with grassis gratious
+      Of all pleasans that place was plenteous,
+    With sueit odours and birdis armonie;
+    The mornyng mild my mirth was mair forthy.
+
+Henryson was contemporary with William Dunbar, a poet, says Sir Walter
+Scott, unrivalled by any that Scotland has ever produced. He flourished
+at the court of James IV. His poems are of all sorts, allegorical, moral
+and comic. The following lines on the brevity of human existence are a
+fair specimen of his style.
+
+    This wavering warld's wretchedness,
+    The failing and fruitless business,
+    The misspent time, the service vain,
+          For to consider is ane pain.
+
+    The sliding joy, the gladness short,
+    The perjured love, the false comfort,
+    The seveir abade (delay), the slightful train (snare),
+          For to consider is ane pain.
+
+    The sugared mouths, with minds therefra,
+    The figured speech, with faces tway;
+    The pleasing tongues, with hearts unplain,
+          For to consider is ane pain.
+
+In another poem he takes a more cheerful view of life.
+
+    Be merry, man, and tak' not sair in mind
+      The wavering of this wretched world of sorrow;
+    To God be humble, to thy friend be kind,
+      And with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow,
+      His chance to-night, it may be thine to-morrow, &c.
+
+From Dunfermline, we cross the country in the direction of Stirling,
+and of course linger to view the famous battle-ground of Bannockburn,
+immortalized by the prowess of Scotland, and the poetry of Burns.
+
+But we approach Stirling Castle, one of the oldest and most imposing
+strongholds in the country. How often have these old rocks rung again,
+"with blast of bugle free;" and how frequently has the ground at its
+base been soaked with human blood! The castle stands on a huge ledge of
+basaltic rock, rising rapidly from the plain, and overlooking the
+country far and near, and backed by the rising ground on which the city
+is built. Ascending to the summit we pass round it, by a narrow pathway
+cut in the sides of the mountain, and thence enjoy the most extensive
+and delightful views. How charmingly the Links of the Forth, as the
+serpentine windings of the river are called, adorn the rich vale, in
+which they love to linger, as if loth to depart. To the north and east
+are the Ochil hills, "vestured" in blue, and looking down upon fertile
+fields, umbrageous woods, and stately mansions. On the west lies the
+vale of Menteith, and far off the Highland mountains, lost in the mist.
+On another side are the pastoral hills of Campsie, and underneath our
+eye the town of Stirling, the Abbey Craig, and the ruins of
+Cambuskenneth Abbey. The Forth, with "isles of emerald," and white sails
+skimming its glassy surface, expands into the German Ocean; and
+Edinburgh Castle, just descried amid the haze, crowns the distant
+landscape. Stirling was a favorite residence of the Stuarts; but the
+castle is now employed only as a barracks for soldiery.
+
+Leaving the castle we pass into the city, by High Street, adorned with
+several palaces of the old nobility, antique-looking edifices, of a
+solid structure. Here was the palace of the Regent, Earl of Mar, whose
+descendants were the keepers of Stirling Castle. Here too was the palace
+of Sir William Alexander, "the philosophical poet" of the court of James
+the Sixth, and tutor to Charles the First, who created him Earl of
+Stirling. But an object of still greater interest is the tower where
+George Buchanan, the historian of Scotland, and one of the first
+scholars of his age, lived and wrote. He was tutor to James the Sixth of
+Scotland, and First of England. He wrote a paraphrase of the Psalms in
+elegant Latin verse, of which he was a perfect master. Most of this work
+was composed in a monastery in Portugal, to which he had been confined
+by the Inquisition about the year 1550. It was continued in France, and
+finished in Scotland. His prose works, particularly his history of
+Scotland, are characterized by clearness and research. His celebrated
+contemporary, Dr. Arthur Johnston, was equally distinguished for the
+variety of his attainments, and his perfect command of the Latin tongue;
+so that the one has been called the Scottish Virgil, and the other the
+Scottish Ovid. The Latin version of the Psalms by Buchanan is still used
+in some of the Scottish schools. It is elegant and faithful, but
+somewhat formal and paraphrastic.
+
+There are many objects of interest in Stirling, and the scenery around
+is rich and beautiful, and, moreover, associated in every part, with
+recollections of the olden time; but we cannot linger here. The
+stage-coach is waiting to take us to Falkirk, a town of great antiquity,
+having been the site of one of those military stations on the wall made
+by the Romans at their invasion of the country, known by the name of the
+Forts of Agricola. It was also the scene of one or two famous battles in
+the days of Wallace and Bruce. Being the principal town in the midst of
+a rich agricultural country, it is now the scene of immense fairs or
+_trysts_, as they are called, to which large droves of Highland cattle
+are brought annually for sale, and where an immense amount of business
+is transacted. But there is nothing here of sufficient interest to
+detain us; so we proceed in the rail-cars to Edinburgh. In passing, we
+get a glimpse of the castle and palace of Linlithgow; in the twefth
+century one of the most important burghs in Scotland, the residence of
+several of the kings of Scotland, and the birth-place of Queen Mary.
+
+    "Of all the palaces so fair
+      Built for the royal dwelling
+    In Scotland, far beyond compare
+      Linlithgow is excelling.
+    And in its park, in genial June,
+    How sweet the merry linnet's tune,
+      How blythe the blackbird's lay,
+    The wild buck bells from thorny brake
+    The coot dives merry on the lake,
+    The saddest heart might pleasure take
+      To see a scene so gay."--_Marmion._
+
+When Robert Bruce was lying in Torwood Castle, not far from Falkirk, a
+man by the name of Binnoch, a farmer in the neighborhood, who supplied
+the garrison at Linlithgow, then in possession of the English king,
+proposed to Bruce to take possession of the garrison by a stratagem,
+which he accomplished. This incident has been wrought into a lively form
+by Wilson, not Professor Wilson, but John Mackie Wilson, author of the
+Border Tales, of whom I shall have something to say by and by. The
+following is his account of the matter, somewhat condensed.
+
+Having been introduced to Bruce at Torwood, Binnoch intimated that he
+had something of great importance to communicate, and inquired whether
+he might speak with confidence. Being assured that he might, he
+proceeded thus:
+
+"Aweel sir, the business I cam' upon is just this. I supply the
+garrison, ye see sir, o' Lithgow wi' hay; now I've observed that they're
+a' wheen idle, careless fellows, mair ta'en up wi' their play than their
+duty."
+
+Bruce's eye here kindled with a sudden fire, and his whole countenance
+became animated with an expression of fierce eagerness that strongly
+contrasted with its former placidity. He was now all attention to the
+communication of his humble visitor.
+
+"What! the castle of Linlithgow, friend!" exclaimed Bruce, with a slight
+smile of mingled surprise and incredulity. "_You_ take the castle of
+Linlithgow! Pray, my good fellow, how would you propose to do that?"
+
+"Why sir, by a very simple process," replied Binnoch, undauntedly, "I
+wad put a dizen or fifteen stout weel armed, resolute fellows, in my
+cart, cover them owre wi' hay, and introduce them into the garrison as a
+load o' provender. If they were ance in, an' the cheils were themselves
+of the richt stuff, I'll wad my head to a pease bannock that the
+castle's ours in fifteen minutes."
+
+"And would you undertake to do this, my good friend?" said Bruce,
+gravely, struck with the idea, and impressed with its practicability.
+
+"Readily, and wi' a richt guid will, sir," replied Binnoch, "provided ye
+fin' me the men; but they maun be the very wale o' your flock; its no a
+job for faint hearts or nerveless arms."
+
+"The men ye shall have, my brave fellow; and if ye succeed your country
+will be indebted to you. But it is a perilous undertaking; there will be
+hard fighting, and ye may lose your head by it. Have you thought of
+that?"
+
+"I have, sir," replied Binnoch, firmly. "As to the fechtin', we are like
+to gie them as guid as we get. And for the hangin', the Scotsman is no
+deservin' o' the name that's no ready to brave death, in any form, for
+his country."
+
+Bruce caught the enthusiasm of the speaker; a tear started into his eye,
+and seizing the hand of the humble patriot--
+
+"My noble fellow," he said, "would to God all Scotsmen were like thee.
+Beneath that homely plaid of thine there beats a heart of which any
+knight in Christendom might be proud. Lose or win, this shall not be
+forgotten."
+
+Having made the necessary arrangements, and agreed upon a sign, for
+communicating with each other, Binnoch took his departure from the
+castle of Torwood.
+
+The next day the men selected by Bruce were at Binnoch's house, having
+been admitted through the preconcerted signal. They repaired to the
+barn, and were snugly packed away in the hay cart, armed with steel caps
+and short swords. Everything being in readiness, Binnoch hid a sword
+amongst the hay, for his own use, and in such a situation that he could
+easily seize it when wanted. He also provided himself with a poniard,
+which he concealed beneath his waistcoat. Thus prepared at all points,
+the intrepid peasant set forward with his load of daring hearts, and
+having arrived at the castle, he and his cart were immediately admitted.
+They proceeded onwards till they came to the centre of the court-yard,
+when Binnoch gave the preconcerted signal to his associates, which was
+conveyed in the words, spoken in a loud voice--"Forward, Greystail,
+forward!" as if addressing his horse, which he at the same time struck
+with his whip to complete the deception.
+
+These words were no sooner uttered than the hay, with which the daring
+adventurers were covered, was seen to move, and the next instant it was
+thrown over upon the pavement, to the inexpressible amazement of the
+idlers who were looking on; and, to their still greater surprise,
+fifteen armed men leapt, with fearful shouts, into the court-yard, when,
+being instantly headed by Binnoch, the work of death began. Every man
+within their reach at the moment was cut down. The guard-room was
+assailed, and all in it put to death, and passing from apartment to
+apartment, they swept the garrison, and took possession of it. The
+attack had been so sudden, so unexpected, and so vigorous, that its
+unfortunate occupants, six times their number, had no time to rally or
+defend themselves, and thus fell an easy prey to the bold adventurers.
+
+We have only to add that Binnoch was rewarded by Bruce, for this
+important service, with some valuable lands in the parish of Linlithgow;
+and that his descendants had for their arms a _hay-wain_, with the
+motto, _virtute doloque_.[160]
+
+[Footnote 160: The following is a different, and probably a more correct
+version of Binnoch's adventure, from Sir W. Scott's Tales of a
+Grandfather. "Binnoch had been ordered by the English governor to
+furnish some cart-loads of hay, of which they were in want. He promised
+to bring it accordingly; but the night before he drove the hay to the
+castle, he stationed a party of his friends, as well armed as possible,
+near the entrance, where they could not be seen by the garrison, and
+gave them directions that they should come to his assistance as soon as
+they should hear him cry a signal, which was to be, 'Call all, call
+all!' Then he loaded a great waggon with hay. But in the waggon he
+placed eight strong men, well armed, lying flat on their breasts, and
+covered over with hay, so that they could not be seen. He himself walked
+carelessly beside the waggon; and he chose the stoutest and bravest of
+his servants to be the driver, who carried at his belt a strong axe or
+hatchet. In this way Binnoch approached the castle, early in the
+morning; and the watchmen, who only saw two men, Binnoch being one of
+them, with a cart of hay, which they expected, opened the gates, and
+raised up the portcullis, to permit them to enter the castle. But as
+soon as the cart had gotten under the gateway, Binnoch made a sign to
+his servant, who, with his axe, suddenly cut asunder the _soam_, that
+is, the yoke which fastens the horses to the cart, and the horses
+finding themselves free, naturally started forward, the cart remaining
+behind under the arch of the gate. At the same time Binnoch cried, as
+loud as he could, 'Call all, call all!' and drawing his sword, which he
+had under his country habit, he killed the porter. The armed men then
+jumped up from under the hay where they lay concealed, and rushed on the
+English guard. The Englishmen tried to shut the gates, but they could
+not, because the cart of hay remained in the gateway, and prevented the
+folding doors from being closed. The portcullis was also let fall, but
+the grating was caught in the cart, and so could not drop to the ground.
+The men who were in ambush near the gate hearing the cry, 'Call all,
+call all!' ran to assist those who had leaped out from among the hay;
+the castle was taken, and all the Englishmen killed or made prisoners.
+King Robert rewarded Binnoch by bestowing on him an estate, which his
+posterity long afterward enjoyed. The Binnings of Wallyford, descended
+from that person, still bear in their coat armorial a wain loaded with
+hay, with the motto, 'virtute doloque.'"]
+
+By the way, these two words, _courage_ and _stratagem_, express the very
+spirit and essence of ancient war, and indeed of all war, a relic of
+barbarism, the most foul and horrible the world has ever seen.
+Defensible, perhaps, in cases of extremity, when it is the last and only
+means of protecting our homes and altars, but in all other cases a
+fearful atrocity, fit only for cannibals and demons!
+
+But yonder are the peaceful towers of Edinburgh, bathed in the sombre
+light of evening. The very castle looks like an image of repose, as it
+silently looms up amid the smoke and hum of the busy city. Signs of
+peace and prosperity are every where around us, indicating, if we have
+not yet reached, that at least we are approaching that happy time when
+"men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into
+pruning hooks."
+
+    "O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true,
+    Scenes of accomplished bliss! which who can see,
+    Though but in distant prospect, and not feel
+    His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+     Journey to Peebles--Characters--Conversation on Politics--Scottish
+     Peasantry--Peebles--"Christ's Kirk on the Green"--A Legend--An old
+     Church--The Banks of the Tweed--Its ancient Castles--The Alarm
+     Fire--Excursion to the Vales of Ettrick and Yarrow--Stream of
+     Yarrow--St. Mary's Lake and Dryhope Tower--"The Dowie Dens of
+     Yarrow"--Growth of Poetry--Ballads and Poems on Yarrow by Hamilton,
+     Logan and Wordsworth.
+
+
+On a cold, drizzly morning we start, in a substantial stage-coach, well
+lined with cushions inside, for the ancient town of Peebles, which lies
+to the south of Edinburgh, some twenty-five miles or more. The
+'outsides' are wrapped in cloaks and overcoats, and literally covered in
+with umbrellas; and from their earnest talking seem to be tolerably
+comfortable. The "Scottish mist," cold and penetrating, would soon reach
+the skin of an unsheltered back; all hands, therefore, and especially
+the driver in front, and the guard behind, are muffled to the neck with
+cravats and other appliances. Eyes and mouth only are visible, not
+indeed to the passers by, but to the denizens of the stage-coach, who
+cling together for warmth and sociability. Our travelling companions
+inside are a Dominie from Auchingray, fat as a capon, with face round,
+sleek and shiny, little gray eyes glancing beneath a placid forehead,
+and indicating intelligence and good nature; and a south-country laird,
+a large, brawny man, with a huge face and huger hat, corduroy breeches
+and top boots, a coat that nearly covers the whole of his body, and a
+vest of corresponding dimensions. A mighty cravat is tied neatly around
+his capacious throat, and a couple of large gold seals dangle from
+beneath his vest. In addition to these two, a little man, thin and
+wrinkled, but with a clear, quick, restless eye, is sitting in the
+corner, squeezed into a rather straight place by the laird and the
+dominie. From his appearance and conversation, we should take him to be
+a lawyer. With some little difficulty we get into conversation, but once
+set agoing, it jogs on at a pretty fair pace. Insensibly it glides into
+politics, and becomes rather lively. The lawyer is evidently a whig, the
+laird a tory of the old stamp, and the dominie neither the one nor the
+other, but rather more of a tory than anything else, as he is dependent,
+in some sense, upon 'the powers that be.'
+
+"For my part," says the laird, taking hold of his watch-seals, and
+twirling them energetically, "I do not believe in your two-faced
+radicals, who have more impudence in their noddles than money in their
+pockets, and who go routing about the country, crying up democracy and
+all that sort of stuff, to the great injury of her majesty's subjects."
+
+"But, my dear sir," replies the lawyer, "you forget that money is not
+the _summum bonum_ of human life, and that the gentlemen to whom you
+refer are not impudent radicals, but clear-headed and patriotic whigs."
