of my more sleepy companions, all of which must have made it a very sleepless, as well as a most laborious week.

But all this would have gone as nothing,-had all ended well at the last.—But to make such a finish!—and that finish to be partly, at least, occasioned by two concurrent causes, from which I should have expected better things-could not but affect me as I entered my habitation-Spiritless and crest fallen, on the evening of my return :—indeed I can scarcely repress the rising sigh, if not, the falling tear, when I yet

think of it.

It is, however strange, how the ruling passion will still continue to evince itself, even in cases of the most discourageing nature, and help to bear us up, by the temporary employment it gives to our harassed ideas, even in the midst of circumstances peculiarly distressing.

I have always, since I first became acquainted with the productions of literary men, had a strong predilection to any thing connected with their memory, or for scenes calculated to bring these productions to our remembrance, hence, the same principle operating in me, on my return from my unsuccessful expedition to Inverness, that induced me at a much earlier and happier period of my life, to walk up to, and lay my hand on the door of POPE's villa at Twickenham-and to search out the burial place of the POET OF THE SEASONS, within the walls of the church at Richmond-that made me once glance with eagerness at the mansion of the great SIR ISAAC NEWTON, as I passed it rapidly on the other side of Grantham-and gaze with intensity at the old fashioned fabric which was pointed out to me as the house in which SHAKESPEARE was born, as we stopped to change horses, on an occasion, at Stratford-upon-Avon—that made me pause in one of my excursions to Bunhill Fields burial ground, when I found that I stood before the grave of old JOHN BUNYAN,—and to forget the beautiful altar piece in Cripplegate Church, when I was given to understand, that, that church also contained the ashes of the incomparable MILTON, -that made me forsake the gayer and more exhilarating scenes of the metropolis, on one occasion, in order that I might have an opportunity of exploring the gloomy recesses

of the rambles of HARLEY, and learn among the inmates of Bethlehem Hospital, the justness of the description given of them by the MAN OF FEELING ;-and, in short, that made me embrace with alacrity, the opportunity which once lay in my power to hear one of the admirable discourses of the great and good BISHOP PORTEUS, delivered from his own mouth in the Cathedral of St Pauls to listen to the plain and unadorned story of old JOHN NEWTON, in his own church of St Swithins,-and led me into the scrape already noticed, when I thought only of putting myself in the way, of hearing DR PALEY, at Carlisle ;as well as in a number of other instances, which I have neither leisure, nor limits, to enter upon at present.

Hence, I say, the same principle operating in me, notwithstanding the discouraging and depressing circumstances under which I had so recently quitted Inverness, and which, would no doubt engross my reflections too much, to allow me to think of the bloody field of Culloden, till I had passed it,would not allow me to turn a deaf ear to our northern guard, when, as we whirled across the blasted heath, which, as is well known lies betwixt Nairn and Forres, and which, I believe, I was now passing for the first time in day light, he kindly pointed out to me the clump of trees, planted, as he informed me, by Mr Brodie of Brodie, to mark the spot where Macbeth met the witches.

But this was not the greatest curiosity I was destined to meet with on the blasted heath, although it must be confessed, that having so recently retired from the scene of my blasted hopes at Inverness, I was far from being in the best possible mood for enjoying such a sight.-For, I do not think that Banquo himself, could have well betrayed more visible marks of astonishment in his countenance, when he exclaimed, as the weird sisters intruded themselves upon his vision, and that of his no less astonished companion :

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What are these,

So withered and so wild in their attire,

That look not like the inhabitants of earth,
And yet are on it ?"

than I did, when, as I descended from the coach in order to have the better view, I exclaimed to the guard, "there is one of them," on beholding in the immediate vicinity of the

spot where I alighted, standing in the door of her lowly hovel, and busily employed with her rock and her distaff, in the exercise of which, she gave a fine display of her shrivelled arms, one of the best living specimens of the weird sisterhood, I think, I ever beheld. Nay, I will not even except those inanimate caricatures, so faithfully, if we may believe the engravers, pourtrayed on the halfpenny pictures, and halfpenny picture books, of our juvenile days, of those poor unfortunates, whose greatest misfortune, was the being branded with the odious, in those days I may rather say, murderous, appellation of a witch!

Where the proprietor of the estate, and planter of the clump of trees, had got such a strange piece of the reminiscences of the olden times, I know not. But it is possible, that he thought such a piece of fairy ground, and associated with such strange feats of ancient diablerie, could not be complete in all its parts, without the resemblance, at least, of one of its former inhabitants, and on that account, had placed, one of the best modern specimens he could procure, as a kind of outpost on the road side, and within view of the trees, as if, to point out the spot where the gambols and revels of her sisters of old were wont to be held and celebrated.