+
+"All gammon, sir! all gammon!" is the rejoinder of the laird, "I
+wouldn't give a fig for the whole pack. One or two of them, I admit, are
+tolerably respectable men. Lord John Russel belongs to the old nobility,
+and is a man of some sense, but sadly deceived, full of nonsensical
+plans and dangerous reforms. As to Dan. O'Connel, he is an old fox, a
+regular Irish blackguard, who has not heart enough to make a living by
+honest means, but fleeces it out of the starving Irish, in the shape of
+repeal rent! Hang the rascal, I should be glad to see him gibbeted! Hume
+is a mean, beggarly adventurer. And even Sir Robert Peel, with all his
+excellences, has made sad mistakes on the subject of reform and the corn
+laws. He's not the thing, after all! Sadly out of joint, sir, sadly out
+of joint!"
+
+All this is said with such terrible energy, and such a menacing frown,
+that even the lawyer cowers a little, and the dominie is almost
+frightened. We think it best, upon the whole, to say little. But,
+plucking up courage, the lawyer replies:
+
+"Sir, you come to conclusions that are too sweeping. That Lord John
+Russel is a man of clear intellect and admirable forethought no one will
+think of denying. His plans are well matured, and, moreover, aim at the
+good of his country. Hume is a great political economist: Sir R. Peel is
+a man of the highest order of mind; and Daniel O'Connel, with all his
+faults, possesses uncommon powers of eloquence, and, doubtless, seeks
+the good of his country."
+
+"The good of his country! All humbug, sir! If you had said his own good,
+you would have come nearer the mark. He's a rascal, sir, rely on it, a
+mean cowardly rascal, who, pretending to benefit the poor Irish, fills
+his own pockets with their hard earnings. I appeal to Mr. Cooper here,
+my respected friend, the parish schoolmaster of Auchingray."
+
+To which the dominie replies demurely:
+
+"As to my opinion, gentlemen, it is not of much consequence, but such as
+it is I give with all candor. In the first place I opine that we are
+liable somewhat to yield to our prejudices in estimating the characters
+of public men; for, as my old friend, the Rev. Mr. Twist, used to say,
+they have 'twa maisters to serve, the government and the public, and
+it's unco difficult sometimes to sail between Scylla and Charybdis.'
+Moreover, these are trying times, and much of primitive integrity and
+patriotism are lost. For myself, I do not approve altogether of the
+course of the whigs, and especially of the radicals. Daniel O'Connel is
+a devoted Catholic, with no generous aspirations, or enlarged
+conceptions of the public weal. A great man, certainly, a wonderful
+orator, no doubt, but much tinctured with selfishness, and carried away
+by wild and prurient schemes. Lord John Russel is a man of decided
+talent and fine character, but I have not much confidence, after all, in
+his practical wisdom, and good common sense. Sir Robert Peel, however
+is, with some slight exceptions, a model statesman, a man of a
+wonderfully clear, well balanced mind, and a deep insight into men and
+things. Still, as my friend on the left says, he's somewhat out of joint
+just now, and, for my own part, I could never altogether approve his
+schemes."
+
+"There sir," quickly interposed the laird, "There sir! didn't I tell
+you, sir? All humbug, sir! Nothing safe--nothing useful about the whigs!
+Give me the good old days of my grandfather, when the rascals dared not
+peep or mutter!"
+
+"But you forget, sir," is the answer of the lawyer, "that your friend,
+the schoolmaster here, has admitted nearly all for which I contend."
+
+"Admitted nothing, sir! Comes to nothing, sir! And to tell you the plain
+honest truth, I believe the whole pack of them are a set of humbugs! All
+sham, sir! nothing but hypocrisy and humbug!"
+
+"But a modification of the corn laws is certainly desirable for the sake
+of the poorer classes, many of whom are living upon the merest
+trifle:"--we venture to remark.
+
+"All a mistake, sir! all a mistake! An honest, sensible man can always
+make his way, and secure bread for his family!"
+
+"Well, but surely you consider a shilling or eighteen pence a day rather
+miserable support!"
+
+"Not at all, sir! not at all! They're used to it, and thousands of them
+are happier than you or I!"
+
+"Upon this point we beg leave to doubt, and hope the time is not far
+distant when the common people will have cheap bread:"--we quietly
+rejoin.
+
+"Amen!" responds the dominie. "That I am confident would be an
+improvement; but how it is to be brought about is a question of great
+difficulty. The common people of Scotland are not so poorly off as
+foreigners represent them. Their habits are primitive and simple, and I
+certainly have known many families, particularly in the country, make
+themselves very comfortable on eighteen pence or a couple of shillings a
+day."
+
+"Give us an example, if you please!"
+
+"Why, there is James Thomson, a working man, who makes, upon an average,
+say eighteen pence or a couple of shillings sterling (fifty cents)
+daily, through the year. He has a wife and four children. He built
+himself a kind of stone and turf cottage on the edge of one of Lord B.'s
+plantations, with a but and a ben,[161] and a little out-house. One day
+I called in to see him about one of his children, and, in the course of
+conversation, asked him how he got along."
+
+[Footnote 161: Two apartments.]
+
+"Brawly;"[162] was the reply.
+
+[Footnote 162: Finely.]
+
+"Can you make 'the twa ends meet' at the close of the year?"
+
+"Yes," said he, "and something mair than that. Last Candlemas I laid up
+nae less than ten and saxpence."
+
+"But how can you do it. Have you any land to cultivate?"
+
+"A wee bittock," was the answer, "but it's graund for taties and
+turnips."
+
+"Have you a cow?"
+
+"O aye, we have a coo, and a gude coo she is."
+
+"Well, what have you for victuals?"
+
+"The best o' parritch and milk in the morning, and at nicht. And as for
+denner, we ha' nae great variety, but what's wholesome eneuch. And ye
+ken, Dominie C., that hunger's the best sauce."
+
+"True enough, but excuse me, I should like to know what you generally
+have for dinner."
+
+"Ou," said he, laughing, "the graundest kail i' the world, made o'
+barley, butter and vegetables, wi' a bit o' beef, or a marrow bane in't
+once in a while, and mealy tatties, scones and cakes, the very best in
+the kintra!"
+
+"Well, you're content!"
+
+"To be sure we are! and gratefu', besides, to the Giver o' a' gude."
+
+"But you have a little pinch occasionally--in the cold and stormy winter
+weather?"
+
+"Why ye-s--but it's nae mair than a body may expeck, and it's a great
+deal less than we deserve. For mysel' I ha' nae great reason to
+complain, but Sandy Wilson, ower the way, has had a sair time on't."
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Why, ye see, Sandy is no very able-bodied, and maybe a little
+shiftless, and he fell sick about the middle o' winter. His wife is a
+proud kind o' body, and she said naething to the neebors, and I jalouse
+they had a sair pinching time on't. The wee bit lassie seemed to be
+dwining awa', and Sandy, puir fellow, was just at death's door. But the
+minister o' the parish found it out, and Sandy was soon provided for.
+Hech sir! we ought to be thankfu' that we hae our health. It's a great
+blessing. For if a man only has health and a clear conscience he needna
+fear famine or the deevil."
+
+"Sandy then got over his troubles, did he?"
+
+"In a measure," was the cautious reply, "but the puir wee lassie grew
+paler and paler; and noo her bonny brown hair is covered wi' the yird.
+She was a sweet bit lassie, but she was frail in the constitootion, ye
+see, and the hard famishing winter was ower muckle for her feeble frame.
+But she was weel cared for on her sick bed. And when she died, the hail
+kintra side turned out to attend the funeral, and mony tears were shed
+upon her wee bit grave. My Mary, who gaed to school wi' her, canna get
+ower it to this day. She was an unco bonny thing--sweet as the mornin'
+wat wi' dew, and gentle as a pet lamb. But her grave is green by this
+time, and Sandy is better off than he used to be."
+
+The burly laird listened attentively to this narrative, and at the close
+of it, a tear dimmed his eye. He gave a slight cough, as if to repress
+and to hide his rising emotion, and looking out the coach window,
+exclaimed, "There's Peebles, at last, and yonder's the sign of the Black
+Bull," as if he were prodigiously relieved.
+
+The day is brightening, and this ancient city on the Tweed, looks quite
+agreeable, reminding us of the days of old, when the kings and nobles of
+Scotland used to witness, on its beautiful green, games of archery,
+golf, and so forth. It is supposed to be the scene referred to in the
+opening stanza of "Christ's Kirk on the Green," by James the First, the
+royal poet of Scotland.
+
+    "Was never in Scotland hard nor sene,
+      Sic dansing nor deray,
+    Nouther at Falkland on the green,
+      Nor Pebllis in the play;
+    As wes of wowarris as I wene,
+      At Christ's Kirk on ane day;
+    Thair came our kittles washen clene,
+      In thair new kirtillis of gray
+                      Full gay,
+    At Christ's Kirk o' the Grene that day."
+
+This old town was burnt and laid waste more than once during the
+invasions of the English. Still, from its sequestered situation, it
+never figured largely in any great event. An antique bridge, consisting
+of five arches, connects the old and new towns, which lie on either bank
+of the river. Rambling through the place, we come to a large massive
+building, in a castellated form, known to have belonged to the
+Queensberry family, and believed to be the scene of a romantic incident,
+thus related by Sir Walter Scott:--"There is a tradition in Tweedale,
+that when Nidpath castle, near Peebles, was inhabited by the Earls of
+March, a mutual passion subsisted between a daughter of that noble
+family and the son of the Laird of Tushielaw, in Ettrick Forest. As the
+alliance was thought unsuitable by her parents, the young man went
+abroad. During his absence, the young lady fell into a consumption, and
+at length, as the only means of saving her life, her father consented
+that her lover should be recalled. On the day when he was expected to
+pass through Peebles, on the road to Tushielaw, the young lady, though
+much exhausted, caused herself to be carried to the balcony of a house
+in Peebles, belonging to the family, that she might see him when he rode
+past. Her anxiety and eagerness gave such force to her organs that she
+is said to have distinguished his horses' footsteps at an incredible
+distance. But Tushielaw, unprepared for the change in her appearance,
+and not expecting to see her in that place, rode on, without recognizing
+her, or even slackening his pace. The lady was unable to support the
+shock, and after a short struggle died in the arms of her attendants."
+
+Here are the ruins of some very old churches, one in particular, at the
+western extremity of the old town. This was the original parish church
+of Peebles, and was built upon the site of one still more ancient,
+occupied by the Culdees, (probably from Cultores Dei, worshipers of
+God,) an ancient class of monks, whose forms of worship and doctrinal
+belief were extremely simple, and, as some suppose, evangelical. They
+had monasteries at Jona, and in various parts of Scotland, before the
+Anglo-Saxon period, and preserved for many years, the pure worship of
+God. An altar in St. Andrew's church, was dedicated to St. Michael, with
+a special endowment for the services of "a chapellane, there perpetually
+to say mes, efter the valow of the rents and possessions gevin thereto,
+in honor of Almighty God, Mary his Modyr, and Saint Michael, for the
+hele of the body and the sawl of Jamys, King of Scotts, for the
+balyheis, ye burges, and ye communite of the burgh of Peebles, and for
+the hele of their awn sawlis, thair fadyris sawlis, thair modyris
+sawlis, thair kinnis sawlis, and al Chrystyn sawlis." Part of the tithes
+of this church are now used to support a Grammar school, and while the
+people still worship Almighty God, they have but little reverence for
+"Mary his modyr, and St. Michael."
+
+Let us wander along the banks of this far-famed and beautiful river,
+gliding sweetly through one of the most beautiful vales in Scotland, and
+once adorned with numerous castles and monasteries, whose mouldering
+remains yet diversify the landscape. The whole vale of the Tweed, both
+above and below Peebles, was studded with a chain of castles, built in
+the shape of square towers, and ordinarily consisting of three stories,
+to serve as a defence against the invasion of the English freebooters.
+They were built alternately on each side of the river, and at such
+distances that one could be seen from the other. A fire kindled on the
+top of one of these, to give warning of a hostile incursion, could thus
+be perpetuated through the whole, till a tract of country seventy miles
+long, "from Berwick to the Bield," and fifty broad, was alarmed in a few
+hours. What objects of terror and sublimity these blazing summits,
+lighting, in a dark night, the whole valley of the Tweed, and flashing
+their ruddy gleam upon copsewood and river, hill-top and castle turret!
+
+                  "A score of fires, I ween,
+    From height, and hill, and cliff were seen,
+    Each with warlike tidings fraught,
+    Each from each the signal caught;
+    Each after each they glanced in sight,
+    As stars arise upon the night:
+    They gleamed on many a dusky tarn
+    Haunted by the lonely earn,[163]
+    On many a cairn's grey pyramid,
+    Where urns of mighty chiefs lie hid."
+
+    _Lay of the Last Minstrel._
+
+[Footnote 163: The Scottish eagle.]
+
+But the grey mist of evening is beginning to settle upon the vale of the
+Tweed, and the quaint old town of Peebles, "with its three old bridges,
+and three old steeples, by three old churches borne."
+
+With fair weather, and in admirable spirits, we set off next morning,
+after breakfast, and travel at an easy pace down the fair banks of the
+"silver Tweed," till we reach the pretty village of Innerleithen, at the
+bottom of a sequestered dell, encircled on one side by high and
+partially wooded hills, and enlivened by the clear waters of the Tweed,
+rolling in front. Passing a handsome wooden bridge which crosses the
+river, we reach the hamlet of Traquair and Traquair house, and naturally
+enquire for the far-famed "Bush aboon Traquair." It is pointed out at
+the bottom of the hill which overlooks the lawn, where a few birch trees
+may be seen, the only remains of that dear old spot, made sacred by
+melody and song. Continuing our journey across the country, we get among
+the hills, and after travelling some time through a deep glen, we see
+before us the "haunted stream of Yarrow," the very name of which has
+become a synonym for all that is tender in sentiment and beautiful in
+poetry.
+
+    "And is this Yarrow? This the stream,
+      Of which my fancy cherished
+    So faithfully a waking dream,
+      An image that hath perished?"
+
+Following in somewhat pensive mood, "its beautiful meanderings" through
+this hill-guarded valley, we come to St. Mary's Lake, lying in solemn
+but beautiful serenity among the mountains, whose heathy sides and bare
+cliffs are mirrored in her pellucid depths.
+
+                      "Nor fen nor sedge
+    Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge;
+    Abrupt and sheer the mountains sink
+    At once upon the level brink;
+    And just a trace of silver sand
+    Marks where the water meets the land.
+    Far, in the mirror bright and blue,
+    Each hill's huge outline you may view;
+    Shaggy with heath, but lonely bare,
+    Nor tree, nor bush, nor brake is there,
+    Save where of land, yon slender line
+    Bears thwart the lake the scattered pine.
+    Nor thicket, dell, nor copse you spy,
+    Where living thing concealed might lie;
+    Nor point retiring hides a dell
+    Where swain or woodman lone might dwell;
+    There's nothing left to fancy's guess,
+    You see that all is loneliness;
+    And silence adds,--though the steep hills
+    Send to the lake a thousand rills,
+    In summer tide so soft they weep,
+    The sound but lulls the ear asleep;
+    Your horse's hoof-tread sounds too rude,
+    So stilly is the solitude."
+
+    _Marmion._
+
+Passing to the eastern extremity of the Lake, we come to Dryhope Tower,
+the birth-place of Mary Scott, the famous "Flower of Yarrow." Her lover,
+or husband, was slain by Scott of Tushielaw, from jealousy, or from a
+desire to secure her fortune, her father having promised to endow her
+with half his property. Seized by the imagination of the ancient
+Minnesingers, this incident became the subject of a ballad, or ballads
+of great beauty and pathos, well known through Scotland, and frequently
+sung "amang her green braes." This has invested Yarrow with a deep
+poetical charm, and given rise to a great variety of sweet and pathetic
+strains, affording a fine exemplification of the manner in which poetry
+grows, as by a natural law of progress. A single incident gathers around
+itself all beautiful images, all tender thoughts, feelings and passions,
+till the region in which it occurred becomes instinct with fantasy, and
+absolutely glows with a sort of conscious beauty. The very air is
+burdened with a melancholy charm. The stream meandering through the
+vale, and the winds whispering through the mountain glens or rippling
+the surface of St. Mary's lake, "murmur a music not their own." In a
+word, we have come from the real, everyday world, into one that is
+ideal, where, in the deep stillness of nature, the voices of the past
+reveal themselves to the listening soul. In this view we know not a more
+interesting or instructive series of poems than those relating to
+Yarrow. The first is the ballad of the "Dowie Dens," or rather, "Downs
+of Yarrow." This is variously printed, but we give the version of
+Motherwell.
+
+    There were three lords birling at the wine,
+      On the Dowie Dens of Yarrow;
+    They made a compact them between,
+      They would go fecht to-morrow.
+
+    "Thou took our sister to be thy wife,
+      And thou ne'er thocht her thy marrow,
+    Thou stealed her frae her daddy's back,
+      When she was the Rose of Yarrow."
+
+    "Yes, I took your sister to be my wife,
+      And I made her my marrow;
+    I stealed her frae her daddy's back,
+      And she's still the Rose of Yarrow."
+
+    He is hame to his lady gane,
+      As he had done before, O;
+    Says, "Madam I must go and fecht,
+      On the Dowie Downs o' Yarrow."
+
+    "Stay at hame, my Lord," she said,
+      "For that will breed much sorrow;
+    For my three brethren will slay thee,
+      On the Dowie Downs o' Yarrow."
+
+    "Hold your tongue, my lady fair;
+      For what needs a' this sorrow?
+    For I'll be hame gin' the clock strikes nine,
+      From the Dowie Downs o' Yarrow."
+
+    He wush his face, and she combed his hair,
+      As she had done before, O;
+    She dressed him up in his armour clear,
+      Sent him forth to fecht on Yarrow.
+
+    "Come ye here to hawk or hound,
+      Or drink the wine that's sae clear, O;
+    Or come ye here to eat in your words,
+      That you're not the Rose o' Yarrow?"
+
+    "I came not here to hawk or hound,
+      Nor to drink the wine that's sae clear, O;
+    Nor came I here to eat in my words,
+      For I'm still the Rose o' Yarrow."
+
+    Then they all begud to fecht,
+      I wad they focht richt sore, O;
+    Till a cowardly man cam' behind his back,
+      And pierced his body thorough.
+
+    "Gae hame, gae hame, its my man John,
+      As ye have done before, O:
+    An tell it to my gaye ladye
+      That I soundly sleep on Yarrow."
+
+    His man John he has gane hame,
+      As he had done before, O;
+    And told it to his gay ladye.
+      That he soundly slept on Yarrow.
+
+    "I dreamed a dream, now since the 'streen,[164]
+      God keep us a' frae sorrow!
+    That my lord and I was pu'ing the heather green,
+      From the Dowie Downs o' Yarrow."
+
+    Sometimes she rode, sometimes she gade,[165]
+      As she had done before, O;
+    And aye between she fell in a swoon,
+      Lang or she cam' to Yarrow.
+
+    Her hair it was five quarters lang,
+      'Twas like the gold for yellow;
+    She twisted it round his milk white hand,
+      And she's drawn him hame frae Yarrow.
+
+    Out and spak her father dear,
+      Says, "What needs a' this sorrow?
+    For I'll get you a far better lord
+      Than ever died on Yarrow."
+
+    "O hold your tongue, father," she said,
+      "For you've bred a' my sorrow;
+    For that rose'll ne'er spring so sweet in May,
+      As that Rose I lost on Yarrow!"
+
+[Footnote 164: Yesternight.]
+
+[Footnote 165: Walked.]
+
+More than a century ago, William Hamilton, of Bangor, a gentleman of
+rank, education, and poetical talents, wrote the following exquisite
+ballad:[166]
+
+[Footnote 166: We quote only a portion of Hamilton's ballad.]
+
+               THE BRAES OF YARROW.
+
+    Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride,
+      Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow!
+    Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride,
+      And think nae mair o' the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Whare gat ye that bonny, bonny bride?
+      Whare gat ye that winsome marrow?
+    I gat her where I darena weil be seen
+      Pouing the birks on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Weep not, weep not, my bonny, bonny bride,
+      Weep not, my winsome marrow!
+    Nor let thy heart lament to leave
+      Pouing the birks on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Lang maun she weep, lang maun she weep,
+      Lang maun she weep with dule and sorrow,
+    And lang maun I nae mair weil be seen,
+      Pouing the birks on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Why runs thy stream, O Yarrow, Yarrow, red?
+      Why on thy braes heard the voice o' sorrow?
+    And why yon melancholious weeds,
+      Hung on the bonny birks o' Yarrow?
+
+    What's yonder floats on the rueful flude?
+      What's yonder floats, O dule and sorrow!
+    'Tis he, the comely swain I slew,
+      Upon the duleful braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Wash, O wash his wounds in tears,
+      His wounds in tears with dule and sorrow,
+    And wrap his limbs in mourning weeds,
+      And lay him on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Sweet smells the birk, green grows the grass,
+      Yellow on Yarrow bank the gowan,
+    Fair hangs the apple frae the rock,
+      Sweet the wave of Yarrow flowan.
+
+    Flows Yarrow sweet, as sweet flows Tweed,
+      As green its grass, its gowan as yellow,
+    As sweet smells on its braes the birk,
+      The apple frae the rock as mellow.
+
+    Busk ye, then busk, my bonny, bonny bride,
+      Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome marrow,
+    Busk ye and lue me on the banks o' Tweed,
+      And think nae mair on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    How can I busk a bonny, bonny bride,
+      How can I busk a winsome marrow,
+    How lue him on the banks o' Tweed
+      That slew my love on the braes o' Yarrow?
+
+    O Yarrow fields, may never, never rain,
+      Nor dew thy tender blossoms cover,
+    For there was basely slain my love,
+      My love, as he had not been a lover.
+
+    The boy put on his robes o' green,
+      His purple vest, 'twas my ain sewing
+    Ah! wretched me! I little kenned
+      He was in these to meet his ruin.
+
+    The boy took out his milk-white steed,
+      Unheedful of my dule and sorrow,
+    But ere the to-fall of the night
+      He lay a corpse on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+    Much I rejoiced that waeful day;
+      I sang, my voice the woods returning,
+    But lang ere night the spear was flown,
+      That slew my love, and left me mourning.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Yes, yes, prepare the bed of love,
+      With bridal sheets my body cover,
+    Unbar, ye bridal maids, the door,
+      Let in the expected husband lover
+
+    But who the expected husband is?
+      His hands, methinks, are bathed in slaughter.
+    Ah me! what ghastly spectre's yon,
+      Comes in his pale shroud, bleeding after?
+
+    Pale as he is, here lay him down,
+      O lay his cold head on my pillow;
+    Take off, take off these bridal weeds,
+      And crown my careful head with willow.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Return, return, O mournful bride,
+      Return and dry thy useless sorrow;
+    Thy lover heeds naught of thy sighs,
+      He lies a corpse on the Braes o' Yarrow.
+
+Somewhat more than half a century later, Logan wrote a song with the
+same title, of which the following are the concluding stanzas.
+
+    "Sweet were his words when last we met;
+      My passion I as freely told him;
+    Clasped in his arms I little thought
+      That I should never more behold him!
+    Scarce was I gone, I saw his ghost;
+      It vanished with a shriek of sorrow;
+    Thrice did the water wraith ascend
+      And gave a doleful groan through Yarrow.
+
+    "His mother from the window look'd
+      With all the longing of a mother;
+    His little sister weeping walk'd
+      The green wood path to meet her brother.
+    They sought him East, they sought him West,
+      They sought him all the forest thorough;
+    They only saw the cloud of night,
+      They only heard the roar of Yarrow!
+
+    "No longer from thy window look,
+      Thou hast no son, O tender mother!
+    No longer walk, thou lovely maid!
+      Alas! thou hast no more a brother!
+    No longer seek him East or West,
+      And search no more the forest thoro';
+    For wandering in the night so dark,
+      He fell a lifeless corpse in Yarrow.
+
+    "The tear shall never leave my cheek,
+      No other youth shall be my marrow;
+    I'll seek thy body in the stream,
+      And then with thee I'll sleep in Yarrow."
+    The tear did never leave her cheek,
+      No other youth became her marrow;
+    She found his body in the stream,
+      And now with him she sleeps in Yarrow.
+
+We are now prepared to read Wordsworths' two exquisite poems, "Yarrow
+Unvisited," and "Yarrow Visited," the splendid flowering, so to speak,
+of this poetical growth.
+
+    From Stirling Castle we had seen
+      The mazy Forth unravelled;
+    Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay,
+      And with the Tweed had travelled;
+    And when we came to Clovenford,
+      Then said 'my _winsome Marrow_,'
+    "Whate'er betide, we'll turn aside,
+      And see the braes o' Yarrow."
+
+    "Let Yarrow folk _frae_ Selkirk Town,
+      Who have been buying, selling,
+    Go back to Yarrow, 'tis their own;
+      Each maiden to her dwelling!
+    On Yarrow's banks let herons feed,
+      Hares couch and rabbits burrow!
+    But we will downward with the Tweed,
+      Nor turn aside to Yarrow.
+
+    "There's Galla Water, Leader Haughs,
+      Both lying right before us;
+    And Dryborough where with chiming Tweed
+      The Lintwhites sing in chorus;
+    There's pleasant Tivoitdale, a land
+      Made blithe with plough and harrow,
+    Why throw away a needful day
+      To go in search of Yarrow?
+
+    "What's Yarrow but a river bare,
+      That glides the dark hills under?
+    There are a thousand such elsewhere
+      As worthy of your wonder."
+    --Strange words they seemed of slight and scorn;
+      My true love sigh'd for sorrow;
+    And looked me in the face to think
+      I thus could speak of Yarrow!
+
+    "Oh green, said I, are Yarrow Holms
+      And sweet is 'Yarrow flowing!'
+    Fair hangs the apple frae the rock,
+      But we will leave it growing.
+    O'er hilly path and open Strath,
+      We'll wander Scotland thorough;
+    But though so near we will not turn
+      Into the Dale of Yarrow.
+
+    "Let beeves and home-bred kine partake
+      The sweets of Burnmill meadow;
+    The swan, on still St. Mary's Lake,
+      Float double, swan and shadow!
+    We will not see them; will not go,
+      To-day, nor yet to-morrow;
+    Enough if in our hearts we know
+      There's such a place as Yarrow.
+
+    "Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown!
+      It must, or we shall rue it;
+    We have a vision of our own;
+      Ah! why should we undo it?
+    The treasured dreams of times long past,
+      We'll keep them 'winsome Marrow!'
+    For when we're there, although tis fair,
+      'Twill be another Yarrow!
+
+    "If care with freezing years should come,
+      And wandering seem but folly,--
+    Should we be loth to stir from home,
+      And yet be melancholy;
+    Should life be dull, and spirits low,
+      'Twill soothe us in our sorrow,
+    That earth has something yet to show,
+      The bonny Holms of Yarrow."
+
+This is beautiful, but the following is more so. Indeed it is the very
+perfection of descriptive poetry.
+
+               YARROW VISITED.
+
+    And is this--Yarrow?--This the stream
+      Of which my fancy cherished
+    So faithfully a waking dream?
+      An image that has perished!
+    O that some minstrel's harp were near,
+      To utter notes of gladness,
+    And chase this silence from the air,
+      That fills my heart with sadness!
+
+    Yet why?--a silvery current flows
+      With uncontrolled meanderings;
+    Nor have these eyes by greener hills
+      Been soothed in all my wanderings.
+    And, through her depths, St. Mary's Lake
+      Is visibly delighted;
+    For not a feature of those hills
+      Is in the mirror slighted.
+
+    A blue sky bends o'er Yarrow Vale,
+      Save where that pearly whiteness
+    Is round the rising sun diffused,
+      A tender hazy brightness;
+    Mild dawn of promise! that excludes
+      All profitless dejection;
+    Though not unwilling here to admit
+      A pensive recollection.
+
+    Where was it that the famous Flower
+      Of Yarrow Vale lay bleeding?
+    His bed perchance was yon smooth mound
+      On which the herd is feeding:
+    And haply from this crystal pool,
+      Now peaceful as the morning,
+    The Water Wraith ascended thrice,
+      And gave his doleful warning.
+
+    Delicious is the lay that sings
+      The haunts of happy lovers,
+    The path that leads them to the grove,
+      The leafy grove that covers;
+    And Pity sanctifies the verse
+      That points, by strength of sorrow,
+    The unconquerable strength of love;
+      Bear witness rueful Yarrow!
+
+    But thou, that didst appear so fair
+      To fond imagination,
+    Dost rival in the light of day
+      Her delicate creation:
+    Meek loveliness is round thee spread,
+      A softness still and holy;
+    The grace of forest charms decayed
+      And pastoral melancholy.
+
+    That region left, the Vale unfolds
+      Rich groves of lofty stature,
+    With Yarrow winding through the pomp
+      Of cultivated nature;
+    And rising from those lofty groves,
+      Behold a ruin hoary!
+    The shattered front of Newark's towers
+      Renowned in Border story.
+
+    Fair scenes for childhood's opening bloom,
+      For sportive youth to stray in,
+    For manhood to enjoy his strength;
+      And age to wear away in!
+    Yon cottage seems a bower of bliss,
+      A covert for protection
+    Of tender thoughts that nestle there,
+      The brood of chaste affection.
+
+    How sweet on this autumnal day,
+      The wild wood fruits to gather,
+    And on my True-love's forehead plant
+      A crest of blooming heather!
+    And what if I enwreathed my own!
+      'Twere no offence to reason;
+    The sober hills thus deck their brows
+      To meet the wintry season.
+
+    I see, but not by sight alone,
+      Loved Yarrow, have I won thee;
+    A ray of Fancy still survives--
+      Her sunshine plays upon thee!
+    Thy ever youthful waters keep
+      A course of lively pleasure;
+    And gladsome notes my lips can breathe,
+      Accordant to the measure.
+
+    The vapors linger round the Heights,
+      They melt,--and soon must vanish;
+    One hour is their's, nor more is mine--
+      Sad thought, which I would banish,
+    But that I know, where'er I go,
+      Thy genuine image, Yarrow!
+    Will dwell with me, to heighten joy,
+      And cheer my mind in sorrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+     Hamlet and Church-yard of Ettrick--Monument to Thomas
+     Boston--Birth-place of the Ettrick Shepherd--Altrieve
+     Cottage--Biographical Sketch of the Ettrick Shepherd--The Town of
+     Selkirk--Monument to Sir Walter Scott--Battle-field of Philiphaugh.
+
+
+Proceeding westward from St. Mary's Lake about half a mile, we come to
+the hill of Merecleughhead, where King James the Fifth entered the
+district to inflict summary vengeance upon the outlaws who frequented
+the Ettrick Forest in the days of old, a circumstance which gave rise to
+many of the old Scottish ballads. At the centre of the parish lie the
+hamlet and church-yard of Ettrick, on the stream of that name. Entering
+the burying-ground we behold the recently erected tomb of Thomas Boston,
+author of the well known work called "The Fourfold State," one of the
+best and holiest men that ever "hallowed" the "bushy dells" of Ettrick.
+With apostolic fervor did he preach the Gospel among these hills and
+vales, and his work, for more than three generations, has instructed the
+Scottish peasantry in the high doctrines of the Christian faith. His
+memory will ever be fragrant among the churches of Scotland. Not far
+from the burying-ground a house is pointed out in which the celebrated
+"Ettrick Shepherd" was born. Passing to the east end of the lake we see
+before us Altrieve Cottage, "bosomed low mid tufted trees," and nearly
+encircled by the "sweet burnie," in whose limpid waters the green
+foliage is mirrored. Here the poet lived, in the latter period of his
+life, and here also he died. The scenes around, moor, mountain and glen,
+lake, river and ruin, are hallowed by the genius of the "shepherd bard,"
+who, to quote his own words,
+
+    "Found in youth a harp among the hills,
+    Dropt by the Elfin people; and whilst the moon
+    Entranced, hung o'er still Saint Mary's loch,
+    Harped by that charmed water, so that the swan
+    Came floating onwards through the water blue,--
+    A dream-like creature, listening to a dream;
+    And the queen of the fairies rising silently
+    Through the pure mist, stood at the shepherd's feet,
+    And half forgot her own green paradise,
+    Far in the bosom of the hill--so wild!