One thing is certain, that if this was the case, the gentleman could not have selected a better specimen, even had he gone to Iceland, or the regions about Mount Etna, for the purpose.

But the thing that most surprised me was, the evident looks of surprise, with which this venerable relic of former times, both in occupation and appearance, (for I will not call her by a worse name) eyed me, as I gazed at her,—although no doubt, with looks of sufficient astonishment, to have attracted the notice of an ordinary observer. But the ancient dame had not, perhaps, for some time before been exposed to the eye of such a scrutinizing visitant-for really, the unexpected circumstance of meeting such a personification of THE WITCHES OF FORMER TIMES, at such a time too, and at such a place, had fairly thrown me off my guard, and made me look, during the short period of my sojourn on the blasted heath, most intensely at her.

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I

Had this venerable personage in reality been, not one of the weird, but one of the second sighted sisterhood, with which these regions were supposed still to abound,—one of those comparatively harmless beings, who, favoured with the gift of prying into futurity, are nevertheless deprived of the means, either by the power of infernal incantations or otherwise, of contributing in any measure towards bringing the scenes of their predictions to pass. Had this ancient dame, say, been one of this description, and under the influence of a disposition to exercise her prophetic powers on me, in return for the keen scrutinizing eye with which I had viewed her, given me a significant hint on remounting the vehicle, that I would not soon have occasion to come so far as the Hoar Moor (the name by which it is now usually designated) for something to amuse me, and to make a gazing stock of a poor lonely woman, who was glad to occupy her present situation as a piece of bread, for that there was mischief enough brewing for me nearer home.

That, in fact, before the grain that was now bursting into ear, should be ripened unto harvest, I should experience, in the FOOT, or the TOE with which I had first presumed to touch the place of her seclusion, the blasted heath,-a source of such lasting pain, vexation, and uneasiness, as would quickly make me forget all other considerations, and give me, indeed, something to amuse me !-Had this, I say, been my parting valediction, I would most likely have smiled at the time, as I resumed my place again in the vehicle, without any thing apparently being wrong with my foot or my toe; but, in that case, I most assuredly would not have forgotten her afterwards, for reasons which will be sufficiently obvious in my next chapter. Although, as no such valediction took place, it is not to be expected that I shall there, again, recur to the subject.

CHAPTER XXV.-1818 (CONTINUED.)

The old Scots saying, "a little spark, sometimes breeds muckle wark," in my case unhappily illustrated. One of the lions in the way, I met with at Inverness, is the occasion of a meeting at Ayton.-Go down by the morning coach, and disappointed by the Mail on my return.—Walk up to Renton-Inn on the following morning.-The bad effects of having a great toe, pinched by a small shoe. The full extent of my misfortune not immediately apparent.Able to go about my business for some time afterwards.-Remittances from Inverness, of no great amount.-Instructions to my new agent in that quarter, and to the one recently sent out to wind up the business in Orkney and Caithness.Auction arrangements.-First general, or quarterly return from my Inverness new agent, but middling.—Caithness and Orkney returns but so and so. Auction returns from the north, of a very varied description.Those from Kirkwall fall far short of expectation.-The course I adopted in consequence of so many short comings.Sale to the trade in Edinburgh of the 3d of September.-Kept open for some time afterwards, by catalogue.The Sale, notwithstanding every effort, does not turn out well.—Discouraging considerations and prospects.-Get over the 4th of October, but no relaxation in my exertions.-The trumpet sounding again for the winter campaign. More labourers put into the vineyard.-Former ones encouraged to persevere.Am obliged to give up my own personal exertions, and retire from my attempt at a sale in Dunbar, in the month of October.-An affecting reminiscence briefly alluded to.-Pitiableness of my situation at that time. -Northern routes continued.-The two new, or supernumerary labourers, when, and where, employed.-Inverness proceeds to the 8th December, better than the last, but still little enough-Those from Orkney and Caithness, up to the 23d very sober.-Another question asked.-Some flowers in my path. -Some thorns.-Bulletin wanted about my TOE!

I THINK I took occasion to remark in a preceding chapter, that it is amazing to observe, in the course of Providence, what strange events will sometimes take their rise, from what we would think very disproportionate and inadequate causes, and what I am about to relate, will afford an apt illustration of the old Scots saying, "a little spark will sometimes breed muckle wark," as well as the truth of the remark, that, when we meet with any mischief, we do not know, where, or how it will end

One of the lions in the way that I met with at Inverness, and which did me, what I considered, considerable injury at the time, required some explanation from Mr