+    So sweet! so sad! flowed forth that shepherd's lay."
+
+James Hogg, born in 1772, was descended from a family of shepherds, and
+spent his boyhood and youth herding his flocks among the hills. Far from
+the bustle of the world, in the deep solitudes of nature, his young and
+vigorous imagination became familiar with all wild and beautiful sights,
+all sweet and solemn sounds. Alone with nature during the day, he spent
+his evening hours in listening to ancient ballads and legends, of which
+his mother was a great reciter. This fed his imagination, and supplied
+it with an infinite variety of strange and beautiful imagery. To this
+fact he has himself thus strikingly referred.
+
+    "O list the mystic lore sublime,
+    Of fairy tales of ancient time!
+    I learned them in the lonely glen,
+    The last abodes of living men;
+    Where never stranger came our way,
+    By summer night or winter day;
+    Where neighboring hind or cot was none--
+    Our converse was with heaven alone--
+    With voices through the cloud that sung
+    And brooding storms that round us hung.
+    O lady judge, if judge ye may,
+    How stern and ample was the sway
+    Of themes like these, when darkness fell
+    And gray-haired sires the tales would tell!
+    When doors were barred and elder dame
+    Plied at her task beside the flame,
+    That through the smoke and gloom alone
+    On dim and cumbered faces shone--
+    The bleat of mountain goat on high,
+    That from the cliff came quavering by;
+    The echoing rock, the rushing flood,
+    The cataract's swell, the moaning wood;
+    The undefined and mingled hum--
+    Voice of the desert never dumb!
+    All these have left within this heart
+    A feeling tongue can ne'er impart
+    A wildered and unearthly flame,
+    A something that's without a name."
+
+Another circumstance in the early life of Hogg tended to nurse his
+fancy. He had, in all, something like six months' schooling, and having
+entered the service of Mr. Laidlaw, another great lover of legends,
+songs and stories of the olden time, he subscribed to a circulating
+library at Peebles, whose diversified contents he devoured within a
+short time. He read poetry, romances and tales with avidity, and stored
+his mind with traditionary ballads, songs and stories. This
+circumstance will account for his wayward, changeable life, as well as
+for the wildness and strength of his imagination. In the field of
+reality he was nothing, in that of fancy everything.
+
+He is said to have been a remarkably fine-looking young man, having a
+florid complexion, and a profusion of light brown hair, which he wore,
+coiled up, beneath his "blithe blue bonnet." An attack of illness
+induced by over-exertion, on a hot summer's day, so completely altered
+his appearance, that his friends scarcely recognized him as the same
+person. Of a jovial and merry disposition, he was a great favorite in
+all companies, and at times partook too freely of "the mountain dew."
+
+Being introduced by the son of his employer to Sir Walter Scott, the
+Ettrick Shepherd assisted him in the collection of old ballads for the
+"Border Minstrelsy." He soon began to try his own hand in imitation of
+these traditionary poems, and published a volume of ballads, which
+attracted some attention, but never became very popular. Having embarked
+in sheep farming, and attempted one or two speculations in which he
+failed utterly, he resolved to repair to the city of Edinburgh, and
+support himself by his pen. "The Forest Minstrel," a collection of
+songs, was his first publication here; his second, "The Spy," a light
+periodical, which enjoyed a brief and precarious existence. It was not
+till the publication, in 1813, of his principal poetical production,
+"The Queen's Wake," that his reputation as a poet was firmly
+established. The plan was so simple and striking, and the execution so
+vigorous and delightful, that it "took" at once, and became universally
+popular. The old "Wake" or festival in Scotland was ordinarily
+celebrated with various kinds of diversions, among which music and song
+held the principal place. The "Queen's Wake" consists of a collection of
+tales and ballads supposed to be sung by different bards to the young
+Queen of Scotland,--
+
+    "When royal Mary, blithe of mood,
+    Kept holyday at Holyrood."
+
+The various productions of the minstrels are strung together by a thread
+of light and graceful narrative. The "Wake" lasts three successive
+nights, and a richly ornamented harp is the victor's reward. Rizzio is
+among the number of the competitors; but Gardyne, a native bard, obtains
+the prize. The plan supplies the Ettrick Shepherd with an opportunity of
+displaying the extreme facility with which he could adapt himself to all
+kinds of style, a facility so great that he subsequently published,
+under the title of "The Mirror of the Poets," a collection of poems
+ascribed by him to Byron, Campbell, Scott, Southey, Crabbe, Wordsworth
+and others, in which the deception is so admirable, that multitudes
+actually supposed them genuine productions. Conscious of his strength,
+he breaks forth in the "Queen's Wake," in the following exulting
+strains.
+
+    "The land was charmed to list his lays;
+    It knew the harp of ancient days.
+    The border chiefs that long had been
+    In sepulchres unhearsed and green,
+    Passed from their mouldy vaults away
+    In armor red, and stern array,
+    And by their moonlight halls were seen
+    In visor, helm, and habergeon.
+    Even fairies sought our land again,
+    So powerful was the magic strain."
+
+Scott had advised him to abandon poetry, as "a bootless task," a
+circumstance to which he thus refers:
+
+    "Blest be his generous heart for aye!
+    He told me where the relic lay;
+    Pointed my way with ready will,
+    Afar on Ettrick's wildest hill;
+    Watched my first notes with curious eye;
+    And wondered at my minstrelsy:
+    He little weened a parent's tongue
+    Such strains had o'er my cradle sung.
+
+    "But when to native feelings true
+    I struck upon a chord was new;
+    When by myself I 'gan to play,
+    He tried to wile my harp away.
+    Just when her notes began with skill
+    To sound beneath the southern hill,
+    And twine around my bosom's core,
+    How could we part forevermore?
+    'Twas kindness all--I cannot blame--
+    For bootless is the minstrel's flame:
+    But sure a bard might well have known
+    Another's feelings by his own!"
+
+Scott, it is said, was grieved at this reference to his friendly
+counsel, given at a time when he knew not the powers of Hogg. This,
+however, illustrates a fact often occurring in the history of genius,
+which often struggles hard to develop itself, alone conscious of its
+native powers. When Sheridan first spoke in the house of commons he made
+an utter failure. But instead of being discouraged, he remarked with
+energy, "I know that it is in me, and I _must_ have it out!" Campbell
+offered his "Pleasures of Hope" to nearly all the book publishers in
+Scotland, who refused it. Not one of them could be prevailed upon even
+to risk paper and ink upon the chance of its success; and at last, it
+was only with considerable reluctance that Mundell & Son, printers to
+the University, undertook its publication, with the _liberal_ condition
+that the author should be allowed fifty copies at the _trade price_, and
+in the event of its reaching a second edition, a thing hardly
+anticipated, that he should receive the _immense_ sum of fifty dollars!
+
+The Ettrick Shepherd continued for a number of years to publish
+sketches, stories, and so forth, in prose and verse. He describes well,
+and in his prose compositions often breaks out into flashes of keen
+broad humor, but he is not particularly successful in the construction
+of plots, or in the arrangement of incidents. He is most at home in the
+regions of pure fancy. The moment he sets foot in fairyland he becomes
+inspired, and pours out "in delightful profusion" his beautiful
+imaginings. Inferior to Burns in depth of passion, in keen perception of
+the beautiful, and in the description of actual scenes, he is perhaps
+superior to him in the wild delicacy of his inventions and in the rich
+coloring of his imaginative pictures. Burns was the poet of nature, and
+went far beyond his Scottish contemporaries and successors, in strength
+of conception, beauty of imagery, intensity of feeling, and melody of
+verse. But Hogg excelled in imaginative musing, and became, by natural
+right, the acknowledged "bard of fairyland." His legend of "Bonny
+Kilmeny" has been universally admired.
+
+    Bonny Kilmeny gaed up the glen,
+    But it was na to meet Duneira's men;
+    Nor the rosy monk of the isle to see,
+    For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.
+    It was only to hear the yorlin sing,
+    And pu' the cress flower round the spring;
+    The scarlet hypp and the hind berrye,
+    And the nut that hung frae the hazel tree;
+    But Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.
+    But lang may her minny[167] look o'er the wa',
+    And lang may she seek i' the greenwood shaw;
+    Lang the laird of Duneira blame,
+    And lang, lang greet or Kilmeny come hame!
+
+    When many a day had come and fled,
+    When grief grew calm, and hope was dead,
+    When mass for Kilmeny's soul had been sung,
+    When the beads-man had prayed, and the dead-bell rung,
+    Late, late in a gloamin, when all was still,
+    When the fringe was red on the western hill,
+    The wood was sere, the moon i' the wane,
+    The reek o' the cot hung over the plain,
+    Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane;[168]
+    When the ingle lowed[169] with an eiry[170] leme,
+    Late, late in the gloamin, Kilmeny came hame!
+
+    Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?
+    Lang hae we sought baith holt and dean,[171]
+    By linn, by ford and greenwood tree,
+    Yet you are halesome and fair to see.
+    Where gat you that joup[172] o' the lily scheen?
+    That bonny snook[173] o' the birk sae green?
+    And these roses, the fairest that ever were seen?
+    Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?
+
+    Kilmeny looked up wi' a lovely grace,
+    But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face;
+    As still was her look, and as still was her ee,
+    As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea,
+    Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea.
+
+    For Kilmeny had been she knew not where,
+    And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare;
+    Kilmeny had been where the cock never crew,
+    Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew,
+    But it seemed as the harp of the sky had rung,
+    And the airs of heaven played round her tongue,
+    When she spake of the lovely forms she had seen,
+    And a land where sin had never been,
+    A land of love and a land of light,
+    Withouten sun, or moon, or night;
+    Where the river swa'd[174] a living stream,
+    And the light a pure celestial beam:
+    The land of vision it would seem,
+    A still, an everlasting dream.
+
+    In yon greenwood there is a waik,
+    And in that waik there is a wene,
+    And in that wene there is a maike,[175]
+    That neither hath flesh, blood nor bane,
+    And down in yon greenwood he walks his lane!
+    In that grene wene Kilmeny lay
+    Her bosom happed wi' the flowrets gay;
+    And the air was soft, and the silence deep,
+    And bonny Kilmeny fell sound asleep;
+    She kenn'd nae mair, nor opened her ee,
+    Till waked by the hymns of a far countrye,
+    She wakened on couch of the silk sae slim,
+    All striped wi' the bars of the rainbow's rim;
+    And lovely beings around her were rife,
+    Who erst had travelled mortal life.
+    They clasped her waist and her hands sae fair,
+    They kissed her cheek, and they kamed her hair,
+    And round came many a blooming fere,
+    Saying, "Bonny Kilmeny, ye're welcome here."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    They lifted Kilmeny, they led her away,
+    And she walked in the light of a sunless day,
+    The sky was a dome of crystal bright,
+    The fountain of vision, and fountain of light;
+    The emerant fields were of dazzling glow,
+    And the flowers of everlasting blow.
+    Then deep in the stream her body they laid,
+    That her youth and beauty might never fade;
+    And they smiled on heaven, when they saw her lie
+    In the stream of life that wandered by;
+    And she heard a song, she heard it sung,
+    She kenn'd not where, but so sweetly it rung,
+    It fell on her ears like a dream of the morn:
+    "O, blest be the day Kilmeny was born!
+    Now shall the land of spirits see,
+    Now shall it ken what a woman may be!
+    The sun that shines on the world so bright,
+    A borrowed gleam from the fountain of light:
+    And the moon that sleeks the sky sae dun,
+    Like a gowden bow, or a beamless sun,
+    Shall skulk away, and be seen nae mair,
+    And the angels shall miss them travelling the air.
+    But lang, lang after both night and day,
+    When the sun and the world have 'eelged[176] away,
+    When the sinner has gane to his waesome doom,
+    Kilmeny shall smile in eternal bloom!"
+
+    They sooft[177] her away to a mountain green,
+    To see what mortal had never seen;
+    And they seated her high on a purple sward,
+    And bade her heed what she saw and heard;
+    And note the changes the spirits wrought,
+    For now she lived in the land of thought.
+    She looked and she saw no sun nor skies,
+    But a crystal dome of a thousand dyes.
+    She looked and she saw no lang aright,
+    But an endless whirl of glory and light.
+    And radiant beings went and came,
+    Far swifter than wind, or the linked flame;
+    She hid her een from the dazzling view,
+    She looked again, and the scene was new.
+    She saw a sun on a simmer sky,
+    And clouds of amber sailing by;
+    A lovely land aneath her lay,
+    And that land had lakes and mountains gray;
+    And that land had valleys and hoary piles,
+    And merlit seas, and a thousand isles;
+    She saw the corn wave on the vale;
+    She saw the deer run down the dale;
+    And many a mortal toiling sore,
+    And she thought she had seen the land afore.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    To sing of the sights Kilmeny saw,
+    So far surpassing nature's law,
+    The singer's voice would sink away,
+    And the string of his harp would cease to play,
+    But she saw while the sorrows of man were by,
+    And all was love and harmony;
+    While the sterns of heaven fell lonely away,
+    Like the flakes of snow on a winter's day.
+
+    Then Kilmeny begged again to see
+    The friends she had left in her ain countrye,
+    To tell of the place where she had been,
+    And the glories that lay in the land unseen.
+    With distant music soft and deep,
+    They lulled Kilmeny sound asleep;
+    And when she awakened, she lay her lane,
+    All happed with flowers in the greenwood wene
+    When seven lang years had come and fled,
+    When grief was calm and hope was dead,
+    When scarce was remembered Kilmeny's name.
+    Late, late in the gloamin Kilmeny came hame!
+    And oh! her beauty was fair to see,
+    But still and steadfast was her ee;
+    Such beauty bard may never declare,
+    For there was no pride nor passion there;
+    And the soft desire of maiden's een,
+    In that mild face could never be seen.
+    Her seyman was the lily flower,
+    And her cheek the moss-rose in the shower;
+    And her voice like the distant melodye,
+    That floats along the twilight sea.
+    But she loved to range the lanely glen,
+    And keeped afar frae the haunts of men,
+    Her holy hymns unheard to sing,
+    To suck the flowers and drink the spring;
+    But wherever her peaceful form appeared,
+    The wild beasts of the hill were cheered;
+    The wolf played blithely round the field,
+    The lordly bison lowed and kneeled,
+    The dun deer wooed with manner bland,
+    And cowered aneath her lily hand.
+    And when at eve the woodlands rung,
+    When hymns of other worlds she sung,
+    In ecstacy of sweet devotion,
+    Oh, then the glen was all in motion;
+    The wild beasts of the forest came,
+    Broke from their bughts and faulds the tame,
+    And gooed around, charmed and amazed;
+    Even the dull cattle crooned and gazed,
+    And murmured and looked with anxious pain
+    For something the mystery to explain.
+    The buzzard came with the throstle cock;
+    The corby left her houf in the rock;
+    The blackbird along with the eagle flew;
+    The hind came tripping o'er the dew;
+    The wolf and the kid their raike began,
+    And the tod, and the lamb, and the leveret ran;
+    The hawk and the hern attour them hung,
+    And the merl and the mavis forhooyed[178] their young;
+    And all in a peaceful ring were hurled:
+    It was like an eve in a sinless world!
+    When a month and a day had come and gane,
+    Kilmeny sought the greenwood wene,
+    There laid her down on the leaves so green,
+    And Kilmeny, on earth was never mair seen!
+
+[Footnote 167: Mother]
+
+[Footnote 168: Alone.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Blazed.]
+
+[Footnote 170: Lonesome flame.]
+
+[Footnote 171: Hollow and den.]
+
+[Footnote 172: Ornament.]
+
+[Footnote 173: Snood or headband.]
+
+[Footnote 174: Swelled or swept.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Briefly the meaning is, that in the greenwood there is a
+sweet lonely place where a spiritual being wanders alone.]
+
+[Footnote 176: Vanished.]
+
+[Footnote 177: Swept or spirited away, with a rapid motion.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Forsook.]
+
+The close of "The Queen's Wake" is graceful and touching.
+
+    Now my loved harp a while farewell;
+      I leave thee on the old gray thorn;
+    The evening dews will mar thy swell
+      That waked to joy the cheerful morn.
+
+    Farewell, sweet soother of my woe,
+      Chill blows the blast around my head;
+    And louder yet that blast may blow,
+      When down this weary vale I've sped.
+
+    The wreath lies on St. Mary's shore;
+      The mountain sounds are harsh and loud;
+    The lofty brows of stern Clokmore
+      Are visored with the moving cloud.
+
+    But winter's deadly hues shall fade
+      On moorland bald and mountain shaw,
+    And soon the rainbow's lovely shade
+      Sleep on the breast of Bowerhope Law;
+
+    Then will the glowing suns of spring,
+      The genial shower and stealing dew,
+    Wake every forest bird to sing,
+      And every mountain flower renew.
+
+    But not the rainbow's ample ring,
+      That spans the glen and mountain gray
+    Though fanned by western breeze's wing,
+      And sunned by summer's glowing ray,
+
+    To man decayed can ever more
+      Renew the age of love and glee!
+    Can ever second spring restore
+      To my old mountain harp and me.
+
+    But when the hue of softened spring
+      Spreads over hill and lonely lea,
+    And lowly primrose opes unseen,
+      Her virgin bosom to the bee;
+
+    When hawthorns breathe their odors far,
+      And carols hail the year's return,
+    And daisy spreads her silver star
+      Unheeded, by the mountain burn,
+
+    Then will I seek the aged thorn,
+      The haunted wild and fairy ring,
+    Where oft thy erring numbers borne,
+      Have taught the wandering winds to sing.
+
+Hogg was unfortunate in all business transactions. But the Duchess of
+Buccleugh made him a present of some seventy acres of moorland, on which
+he built a pretty cottage. Here he lived during the latter years of his
+life, engaged in literary labors, which he relieved by angling and field
+sports, for which he had quite a passion. When he could no longer fish
+and hunt, he avowed his belief that his death was near. He was seized
+with a dropsical complaint in the autumn of 1835, and died, after some
+days of insensibility, "with as little pain as he ever fell asleep in
+his gray plaid upon the hillside." With many imperfections, he possessed
+a leal Scottish heart, and has left behind him memorials of genius,
+which posterity will not "let die."
+
+But we have arrived at the ancient town of Selkirk, on the Ettrick,
+famous for its 'sutors' or shoemakers, from time immemorial burgesses
+of the town, and distinguished for their loyalty. In the market-square
+are a public well, ornamented with the arms of the city, and a handsome
+monument erected by the county, in 1839, in memory of Sir Walter Scott,
+who was sheriff of the county from 1800 to 1832. On one of its sides are
+the following lines from one of his poems:
+
+    "By Yarrow's stream still let me stray,
+    Though none should guide my feeble way,
+    Still feel the breeze down Ettrick break,
+    Although it chill my withered cheek."
+
+In the immediate neighborhood of Selkirk is Philiphaugh, the celebrated
+battle-field, where General Leslie, fighting for freedom and the
+Covenant, routed the fierce Montrose, who cut his way through the enemy
+and fled for his life. This defeat destroyed the fruit of Montrose's six
+splendid victories, and ruined the royal cause in Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+     Return to the banks of the Tweed--Abbotsford--The
+     Study--Biographical Sketch of Sir Walter Scott--His Early
+     life--Residence in the Country--Spirit of Romance--Education--First
+     Efforts as an Author--Success of 'Marmion'--Character of his
+     Poetry--Literary Change--His Novels--Pecuniary
+     Difficulties--Astonishing Efforts--Last Sickness--Death and
+     Funeral.
+
+
+Leaving the Ettrick, we proceed once more in the direction of the Tweed,
+which we soon reach. How sweetly the river winds through this wooded
+region--quick and even impetuous in its flow, but so translucent that
+the white pebbles at the bottom are distinctly visible. What a picture
+of peaceful enjoyment is presented by that shepherd boy, leaning against
+the rock, and basking himself in the sun, while his sheep are nibbling
+the short grass on the edge of the water. But yonder is Abbotsford, with
+its castellated walls and pointed gables, shooting up from a sylvan
+declivity on the banks of the river, which almost encircles the place
+with a graceful sweep, and contrasts beautifully with the deep-green
+foliage of the straggling clumps of trees. But every traveller in
+Scotland visits Abbotsford, and therefore we say nothing about its
+singular construction, its curious ornaments, its ancient relics, its
+broad-swords and battle-axes, its coats armorial, oak carvings and
+blazoned windows, its old portraits and fine library. We will not
+describe the door taken from the old Tolbooth in Edinburgh, nor the
+pulpit from which Ralph Erskine preached; nay more, we shall not even
+moralize on "the broad-skirted blue coat, with metal buttons, the plaid
+trowsers, heavy shoes, broad-brimmed hat and stout walking stick," the
+last worn by "the Great Magician of the north," when he took to his bed
+in his last illness. We will pass, however, into his study, a room about
+twenty-five feet square, containing a small writing table in the centre,
+on which Sir Walter was accustomed to write, and a plain arm-chair,
+covered with black leather, on which he sat. A subdued light enters from
+a single window, and a few books lie on the shelves, used chiefly for
+reference. By the permission of the good lady who has charge of the
+house, we are permitted to seat ourselves, and linger here for an hour,
+calling up the memory of the most wonderful genius that Scotland has
+ever produced.
+
+The father of Sir Walter Scott was a writer to the Signet in Edinburgh,
+an excellent and highly respectable man. His mother, Anne Rutherford, a
+noble and gentle-hearted woman, was the daughter of a physician, in
+extensive practice, and Professor of Medicine in the University of
+Edinburgh. By both parents he was remotely connected with some ancient
+and respectable Scottish families, a circumstance to which he frequently
+referred with satisfaction. He was born on the 15th of August, in the
+year 1771. In consequence of lameness and a delicate state of health,
+produced by a fall, he was sent, in early life to Sandyknowe, a
+romantic situation near Kelso, and placed under the care of his
+grandfather. Here he fortified his constitution by long rambles on foot
+and on horseback among the picturesque scenery and old ruins of the
+neighborhood. Smallholm, a ruined tower, and the scene of Scott's
+ballad, "The Eve of St. John's," was close to the farm, and beside it
+were the Eildon Hills, the ruins of Ercildoune, the residence, in
+ancient times, of Thomas the Rhymer, Dryburgh Abbey, the "silver Tweed,"
+with its storied banks, and other localities renowned in song and story.
+It was here also that he delighted in supplying his memory with the
+tales of his nurse, and some old grandames, deeply versed in the
+traditions of the country. All these left indelible impressions on his
+young imagination, and nursed the latent germ of poetry and romance, so
+late, but so beautiful in its flowering. Subsequently he resided with
+another relation at Kelso. Here, under the shadow of a great platanus or
+oriental palm tree, in an old garden, he devoured "Percy's Reliques of
+Ancient Poetry," and permitted his fancy to wander at will amid the
+scenes of Border romance. This explains, in some degree, the peculiar
+characteristics of his first poems, and that fine strain of romantic
+feeling which runs through his tales. Speaking of this matter, he says
+himself: "In early youth I had been an eager student of ballad poetry,
+and the tree is still in my recollection beneath which I lay and first
+entered upon the enchanting perusal of 'Percy's Reliques of Ancient
+Poetry,' although it has long perished in the general blight which
+affected the whole race of oriental platanus, to which it belonged. The
+taste of another person had strongly encouraged my own researches into
+this species of legendary lore. But I had never dreamed of an attempt to
+imitate what gave me so much pleasure. Excepting the usual tribute to a
+mistress's eyebrow, which is the language of passion rather than poetry,
+I had not for ten years indulged the wish to couple so much as _love_
+and _dove_, when finding Lewis in possession of so much reputation, and
+conceiving that, if I fell behind him in poetical powers, I considerably
+exceeded him in general information, I suddenly took it into my head to
+attempt the style by which he had raised himself to fame." He refers to
+the same thing in the following lines:
+
+    "Thus, while I ape the measure wild,
+    Of tales that charmed me--yet a child,
+    Rude though they be, still with the chime
+    Return the thoughts of early time;
+    And feelings roused in life's first day,
+    Glow in the line, and prompt the lay;
+    Then rise those crags, that mountain tower,
+    Which charmed my fancy's wakening hour.
+    Though no broad river swept along,
+    To claim perchance heroic song;
+    Though sigh no groves in summer gale,
+    To prompt of love a softer tale,
+    Yet was poetic impulse given
+    By the green hill and clear blue heaven.
+    It was a barren scene, and wild,
+    Where naked cliffs were rudely piled,
+    But ever and anon between
+    Lay velvet tufts of loveliest green;
+    And well the lovely infant knew
+    Recesses where the wall-flower grew.
+    And honeysuckle loved to crawl
+    Up the low crag and ruined wall.
+    I deemed such nooks the sweetest shade
+    The sun in all its round surveyed;
+    And still I thought that shattered tower
+    The mightiest work of human power;
+    And marvelled as the aged hind,
+    With some strange tale bewitched my mind,
+    Of foragers who, with headlong force
+    Down from that strength had spurred their horse,
+    Their southern rapine to renew
+    Far in the distant Cheviot's blue,
+    And home returning filled the hall,
+    With revel, wassail-route and brawl.--
+    Methought that still with tramp and clang
+    The gateway's broken arches rang;
+    Methought grim features seamed with scars,
+    Glared through the window's rusty bars.
+    And even by the winter hearth;
+    Old tales I heard of woe or mirth,
+    Of lovers' sleights, of ladies' charms,
+    Of witches' spells, of warriors' arms;
+    Of patriot battles won of old
+    By Wallace wight and Bruce the bold;
+    Of later fields of feud and fight,
+    When pouring from their Highland height,
+    The Scottish clans in headlong sway,
+    Had swept the scarlet ranks away.
+    While stretched at length upon the floor,
+    Again I fought each combat e'er,
+    Pebbles and shells in order laid
+    The mimic ranks of war displayed;
+    And onward still the Scottish lion bore,
+    And still the scattered Southron fled before."
+
+In addition to this, young Scott was a perfect _helluo librorum_. He had
+access to a large library filled with romances, histories, biographies,
+and so forth, which he indiscriminately devoured. His memory was quick
+and tenacious, and his mind became stored with all sorts of facts,
+fables and fancies. Still, even in youth, he possessed a sound judgment,
+a clear, well balanced mind, and separated the chaff from the wheat with
+tolerable discrimination. His father was a good Presbyterian, and did
+what he could to imbue his mind with religious principles, which never
+deserted him. Among the first lines he is known to have written are the
+following. They were found wrapped up in a paper inscribed by Dr. Adam
+of the Edinburgh High School, 'Walter Scott, July, 1783.'
+
+              ON THE SETTING SUN.
+
+    Those evening clouds, that setting ray,
+    And beauteous tints, serve to display
+      Their great Creator's praise;
+    Then let the short-lived thing called man
+    Whose life's comprised within a span,
+      To Him his homage raise.
+
+    We often praise the evening clouds,
+      And tints so gay and bold,
+    But seldom think upon our God,
+      Who tinged these clouds with gold.
+
+Scott was educated at the Edinburgh High School, and University. He had
+an aversion to Greek, a singular fact, but made some proficiency in
+Latin, moral philosophy and history. He also made himself tolerably
+familiar with the French, German and Italian tongues. Being much at
+home, he indulged in reading romances and poetry. From early life, he
+was an industrious collector of old ballads, many of which he committed
+to memory. Apprenticed to his father, as "a writer," he commenced the
+study of law, and began to practice in his twenty-first year. As his
+health was now vigorous, he made long excursions into the country, which
+he facetiously denominated _raids_, rambling over scenes of external
+beauty or of historic interest, making acquaintance with the country
+people, and picking up information about men and things. By this means
+he amassed an immense store of everyday facts, and an intimate knowledge
+of character, which were of immense service to him in the construction
+of his novels.
+
+Scott's first appearance as an author was in the translation from the
+German of Burger's Leonore, and "Der Wilde Jaeger," or the "Wild
+Huntsman," ballads of singular wildness and power. These, however, made
+little impression on the public mind. Of this he says, "The failure of
+my first publication did not operate, in any unpleasant degree, either
+on my feelings or spirits. To speak candidly, I found pleasure in the
+literary labor in which I had, almost by accident, become engaged, and
+labored less in the hope of pleasing others, though certainly without
+despair of doing so, than in the pursuit of a new and agreeable
+amusement to myself." He continued to read the German, and to make
+translations from it, and became more and more interested in the ballad
+poetry. He was delighted to find the affinity of the old English, and
+especially of the Scottish language to the German, not in sound merely,
+but in the turn of phrase, so that they were capable of being rendered
+line for line, with very little variation.
+
+By degrees he acquired sufficient confidence to attempt the imitation of
+what he so much admired. His first original poem was "Glenfinlas." Next
+followed "The Eve of St. John." Owing to unfortunate circumstances these
+had no great success. Nothing daunted, however, he again appeared before
+the public with his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," which
+immediately became popular. The success of this last work, not only
+established his reputation as an author, but encouraged him to devote
+himself to literary pursuits. Under appointment as Sheriff of
+Selkirkshire, he enjoyed the kind of associations and employments
+favorable to the cultivation of his poetical powers. Among other things,
+he edited the metrical romance of "Sir Tristrem," supposed to be written
+by "Thomas the Rhymer," or Thomas of Ercildoune, laird, poet and
+prophet, who flourished about the year 1280. The dissertations which
+accompanied this work, and the imitation of the original to complete the
+romance, evinced his antiquarian attainments and fine poetical taste. At
+length appeared "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," a higher, purer strain,
+which was received with universal enthusiasm, and stamped him a great
+and original poet. His fine conception of the minstrel, his easy
+versification, his admirable narrative, his glowing pictures, his wild
+ballad enthusiasm, his legendary lore, and his exquisite touches of the
+marvellous and supernatural, combined to render the poem popular beyond
+all precedent. Thirty thousand copies were speedily sold by the trade.
+Then, in quick succession, followed that splendid series of poems, so
+popular in their day, and still so interesting and delightful.
+Intrinsically, they are inferior to some of the higher strains of
+English poetry, but they possess certain qualities which gained the
+public ear, and found a place in the national heart. These doubtless
+were the novelty of their style, their natural and simple versification,
+their easy, dramatic narrative, and their lively descriptions of
+national scenes and manners, in contrast with the formal hexameters,
+with "all their buckram and binding," of which the public had become
+tired.
+
+Being in easy, and almost in affluent circumstances, Scott became
+ambitious of founding a family. For this purpose he bought land on the
+banks of the Tweed, and built Abbotsford, at a very considerable
+expense. He received the order of knighthood, and looked forward to days
+of ease and prosperity. Devoting himself almost entirely to literary
+pursuits, he formed connections in business with James Ballantyne, then
+rising into extensive business in the city of Edinburgh. This involved
+the necessity of large advances, and Scott became involved in large
+pecuniary responsibilities. He received an appointment as one of the
+principal Clerks of the Court of Session, with perhaps six thousand
+dollars per annum. This, with the gains of the printing establishment,
+and other sources of revenue, would have secured to him and his family
+an ample provision.
+
+With his customary sagacity, Sir Walter perceived that his peculiar
+style of poetry would not continue popular, and therefore he betook
+himself to a new field of literary enterprise, which proved still
+richer, and, by far, more congenial. Then appeared his historical
+novels, which became so popular, that his fame as a poet was almost
+forgotten. Volume after volume came from the press, and spread like
+wildfire over the land. Translated into French, German, and Italian,
+they reached every part of Europe, and completely superseded the old run
+of novels, with their unnatural plots and extravagant nonsense. It was
+Scott's ambition to elevate this species of literature, and whatever
+objections may be made against it, on the score of moral influence, this
+much must be conceded to him. In his hands novel writing became
+comparatively pure and dignified, nay, as some, with considerable show
+of reason, contend, beneficial. The moral tone of all Sir Walter's
+productions is pre-eminently pure. They are characterized by shrewd
+sense, a profound insight into men and things, a keen perception of the
+beautiful and brave, the generous and leal, a fine sense of honor,
+reverence for God, and a deep sympathy with all the wants and woes, the
+hopes and joys of our common humanity. Sir Walter is the Shakspeare of
+novel writing, and if he falls below the great dramatic poet, in the
+quickness and universality of his genius, he approaches him in the
+soundness of his intellect, the breadth of his imagination, and the
+versatility of his powers. From his Tory and High Church predilections
+he has done some injustice to the old Covenanters and Puritans of
+Scotland; but he possessed a noble and generous heart, a spirit of faith
+and reverence, a love for God and all his creatures. His soul was
+naturally blithe and joyous, hopeful and strong. He loved Scotland with
+intense affection, and has spread the light of his genius over all her
+hills and vales. Under the magic influence of his pen the hoary
+mountains, the dark tarns and trosachs of the Highlands gleam with
+supernal beauty. Tweed murmurs his name, while the Firth and Tay repeat
+it through all their windings. His "own romantic town" glories in his
+memory; every city, village and hamlet of the Lowlands, with strath,
+meadow and moorland, echo his praise. The Genius of his country has
+crowned him with the same wild wreath which erst she hung upon the head
+of Burns, and the world has acknowledged the consecration.
+
+It was in the year 1826 that Ballantyne and Company became insolvent,
+and Sir Walter Scott, in the very midst of his splendid career, found
+himself involved to the amount of $600,000. But he nobly refused to
+become a bankrupt, considering, says Allan Cunningham, "like the elder
+Osbaldistone of his own immortal pages, commercial honor as dear as any
+other honor." All he asked for was time; and in seven years he paid off
+more than the half of this sum by the labors of his pen. His efforts to
+accomplish this sublime purpose were gigantic, but they broke down his
+constitution. "Sometime in the beginning of the year 1831," says his
+friend Cunningham, "a sore illness came upon him; his astonishing
+efforts to satisfy his creditors, began to exhaust a mind apparently
+exhaustless; and the world heard with concern that a paralytic stroke
+had affected his speech and his right hand, so much as to render writing
+a matter of difficulty. One of his letters to me at this period, is not
+written with his own hand: the signature is his, and looks cramped and
+weak. I visited him at Abbotsford, about the end of July, 1831: he was a
+degree more feeble than I had ever seen him, and his voice seemed
+affected; not so his activity of fancy, and surprising resources of
+conversation. He told anecdotes and recited scraps of verse, old and
+new, always tending to illustrate something passing. He showed me his
+armory, in which he took visible pleasure; and was glad to hear me
+commend the design of his house, as well as the skill with which it was
+built. * * * In a small room, half library and half armory, he usually
+sat and wrote: here he had some remarkable weapons, curious pieces of
+old Scottish furniture, such as chairs and cabinets, and an antique sort
+of a table, on which lay his writing materials. A crooked headed staff
+of Abbotsford oak or hazel usually lay beside him to support his steps
+as he went and came."
+
+"When it was known," continues Cunningham, "that Sir Walter Scott's
+health declined, the deep solicitude of all ranks became manifest;
+strangers came from far lands to look on the house which contained the
+great genius of our times; inquirers flocked around, of humble and of
+high degree, and the amount of letters of inquiry or condolence was, I
+have heard, enormous. Amongst the visitors, not the least welcome was
+Wordsworth, the poet, who arrived when the air of the northern hills was
+growing too sharp for the enfeebled frame of Scott, and he had resolved
+to try if the fine air and climate of Italy would restore him to health
+and strength.
+
+"When Government heard of Sir Walter's wishes, they offered him a ship;
+he left Abbotsford as many thought forever, and arrived in London, where
+he was welcomed as never mortal was welcomed before. He visited several
+friends, nor did he refuse to mingle in company, and having written
+something almost approaching to a farewell to the world, which was
+published with 'Castle Dangerous,' the last of his works, he set sail
+for Italy, with the purpose of touching at Malta. He seemed revived, but
+it was only for a while: he visited Naples, but could not enjoy the high
+honors paid to him: he visited Rome, and sighed amid its splendid
+temples and glorious works of art, for gray Melrose and the pleasant
+banks of Tweed, and passing out of Italy, proceeded homewards down the
+Rhine. Word came to London, that a dreadful attack of paralysis had
+nearly deprived him of life, and that but for the presence of mind of a
+faithful servant he must have perished. This alarming news was followed
+by his arrival in London: a strong desire of home had come upon him; he
+travelled with rapidity, night and day, and was all but worn out, when
+carried into St. James's Hotel, Jermyn street, by his servants."
+
+As soon as he recovered a little, he resumed his journey to Scotland,
+reached Abbotsford, and seemed revived, smiled when he was borne into
+his library, and enjoyed the society of his children. When he was
+leaving London the people, wherever he was recognized, took off their
+hats, saying, "God bless you, Sir Walter!" His arrival in Scotland was
+hailed with equal enthusiasm and sympathy; and so much was he revived
+that hopes were entertained of his recovery. But he gradually declined,
+listening occasionally to passages from the Bible, and from the poems of
+Crabbe and Wordsworth. Once he tried to write, but failed in the
+attempt. "He never spoke of his literary labors or success."
+Occasionally his mind wandered, and then he was preparing for the
+reception of the Duke of Wellington at Abbotsford, or exercising the
+functions of a judge, as if presiding at the trial of members of his own
+family. It may be regarded as a singular fact, that in his delirium, his
+mind never wandered toward those works which had filled the world with
+his fame. But the flame of life now flickered feebly in its socket, and
+gave unerring indications of its speedy extinction. "About half past
+one, P. M.," says Mr. Lockhart, his son-in-law and biographer, "on the
+21st of September, 1832, Sir Walter breathed his last, in the presence
+of all his children. It was a beautiful day--so warm that every window
+was open--and so perfectly still that the sound, of all others most
+delicious to his ear, the gentle ripple of the Tweed over its pebbles,
+was distinctly audible, as we knelt around his bed, and his eldest son
+kissed and closed his eyes."
+
+The remains of Sir Walter were buried in Dryburgh Abbey. "As we
+advanced," says one who was present at the funeral, which was conducted
+with the greatest simplicity and solemnity, "the ruined abbey disclosed
+itself through the trees; and we approached its western extremity, where
+a considerable portion of vaulted roof still remains to protect the
+poet's family place of interment, which opens to the sides in lofty
+Gothic arches, and is defended by a low rail of enclosure. At one
+extremity of it, a tall thriving young cypress rears its spiral form.
+Creeping plants of different kinds, 'with ivy never sere,' have spread
+themselves very luxuriantly over every part of the Abbey. These perhaps
+were in many instances the children of art; but however this may have
+been, nature had herself undertaken their education. In this spot
+especially, she seems to have been most industriously busy in twining
+her richest wreaths around those walls which more immediately form her
+poet's tomb. Amongst her other decorations, we observed a plum tree,
+which was perhaps at one period a prisoner, chained to the solid
+masonry, but which having long since been emancipated, now threw out its
+wild pendent branches, laden with purple fruit, ready to drop, as if
+emblematical of the ripening and decay of human life.
+
+"In such a scene as this, then, it was that the coffin of Sir Walter
+Scott was set down on trestles placed outside the iron railing; and here
+that solemn service, beginning with those words, so cheering to the
+souls of Christians, 'I am the resurrection and the life,' was solemnly
+read. The manly soldier-like features of the chief mourner, on whom the
+eyes of sympathy were most naturally turned, betrayed at intervals the
+powerful efforts which he had made to master his emotions, as well as
+the inefficiency of his exertions to do so. The other relatives who
+surrounded the bier were deeply moved; and amid the crowd of weeping
+friends, no eye, and no heart could be discovered that was not
+altogether occupied in that sad and impressive ceremonial, which was so
+soon to shut from them forever, him who had been so long the common idol
+of their admiration, and of their best affections. Here and there,
+indeed, we might have fancied that we detected some early and long tried
+friends of him who lay cold before us, who, whilst tears dimmed their
+eyes, and whilst their lips quivered, were yet partly engaged in mixing
+up and contrasting the happier scenes of days long gone by, with that
+which they were now witnessing, until they became lost in dreamy
+reverie, so that even the movement made when the coffin was carried
+under the lofty arches of the ruin, and when _dust was committed to
+dust_, did not entirely snap the thread of their visions. It was not
+until the harsh sound of the hammers of the workmen who were employed to
+rivet those iron bars covering the grave, to secure it from violation,
+had begun to echo from the vaulted roof, that some of us were called to
+the full conviction of the fact, that the earth had forever closed over
+that form which we were wont to love and reverence; that eye which we
+had so often seen beaming with benevolence, sparkling with wit, or
+lighted up with a poet's frenzy; those lips which we had so often seen
+monopolizing the attention of all listeners, or heard rolling out, with
+nervous accentuation, those powerful verses with which his head was
+continually teeming; and that brow, the perpetual throne of generous
+expression, and liberal intelligence. Overwhelmed by the conviction of
+this afflicting truth, men moved away without parting salutation,
+singly, slowly, and silently. The day began to stoop down into twilight;
+and we, too, after giving a last parting survey to the spot where now
+repose the remains of our Scottish Shakspeare, a spot lovely enough to
+induce his sainted spirit to haunt and sanctify its shades, hastily tore
+ourselves away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+     Melrose Abbey--The Eildon Hills--Thomas the
+     Rhymer--Dryburgh--Monuments to the Author of 'The Seasons' and Sir
+     William Wallace--Kelso--Beautiful scenery--A Pleasant
+     Evening--Biographical Sketch of Leyden, Poet, Antiquary, Scholar
+     and Traveller--The Duncan Family--Journey Resumed--Twisel
+     Bridge--Battle of Flodden--Norham Castle--Berwick upon
+     Tweed--Biographical Sketch of Thomas Mackay Wilson, author of 'The
+     Border Tales'--Conclusion--'Auld Lang Syne.'
+
+
+After visiting "fair Melrose," whose rains, rising in the centre of a
+rich landscape, and rendered immortal by the exquisite descriptions of
+Sir Walter Scott, are the most interesting and beautiful of any in
+Scotland;--wandering over the Eildon Hills, the Trimontium of the
+Romans, from the summits of which some thirty miles of wild and varied
+scenery can be surveyed; gazing on the ruins of Ercildoune, the
+manor-house of Thomas the Rhymer, whose real name was Thomas Learmont,
+author of "The Romance of Tristan," a poem of the thirteenth century, in
+the language of antique Chaucer; lingering in Dryburgh Abbey, embosomed
+in a richly wooded haugh on the banks of the Tweed; and especially
+gazing, in reverent homage, on the grave of "the Great Magician of the
+North," in St. Mary's Aisle, so sad and yet so fair; crossing the Tweed,
+and pausing a few moments, to examine a circular temple on the banks of
+the river, dedicated to the Muses, and surmounted by a bust of Thomson,
+author of "The Seasons," and a little further on the colossal statue of
+Sir William Wallace, the hero of Scotland, which stands upon a rocky
+eminence and overlooks the river, and a fine prospect of "wood and
+water, mountain and rock scenery," we pass along the banks of the Tweed,
+till we come to the handsome town of Kelso, on the margin of the river,
+with its ancient Abbey and delightful environs.
+
+As the day is far spent, we will stay here for the night. But, before
+the sun goes down, let us wander over the neighborhood, which is
+singularly beautiful, and redolent with the genius of Scott and of
+Leyden, who has described it in his "Scenes of Infancy."
+
+    "Bosom'd in woods where mighty rivers run,
+    Kelso's fair vale expands before the sun;
+    Its rising downs in vernal beauty swell,
+    And fringed with hazel, winds each flowery dell,
+    Green spangled plains to dimpled lawns succeed,
+    And Tempe rises on the banks of Tweed:
+    Blue o'er the river Kelso's shadow lies,
+    And copse-clad isles amid the water rise."
+
+As the view from the bridge which spans the river is said to be one of
+the richest in Scotland, we linger there till the sun goes down. 'Tis a
+soft, still, summer afternoon, beginning to glide into the long and
+beautiful twilight. The rays of the sun are yet upon the mountains, and
+tinge the summits of the woods, the rocks, and the castellated edifices,
+which adorn the landscape. The Tweed is gliding, in shadow, through the
+wooded vale, and the songs of the mavis and blackbird are echoing among
+the trees. A little above the bridge the clear waters of the Teviot and
+the Tweed flow together, as if attracted by each other's beauty. Beyond
+are the picturesque ruins of Roxburgh Castle, and somewhat nearer the
+ducal palace of Fleurs, rising amid a rich expanse of wooded
+decorations, sloping down to the very margin of the river; in front are
+gleaming two green islets of the Tweed, and between that river and the
+Teviot reposes the beautiful peninsula of Friar's Green, with the soft
+meadow in its foreground. On the south bank of the river are the mansion
+and woods of Springwood Park, and the bridge across the Teviot, on which
+are reposing the mellow rays of the setting sun. On the right the town
+lies along the bank of the river, with its elegant mansions and
+venerable abbey. There too is Ednam House, near which the poet Thomson
+had his birth. Far beyond these, the eye rests pleasantly on "the triple
+summits" of the Eildon Hills, looking down protectingly upon the vale of
+Tweed, the hills of Stitchell and Mellerstain, and the striking ruin of
+Home Castle, still arrayed in the purple and gold of departing day.
+Intermingled with all these are the windings and rippling currents of
+the river, clumps of rich green foliage, orchards laden with fruit,
+tufted rocks, verdant slopes, single trees of lofty stature, standing
+out from the rest, in the pride and pomp of their "leafy umbrage,"
+cattle browsing peacefully on the banks of the stream, here and there a
+sylvan cottage, and an infinite variety of light and shade, of blending
+colors and changing forms, hallowed, moreover, by the hoary memories and
+poetical associations of by-gone days. No wonder that Leyden loved to
+wander in such scenes, or that Scott, a more transcendent genius, should
+have ascribed to this influence the awakening in his soul "of that
+insatiable love of natural scenery, more especially when combined with
+ancient ruins, or remains of our fathers' piety and splendor," which
+gave a charm to his life, and imparted to the productions of his genius
+a warmth and richness of coloring unequalled in the history of
+literature.
+
+But it is time to return to our comfortable hotel in Kelso, where mine
+host, who is an honest, round-faced, rosy-cheeked, good-natured Scot,
+will give us good cheer for supper, and a bed soft as down upon which to
+repose our weary limbs.
+
+Well now, this is pleasant! Here in this snug room, with a cheerful cup
+of tea, and such toast, broiled chicken, and other edibles, as mine host
+only can produce, we feel as easy and independent as kings, aye, and a
+great deal more so; for who so satisfied and happy as the man, whatever
+his estate, who has a clear conscience, a mind brimful of sweet
+memories, a heart grateful to God and attached to those he loves? Let
+any person only do what is right, trust in God, enjoy nature, cultivate
+his mind, exercise his body, and he may secure as much happiness as
+falls to the lot of mortals. Trials may come, but joys will come also.
+All things shall "work together for good."
+
+But it is easy moralizing over a good cup of tea, with a cheerful fire
+blazing in the grate, and a soft bed in prospect for weary limbs.
+Moreover, I promised to give you some account of Leyden, poet and
+antiquary, scholar and traveler.
+
+John Leyden was born in 1775, in Denholm, Roxburghshire, not far from
+Kelso, of poor but honest parents. He displayed in early life the most
+eager desire for learning, but possessed few opportunities for
+gratifying it, as he had to spend much of his time in manual toil. His
+parents, however, seeing his thirst for knowledge, resolved to send him
+to Edinburgh University. He entered this institution in his fifteenth
+year, and made unusual progress in his studies. He distinguished himself
+in the Latin and Greek languages, acquired the French, Spanish, Italian
+and German, besides forming some acquaintance with the Hebrew, Arabic
+and Persian. During his college vacations he returned to the humble roof
+of his parents, and as the accommodations of the house were scanty, he
+looked for a place of study elsewhere. "In a wild recess," says Sir
+Walter Scott, who has furnished an animated biography of Leyden, "in the
+den or glen which gives name to the village of Denholm, he contrived a
+sort of furnace for the purpose of such chemical experiments as he was
+adequate to performing. But his chief place of retirement was the small
+parish church, a gloomy and ancient building, generally believed in the
+neighborhood to be haunted. To this chosen place of study, usually
+locked during week days, Leyden made entrance by means of a window,
+read there for many hours in the day, and deposited his books and
+specimens in a retired pew. It was a well chosen spot for seclusion, for
+the kirk, (excepting during divine service,) is rather a place of terror
+to the Scottish rustic, and that of Cavers was rendered more so by many
+a tale of ghosts and witchcraft, of which it was the supposed scene, and
+to which Leyden, partly to indulge his humor, and partly to secure his
+retirement, contrived to make some modern additions. The nature of his
+abstruse studies, some specimens of natural history, as toads and
+adders, left exposed in their spirit vials, and one or two practical
+jests played off upon the more curious of the peasantry, rendered his
+gloomy haunt, not only venerated by the wise, but feared by the simple
+of the parish."
+
+Leyden was originally intended for the clerical profession, but
+abandoned it for more secular employments. His spirit was intense,
+restless and ambitious, and he longed for foreign travel and literary
+distinction. After spending five years at college, he became tutor to a
+highly respectable family, with whose sons he repaired to the University
+of St. Andrews, where he pursued his Oriental studies, and in 1799
+published a History of African Discoveries. He was the author, also, of
+various translations and poems, which attracted considerable attention
+and introduced him to the best society. In 1800 he was ordained as a
+minister, and his discourses were highly popular; but he was
+dissatisfied with them, and felt that he was called to a different
+sphere. He continued to write and compose, contributed to Lewis's "Tales
+of Wonder," and Scott's "Border Minstrelsy." He was an enthusiastic
+admirer of the old ballads, and on one occasion actually walked between
+forty and fifty miles for the sole purpose of visiting an old person who
+possessed an ancient historical ballad. He edited the "Scot's Magazine,"
+for a year, and published "The Complaynt of Scotland," an old work
+written about 1548, which he accompanied with a learned dissertation,
+notes and a glossary. His strong desire to visit foreign lands induced
+his friends to procure for him an appointment in India, where he might
+study the oriental languages and literature. The only situation which
+they found available was that of assistant surgeon, for which it was
+necessary to have a medical diploma. But such was the energy, decision
+and perseverance of Leyden's character, that he qualified himself in six
+months; and not long after set out for Madras. Before taking his
+departure he finished his "Scenes of Infancy," as it were, the last
+token of his love for Scotland, which he never again beheld. He was
+resolved to distinguish himself or die in the attempt. Indeed a
+premonition of such an issue seems to have haunted his mind, and was
+expressed, with touching beauty, in his "Scenes of Infancy."
+
+    "The silver moon at midnight cold and still,
+    Looks sad and silent o'er yon western hill;
+    While large and pale the ghostly structures grow,
+    Reared on the confines of the world below.
+    Is that dull sound the hum of Teviot's stream?
+    Is that blue light the moon's or tomb-fire's gleam?
+    By which a mouldering pile is faintly seen,
+    The old deserted church of Hazeldean,
+    Where slept my fathers in their natal clay,
+    Till Teviot's waters rolled their bones away?
+    Their feeble voices from their stream they raise--
+    'Rash youth! unmindful of thy early days,
+    Why didst thou quit the simple peasant's lot?
+    Why didst thou leave the peasant's turf-built cot,
+    The ancient graves where all thy fathers lie,
+    And Teviot's stream that long has murmur'd by?
+    And we, when death so long has clos'd our eyes,
+    How wilt thou bid us from the dust arise,
+    And bear our mouldering bones across the main.
+    From vales that knew our lives devoid of stain?
+    Rash youth! beware, thy home-bred virtues save,
+    And sweetly sleep in thy paternal grave.'"
+
+After his arrival in Madras, his health became impaired, and he removed
+to Prince of Wales Island. He resided there some time, visiting the
+neighboring countries, and amassing curious information on the
+literature and history of the Indo-Chinese, which he embodied in an
+elaborate dissertation read before the Asiatic Society at Calcutta.
+Quitting Prince of Wales Island, Leyden was appointed a professor in the
+Bengal College, which he soon exchanged for the office of judge, a more
+lucrative employment. His spare time was devoted to the prosecution of
+his oriental studies. "I may die in the attempt," he wrote to a friend,
+"but if I die without surpassing Sir William Jones a hundredfold in
+oriental learning, let never a tear for me profane the eye of a
+borderer." In 1811 he accompanied the governor general to Java. His
+spirit of bold adventure led him literally to rush upon death. He threw
+himself into the surf in order to be the first Briton who should set
+foot upon Java. When the invaders had taken possession of Batavia, the
+same reckless eagerness took him into a cold damp library, in which were
+many books and manuscripts. Affected perhaps by the disease of the
+climate he had a fit of shivering on leaving the library, and declared
+that the atmosphere was enough to give any one a mortal fever. In three
+days after he died, August 28, 1811, on the eve of the battle which
+secured Java to the British Empire.
+
+Leyden's Poetical Remains were published in 1819, with a memoir. In
+addition to the "Scenes of Infancy," it contains some vigorous ballads.
+To one of these, "The Mermaid," as well as to the untimely death of its
+author, Sir Walter Scott has referred in his "Lord of the Isles."
+
+    "Scarba's Isle, whose tortured shore
+    Still rings to Corrievreckin's roar,
+      And lovely Colonsay;
+    Scenes sung by him who sings no more:
+    His bright and brief career is o'er,
+      And mute his tuneful strains;
+    Quenched is his lamp of varied lore,
+    That loved the light of song to pour:
+    A distant and a deadly shore
+      Has Leyden's cold remains."
+
+His "Scenes of Infancy" is distinguished for the sweetness of its
+versification, and its pleasant pictures of the vale of Teviot. In
+strength and enthusiasm, it is much inferior to his ballads. The
+opening of "The Mermaid," has been praised by Sir Walter Scott "as
+exhibiting a power of numbers, which for mere melody of sound has rarely
+been excelled."
+
+    On Jura's heath how sweetly swell
+      The murmurs of the mountain bee!
+    How softly, mourns the writh'd shell,
+      Of Jura's shore, its parent sea.
+
+    But softer, floating o'er the deep,
+      The mermaid's sweet, sea-soothing lay,
+    That charmed the dancing waves to sleep,
+      Before the bark of Colonsay.
+
+But better known, and far more affecting, is Leyden's "Ode to an Indian
+Gold Coin," written in Cherical, Malabar, which in addition to its vigor
+and beauty, has a fine moral which it is not necessary to point out.
+
+    Slave of the dark and dirty mine!
+      What vanity has brought thee here?
+    How can I love to see thee shine
+      So bright, whom I have bought so dear?
+      The tent-ropes flapping lone I hear,
+    For twilight converse arm in arm;
+      The jackal's shriek bursts on my ear,
+    When mirth and music wont to cheer.
+
+    By Cherical's dark wandering streams,
+      Where cane-tufts shadow all the wild,
+    Sweet visions haunt my waking dreams
+      Of Teviot loved while still a child;
+      Of castled rocks stupendous piled
+    By Esk or Eden's classic wave,
+      Where loves of youth and friendship smiled
+    Uncursed by thee, vile yellow slave!
+
+    Fade, day-dreams sweet, from memory fade!
+      The perished bliss of youth's first prime,
+    That once so bright on fancy played,
+      Revives no more in after time.
+      Far from my sacred natal clime
+    I haste to an untimely grave;
+      The daring thoughts that soared sublime
+    Are sunk in ocean's southern wave.
+
+    Slave of the mine, thy yellow light
+      Gleams baleful as the tomb-fire drear.
+    A gentle vision comes by night
+      My lonely widowed heart to cheer.
+      Her eyes are dim with many a tear,
+    That once were guiding-stars to mine;
+      Her fond heart throbs with many a fear!
+    I cannot bear to see thee shine.
+
+    For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave,
+      I left a heart that loved me true!
+    I crossed the tedious ocean wave,
+      To roam in climes unkind and new.
+      The cold wind of the stranger blew
+    Chill on my withered heart; the grave
+      Dark and untimely met my view--
+    And all for thee, vile yellow slave!
+
+    Ha! com'st thou now so late to mock
+      A wanderer's banished heart forlorn,
+    Now that his frame, the lightning shock
+      Of sun-rays tipt with death has borne?
+      From love, from friendship, country, torn,
+    To memory's fond regrets the prey:
+      Vile slave, thy yellow dross I scorn!
+    Go mix thee with thy kindred clay!
+
+While conversing about Leyden, we must not forget a gentler, purer
+spirit, Mary Lundie Duncan, who first saw the light "amid the blossoms
+of Kelso," and whose young heart first warbled its poetic strains on the
+banks of the Tweed. Her "Memoir," by her gifted mother, is one of the
+most beautiful and touching biographies in the English language.
+Possessed of genius and piety, at once pure and tender, her brief life
+was the fair but changeful spring-time which preceded the long summer of
+eternity.
+
+    Sweet bird of Scotia's tuneful clime,
+      So beautiful and dear,
+    Whose music gushed as genius taught,
+    With Heaven's own quenchless spirit fraught,
+      I list--thy strain to hear.
+
+    Bright flower on Kelso's bosom born,
+      When spring her glories shed,
+    Where Tweed flows on in silver sheen,
+    And Tiviot feeds her valleys green,
+      I cannot think thee dead.
+
+    Fair child--whose rich unfoldings gave
+      A promise rare and true,
+    The parent's proudest thoughts to cheer,
+    And soothe of widowed woe the tear,--
+      Why hid'st thou from our view?
+
+    Young bride, whose wildest thrill of hope
+      Bowed the pure brow in prayer,
+    Whose ardent zeal and saintly grace,
+    Did make the manse a holy place,
+      We search--thou art not there.
+
+    Fond mother, they who taught thy joys
+      To sparkle up so high;
+    Thy first born, and her brother dear
+    Catch charms from every fleeting year:--
+      Where is thy glistening eye?
+
+    Meek Christian, it is well with thee,
+      That where thy heart so long
+    Was garnered up, thy home should be;--
+    Thy path with Him who made thee free;--
+      Thy lay--an angel's song.
+
+    _Lydia H. Sigourney._
+
+Some of Mary Lundie Duncan's poems are characterized not merely by
+purity and elevation of sentiment, but by sweetness and melody of
+versification. The following written at "Callander," though not without
+defects, indicates the possession of true poetical genius.
+
+    How pure the light on yonder hills,
+      How soft the shadows lie;
+    How blythe each morning sound that fills
+      The air with melody!
+
+    Those hills, that rest in solemn calm
+      Above the strife of men,
+    Are bathed in breezy gales of balm
+      From knoll and heathy glen.
+
+    In converse with the silent sky,
+      They mock the flight of years;
+    While man and all his labors die
+      Low in this vale of tears.
+
+    Meet emblem of eternal rest,
+      They point their summits grey
+    To the fair regions of the blest,
+      Where tends our pilgrim way.
+
+    The everlasting mountains there
+      Reflect undying light;
+    The ray which gilds that ambient air,
+      Nor fades, nor sets in night.
+
+    Then summer sun more piercing bright.
+      That beam is milder too;
+    For love is in the sacred light
+      That softens every hue.
+
+    The gale that fans the peaceful clime
+      Is life's immortal breath,
+    Its freshness makes the sons of time
+      Forget disease and death.
+
+    And shall we tread that holy ground,
+      And breathe that fragrant air;
+    And view the fields with glory crowned
+      In cloudless beauty fair?
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Look up! look up, to yonder light,
+      That cheers the desert grey:
+    It marks the close of toil and night,
+      The dawn of endless day.
+
+    How sweet your choral hymns will blend
+      With harps of heavenly tone;
+    When glad you sing your journey's end
+      Around your Father's throne.
+
+Mary's contributions to "The Philosophy of the Seasons," over the
+signature of M. L. D., such as "The Rose," "The Bat," "Sabbath Morning,"
+an "Autumnal Sabbath Evening," are simple and elegant, indicating the
+possession of good sense and a refined imagination. Like her brother
+Archibald Lundie, who went to the South Sea Islands in order to benefit
+his health, and to labor in the sublime work of Christian missions, Mary
+passed away in the morning of her days, but not without leaving a
+blessed fragrance behind her, which yet lingers, not over Scotland
+alone, but over the whole Christian world. And well might her stricken
+yet resigned and hopeful mother say, in the words quoted at the close of
+her daughter's _Memoir_:
+
+    "I know thou art gone where thy forehead is starred
+      With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul;
+    Where the light of thy loveliness cannot be marred,
+      Nor thy heart be flung back from its gaol:
+    I know thou hast drank of the Lethe that flows
+      Through a land where they do not forget;
+    That sheds over memory only repose;
+      And takes from it only regret.
+
+    "And though like a mourner that sits by a tomb,
+      I am wrapt in a mantle of care;
+    Yet the grief of my bosom--oh! call it not gloom--
+      Is not the black grief of despair.
+    By sorrow revealed, as the stars are by night,
+      Far off thy bright vision appears;
+    And hope like the rainbow, a creature of light,
+      Is born like the rainbow--in tears."
+
+    _J. K. Hervey._
+
+The Duncan family to which Mary Lundie, by her marriage with one of the
+sons, belonged, is one of the most interesting in Scotland. All of its
+members seem possessed of fine talents, devoted piety, and generous
+affections. Two of the sons, with the father, were ministers of the
+established church of Scotland at the time of the secession of the Free
+Church from that body, and made a sacrifice, for conscience' sake, of
+agreeable situations and handsome incomes. Without the slightest
+hesitation, and without a murmur even, they abandoned their beautiful
+manses, their churches and people, and threw themselves, with their
+brethren of the Free Church, upon the providence of God, not knowing
+what might be the issues of that sublime movement. "The Philosophy of
+the Seasons,"[179] though written mainly by the father, the Rev. Dr.
+Duncan of Ruthwell, received contributions from all the members of the
+family, and remains a splendid monument of their talents, piety and
+mutual affection. It is fast becoming a classic. Filled with
+information, and imbued with a spirit of fervid piety, and, moreover,
+written in a lucid, flowing style, it is well fitted at once to instruct
+and please.
+
+[Footnote 179: Published by R. Carter, in four handsome octavos.]
+
+As Dr. Duncan has recently deceased, a brief sketch of his life may not
+be uninteresting in this connection.
+
+Dr. Henry Duncan was "a son of the Manse." He was born in 1774, at
+Lochrutton, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, of which his father and
+his grandfather were ministers successively, during a period of eighty
+years, a striking instance of pastoral permanence. If wealth consists
+"in the number of things we love," then those good men must have been
+rich beyond the common lot of ministers; and young Henry must have
+received from them a rich heritage of blessings. He was educated at the
+Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. While attending the
+latter he was a member of the "Speculative Society," to which many of
+the most distinguished literary characters belonged, and associated
+freely with Lord Brougham, the Marquis of Landsdowne, Dr. Andrew Thomson
+and others. He became the pastor of the Established church in Ruthwell,
+Dumfriesshire, where he labored with great success for many years. He
+died in the forty-seventh year of his ministry.
+
+Dr. Duncan was imbued with a spirit of enlarged Christian benevolence,
+and felt a peculiar interest in the amelioration of the condition of
+the poorer classes. Hence he formed the scheme of the "Cheap Repository
+Tracts," addressed to the working classes, and designed to enforce the
+most useful lessons suited to their condition. It was in this collection
+that his "Cottage Fireside" was first published, a production which
+became exceedingly popular, and passed through many editions. The book
+abounds in happy delineations of Scottish manners, fine strokes of
+humor, and admirable lessons of practical wisdom. "The South Country
+Weaver," possesses the same qualities and aims; and, in a time of
+excessive political excitement, did much to allay the discontent and
+revolutionary tendency of the people. He is also said to be the author
+of another work of a higher grade, written in the same style of
+fictitious narrative, and intended to vindicate the principles and
+proceedings of the Scottish Covenanters, from the aspersions cast upon
+them by the author of Waverley. This production has been highly esteemed
+by good judges of literary merit, but it never became popular.
+
+It may well be supposed that Dr. Duncan felt a peculiar interest, not
+only in the spiritual but also in the temporal condition of his own
+parish, and hence he was ever devising plans for its benefit. In this
+respect he much resembled the benevolent Oberlin, whose well directed
+schemes turned the barren parish of Waldbach into a little paradise.
+Entering upon the duties of his charge at a time of national scarcity
+and distress, he imported from Liverpool, at considerable expense, and
+with great personal inconvenience, large quantities of food which he
+distributed among his poor parishioners He also devised new modes and
+sources of employment, and cheered them amid their privations by his
+counsel and sympathy. He instituted among them two admirable "Friendly
+Societies," one for males and another for females, the advantages of
+which are enjoyed to this day. But perhaps his highest claim to
+distinction as a philanthropist was the establishment of "The Ruthwell
+Parish Bank," the first "Savings Bank" in Europe, which, it is said, was
+suggested to him partly by the beneficial results and partly by the
+admitted defects of the Friendly Societies. His undoubted title to be
+regarded as the originator of "Savings Banks," has been acknowledged by
+the highest authorities; but it is not so generally known at what an
+immense expenditure of time, talent, energy and pecuniary means he
+succeeded in accomplishing this good object.
+
+Dr. Duncan's learning and talents were of a high order, and these were
+devoted exclusively to the benefit of his fellow men. His principal
+literary work, "The Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons," was planned and
+written in a single year, an astonishing instance of mental energy,
+industry and talent. "Never were the different kingdoms and varying
+aspects of nature, the characteristics of the seasons, and all the grand
+and beautiful phenomena of the year, more philosophically and more
+eloquently described than in this charming book. The comprehensive views
+of the philosopher, the poetic feeling of the lover of nature, and the
+pious reflection of the Christian divine, are all combined in its pages,
+and win at once the admiration and affection of the reader." Here genius
+and piety, the love of nature and the love of God spread their sunlight
+over the face of creation, and make visible to all reverent and
+thoughtful minds
+
+    "The Gospel of the stars--great Nature's Holy Writ."
+
+As a preacher Dr. Duncan was interesting and instructive, but not
+particularly striking and popular. In 1839 he was elected Moderator of
+the General Assembly, the highest honor the church could confer. Warmly
+attached to evangelical religion, and deeply interested in the purity
+and progress of the church of Christ throughout the world, he earnestly
+promoted the cause of Christian missions, and kindred schemes of
+benevolence. He was intimately associated with Dr. Chalmers and others,
+in sustaining the great principles of vital Christianity, the supremacy
+of Christ in his own church, and particularly the freedom and
+independence of his ministers. "True, therefore, to the principles he
+had espoused, and ever warmly defended--true to what he considered the
+genuine constitution of the Scottish church, this venerable and amiable
+father left, in the ever memorable year 1843, that manse, which he had
+inhabited for four and forty long and happy years, and which his own
+fine taste had so greatly beautified and adorned--that hallowed home in
+which his dutiful and attached children had been reared--in which his
+first beloved wife had died, and which was associated with many
+delightful recollections of joy and kindness, and prayer, indelibly
+engraven on many hearts--for _there_ was many a young idea fostered, and
+many a guest and many a stranger hospitably entertained. But with a
+cloud of many eminent witnesses, whose names will be embalmed in the
+records of their country, Dr. Duncan lifted up his testimony for the
+glorious prerogative of Zion's King, and counted the reproach of Christ
+greater riches than all the treasures of earth. And actuated by the same
+spirit of faith as the martyrs and confessors of other days--the men of
+whom the world was not worthy--he abandoned, at an advanced age, all the
+comforts of his lovely and endeared home, and all the emoluments and
+delights connected with it, and meekly took up his lowly dwelling in an
+humble cottage by the way-side, willingly enduring hardship, and
+submitting to ingratitude from man, that he might honor his God and hold
+fast his integrity, dearer to him than life. He was one of seven
+moderators of the old General Assembly, men like himself of high name
+and holy deeds, who sacrificed all their honors and emoluments, and cast
+in their lot with the Free Church of Scotland, that they might display a
+banner for the truth, and who, when driven by a cruel and miserable
+policy from those altars which they sanctified, went forth, a veteran
+band of Christian heroes, and preached the Gospel of peace and salvation
+under the broad canopy of heaven, with gray hairs streaming in the
+breeze."
+
+During the summer of 1843 Dr. Duncan preached in the open air, but
+finally succeeded by great efforts, in securing a site, and erecting
+upon it a church and a manse, a school and a schoolmaster's house. A
+suitable successor was appointed to this charge, and Dr. Duncan removed
+his residence to the city of Edinburgh. But his affections lingered
+around his beloved Ruthwell, and he undertook a journey to England to
+secure funds to pay off the debt upon the new buildings and bring them
+to a state of completion. Having accomplished his object, he returned to
+Scotland in excellent spirits, and reached Comlogan Castle, the
+residence of his brother-in-law. On that and the succeeding day he
+occupied himself in laying out the grounds about the manse and giving
+directions respecting the buildings. On the following Sabbath he
+preached to an overflowing audience. Monday and Tuesday were devoted to
+visiting his old parishioners. He was invited to address a prayer
+meeting at the house of an elder of the Established church, and it was
+while engaged in the performance of that duty that the messenger of
+Death met him. He had not spoken ten minutes, when his voice trembled,
+his body shuddered, and it was evident to all that he was struck with a
+sudden paralysis. He was immediately conveyed to Comlogan Castle. "On
+his way, though his speech was much affected, his consciousness was
+entire, and he repeatedly lifted up his hand, in devout admiration of
+God's beautiful works, for the moon, surrounded by thousands of stars,
+was shedding its calm and chastened lustre over the face of Nature, and
+presented a meet emblem of the inward peace of the dying saint, whose
+characteristic taste and love of Nature's beauties were still manifested
+even in this trying hour."[180] After two days, in which he suffered
+little pain, he gently "fell asleep in Jesus," on Thursday evening, 12th
+of February, 1846.
+
+[Footnote 180: "Dumfries Advertiser and Galloway Standard," from which
+we quoted a preceding extract.]
+
+    Behold the western evening light,
+      It melts in deepening gloom;
+    So calmly Christians sink away,
+      Descending to the tomb.
+
+    The winds breathe low; the yellow leaf
+      Scarce whispers from the tree;
+    So gently flows the parting breath,
+      When good men cease to be.
+
+    How beautiful on all the hills,
+      The crimson light is shed!
+    'Tis like the peace the Christian gives
+      To mourners round his bed.
+
+    How mildly on the wandering cloud
+      The sunset beam is cast!
+    So sweet the memory left behind,
+      Where loved ones breathe their last
+
+    And lo! above the dews of night
+      The vesper star appears;
+    So faith lights up the mourner's heart,
+      Whose eyes are dim with tears.
+
+    Night falls, but soon the morning light
+      Its glories shall restore;
+    And thus the eyes that sleep in death
+      Shall wake to close no more.
+
+    _Peabody._
+
+Daylight is on the hills, and we are off once more down the Tweed, which
+gathers volume by accessions from tributary streams, and mirrors in its
+clear bosom many a happy home, nestling among the trees on its banks. We
+pass Coldstream, on the north bank of the Tweed, from its proximity to
+England a sort of Gretna Green in former times, where Lord Brougham was
+married at one of the hotels; whence we journey to Tillmouth; at which
+place the Till, a narrow, deep, sullen stream, flows into the Tweed.
+Beneath Twisel Castle, which stands upon its banks, you see the ancient
+bridge by which the English crossed the Till before the battle of
+Flodden.
+
+                  --"They cross'd
+    The Till, by Twisel Bridge.
+    High sight it is, and haughty, while
+    They drew into the deep defile;
+    Beneath the cavern'd cliff they fall,
+    Beneath the castle's airy wall.
+      By rock, by oak, by hawthorn-tree,
+    Troop after troop are disappearing;
+    Troop after troop their banners rearing,
+      Upon the eastern bank you see,
+    Still pouring down the rocky den
+      Where flows the sullen Till,
+    And rising from the dim wood glen
+    Standards on standards, men on men
+      In slow succession still,
+    And sweeping o'er the Gothic arch,
+    And passing on, in ceaseless march
+      To gain the opposing hill."
+
+    _Marmion._
+
+Flodden Field, on which the "flowers of the forest," were cut down so
+mercilessly, is not far from here, and the whole region seems invested
+with an air of "dule and wae."
+
+    "Dule and wae for the order sent our lads to the Border!
+      The English, for once by guile won the day;
+    The Flowers of the Forest, that focht aye the foremost.
+      The prime o' our land are cauld in the clay.
+
+    "We hear nae mair lilting at our yowe-milking,
+      Women and bairns are heartless and wae;
+    Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning--
+      The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away."[181]
+
+[Footnote 181: "The Flowers of the Forest," by Miss Jane Elliot, one of
+the sweetest and most affecting ballads of Scotland. By the 'Flowers of
+the Forest' are meant the young men of Ettrick Forest, slain at Flodden
+Field.]
+
+Pursuing our way, we come to Norham Castle, so magnificently described
+in Marmion.
+
+    "Day set on Norham's castle steep,
+    And Tweed's fair river broad and deep,
+      And Cheviot's mountains lone;
+    The battled towers, the donjon keep,
+    The loop-hole grates where captives weep,
+    The flanking walls that round it sweep,
+      In yellow lustre shone."
+
+Nine miles further on, we arrive at "Berwick upon Tweed," where the
+river falls into the German Ocean, and where our wanderings in Scotland
+cease,--the scene of fierce struggles between the Scots and English.
+North Berwick was sometimes in the hands of the one, sometimes in the
+hands of the other. Its streets often ran blood; its walls echoed the
+tramp of armies, the shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the dying.
+Its old ramparts are yet standing; but all is quiet and passionless
+now. A sort of stillness pervades the place, in striking contrast with
+the havoc and turmoil of the ancient Border wars. The environs are full
+of historic recollections, which have been well illustrated in the
+"Border Tales," by John Mackie Wilson, who was a native of Berwick, and
+resided here till his death. This event took place, suddenly and
+unexpectedly, on the 2d of September, 1835, when he was only thirty-one
+years of age. His early days were spent, in peace and happiness, under
+the parental roof. At school he was distinguished for his love of
+knowledge, and the rapidity with which he executed all his tasks. At a
+suitable age he was apprenticed to a printer, and found the employment
+congenial, as it brought him into contact with books. Eagerly thirsting
+for knowledge, he soon exhausted his scanty means of gratifying his
+taste in Berwick on Tweed, and leaving the place of his nativity,
+repaired to London, where he encountered the greatest difficulties and
+hardships. It is said that some of the most touching descriptions of the
+sufferings endured by the aspirant for fame were actually endured by
+himself, and "that the sobs and tears which involuntarily burst from the
+family circle when these tales were read, were poured forth for him
+whose pen had described them." Often amid the splendor of London, did he
+wander "homeless and friendless." But nothing could repress the native
+ardor and buoyancy of his mind. And amid all the darkness of the night
+which enveloped his pathway, he was ever looking for sunrise. Despair
+and poverty, however, drove him from the British metropolis, and he was
+forced to seek in the provinces what he could not find in London, nor
+did he seek in vain. He reaped "a golden harvest of opinions;" but
+poverty continued to be his companion for years. During a sojourn in the
+city of Edinburgh, he published several dramas and other poems, which
+had a share of success. He wrote a series of "Lectures and Biographical
+Sketches," which he delivered with considerable eclat in different towns
+of Scotland and England. Three years before his death "he rested from
+his wanderings," in his native village, among his friends and early
+associates, having been invited to become editor of "The Berwick
+Advertiser," which he conducted with great spirit. Amid his labors as an
+editor, he found time to indulge his taste for literature, and the
+matter of his journal was often enlivened by his own literary and
+poetical effusions. But it was "The Border Tales," which made him a
+decided favorite with the public, and gave him a warm place in the
+Scottish heart. They were published in a fugitive form, and commanded a
+circulation far beyond the author's most sanguine hopes. It was from
+these that he and his friends saw a prospect of reward for his toils.
+But the scene which was thus opening upon him was blighted,--and from
+the high place which he had gained in the estimation of his townsmen,
+from the caresses of his friends, and from the reproaches of his foes,
+he now lies "where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at
+rest."
+
+We do not admire Wilson's poetry as a whole; and yet some beautiful
+strains might be culled from it. He wrote rapidly and diffusely;
+throwing off everything at a first draft, without much correction or
+polish. His "Border Tales" are quite miscellaneous in their character,
+and contain much that he would doubtless have thrown out, had he lived
+to place them in a permanent form. They are written diffusely and
+carelessly. But with all their faults, they give indications of genius,
+humor and pathos, a keen insight into character, great descriptive
+powers, and a fine conception of the beautiful and true. Some of them
+are told with great pith and raciness; and though inferior in some
+respects, to Professor Wilson's "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life,"
+are more natural and easy, more characteristic and amusing. Upon the
+whole, they give a better idea of the Scottish character than the
+Professor's splendid, but exaggerated pictures. James Mackay Wilson died
+too young for his fame; but his simple tales will be read, for many a
+day, in the homes of "bonny Scotland." Among other things, they give a
+just representation of the religious character of the Scottish
+peasantry. While their faults and foibles are depicted with graphic
+power, their solemn faith, their profound enthusiasm, and their
+leal-hearted piety are exhibited in beautiful relief. Justice is done to
+the old Covenanters, whose rough patriotism and burning zeal were the
+salvation of their native land. Long may their martyr spirit, softened
+by charity, prevail in Scotland; and generations yet unborn shall "rise
+up and call her blessed."
+
+In this series of sketches, now brought to a close, it has been the
+author's aim to make a contribution to literature, which, while it might
+prove attractive, would yet exert a pure moral influence. Such an
+excursion beyond the peculiar limits of his profession, he thinks, was
+permitted him, and may tend in some slight degree to promote the great
+object for which he desires to live. At all events, if he has
+accomplished nothing more, he has yet succeeded in calling up "a gentle
+vision" of "Auld Lang Syne," by which his own heart has been solaced and
+cheered.
+
+    "Lang Syne! how doth the word come back,
+      With magic meaning to the heart,
+    As memory roams the sunny track,
+      From which hope's dreams were loath to part!
+    No joy like by-past joy appears;
+      For what is gone we fret and pine;
+    Were life spun out a thousand years,
+      It could not match Lang Syne!
+
+    "Lang Syne!--ah, where are they who shared
+      With us its pleasures bright and blithe?
+    Kindly with some hath fortune fared;
+      And some have bowed beneath the scythe
+    Of death; while others scattered far
+      O'er foreign lands, at fate repine,
+    Oft wandering forth 'neath twilight's star,
+      To muse on dear Lang Syne!
+
+    "Lang Syne!--the heart can never be
+      Again so full of guileless truth;
+    Lang Syne!--the eyes no more shall see
+      Ah, no! the rainbow hopes of youth.
+    Lang Syne!--with thee resides a spell
+      To raise the spirit, and refine.
+    Farewell!--there can be no farewell
+      To thee, loved, lost Lang Syne!"
+
+    _Dr. Moir._
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GENIUS OF SCOTLAND***
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