by the mace-bearer, the junior members being in front, and the Principal in the rear. After them came the Magistrates and Council, preceded by the regalia and officers, the Lord Provost in the rear. Next came the hearse, drawn by six horses, with three baton-men on each side, and then followed the mourning-coaches and private carriages, with the relations and friends of the deceased. is no powerful delineation of character, the accurate knowledge of nautical technicalities, and the minute descriptions of the life which sailors lead on board ship, possess an interest, and afford a degree of amusement, which render a display of any very superior talent unnecessary. "A meeting took place in Edinburgh, a few days after, to consider of erecting a monument to Mr Stewart's memory. The Lord Chief Commissioner presided, and said, he felt peculiarly gratified with the honour of being placed in the chair on the occasion, both on account of the admiration he had always entertained for the highly-gifted individual whose loss had been the cause of the meeting, and because he believed himself to be the only man now alive who had witnessed one of the earliest displays of Mr Stewart's extraordinary pre-traordinary events which characterise the life of a solcocity of talent and of taste. It was an Essay on Dreams, delivered in a society of students in Glasgow, when he was eighteen years of age. And such was his lordship's admiration of it at the time, and so vivid his recollection even now, that he felt himself justified in saying that it evinced those powers of profound thinking, ingenuous reasoning, beautiful illustration, lofty generalization, and almost unequalled felicity of expression, which form the charm of his subsequent works. Taking this circumstance along with that well known to the gentlemen present, that Mr Stewart had written the prefatory notice to his last book a few weeks before his death, at the age of seventy-five, he could not help mentioning it as a proud example of a human intellect remaining for so long a period connected with a mortal body, in a state of pure splendour, increasing to the last."" Sailors and Saints; or, Matrimonial Manœuvres. By the Authors of the "Naval Sketch-book." 3 vols. London. Henry Colburn. 1829. WE are told in the Preface to this book (for, like Leigh Hunt, we are conscientious readers of Prefaces,) that it is the joint production of a "naval officer," and a" templar." The internal evidence afforded by the work itself convinces us that this statement is no ruse. Nothing can be more dissimilar than the pictures it presents of life afloat and life on shore. The former are sketched with spirit and accuracy; the latter are dull, vulgar, and most uninteresting. Considering it as a novel, which it aims at being, the book is entitled to very little commendation, for there is no plot, no variety of character, and no diversity of incident. Whenever the sea is lost sight of, the writing degenerates into the most common millinery drivel. Only three females are introduced. One is the heroine, who has nothing earthly to do, except to play the part of a coquettish heartless girl; another is the heroine's mother, who, we are told, is a saint," though it scarcely appears what that means, unless that she is a very disagreeable woman; and the third is a Miss Wilson, the heroine's friend, a perfect nonentity, who is occasionally spoken of, but who never seems to speak herself. Nearly all the males are nautical characters; we therefore suppose the "templar" to be guilty of the female creations, and also of one man creature a Doctor Senna, a disgusting, pettifogging, country practitioner, whose very name is a dose. The "templar," accordingly, we set down for a person of very small intellectual dimensions, and as one who has all but succeeded in putting an extinguisher upon the reputation of his friend, the "naval officer." The said officer, however, has some metal in him, and if there is any thing good in the book, it is he we have to thank for it. Out of the three volumes, we are at sea for at least a volume and a half, and though even here there The truth is, that any one who can describe, with tolerable graphic correctness, the strange scenes of a sailor's existence, is sure to secure a pretty numerous class of readers. Sailors themselves will peruse his pages, because they are personally interested in their contents; and landsmen, without presuming to criticise a style of writing which they only imperfectly understand, look into them in hopes of obtaining some information regarding a class of the community, whose habits and feelings are so little in unison with their own. We had last week occasion to allude to the exdier; but a sailor's is still farther removed from the usual routine of humanity, and is consequently still more likely to become the subject of curiosity to the uninitiated. There is something, which they who are confessedly "land-lubbers" can scarcely comprehend in the feelings and character of one who, from his boyhood, has made the ocean his country, and a ship his home. He seems to be freed at once from the ties and from the wants of nature. Of the world round which he sails, he knows nothing but the mere external appearance of the coasts. He leads a bold, adventurous, wandering life, which to all the rest of mankind appears ineffably uncomfortable, but which to him habit renders not only agreeable, but absolutely necessary. Then with what rapture does he spend his first week on shore, after a long and perilous voyage! With what new and delightful emotions does he look upon the panorama of crowded and active society! Dr Johnson said, that the man who had interest enough to get into jail, should never think of going on board a ship; but Dr Johnson was "a fresh-water swab" of the most inveterate description, and probably did not know the difference be tween the "loosers" and the "halliards," or between the "sheets" and the "sails." He could have no sympathy with the sailor, and knew not that "The strange shapes of the mighty deep Dr Johnson would have had no chance on the quarter- As we have said, therefore, or meant to say, the interest of this book entirely depends upon the sketches it contains of naval manners and adventures. We shall give one or two specimens, and leave those who are interested in such matters to read the rest of the three volumes at their leisure. The following is the final catastrophe of a naval engagement, the whole particulars of which are very graphically detailed :— BOARDING THE ENEMY. "Whilst thus animating his men, and taking advantage of a partial cessation of smoke to point with precision himself a gun at his adversary's rudder, he imagined he perceived through the port-hole the enemy's He waited a few semain-mast beginning to totter. conds at the breech of the gun to satisfy himself that no optical illusion had flattered his sight. Hurrah!' cried he, I thought I couldn't be deceived.' He was not. The next lee-lurch brought the American's taunt and towering spar, with all its lower and lofty yards, widespread canvass, and heavy rigging, tumbling over the side into the water with a tremendous crash, and precipitating five of his deadliest marksmen, uninvited, into the dread realms of Neptune. "Deprived of his after sail, the enemy's vessel became now unmanageable, and fell on board the Spitfire, hooking, with the flukes of his best bower-anchor, the weather fore-rigging of the British brig. This opportunity was not overlooked by Burton, who, seizing his sabre, which lay unsheathed on the capstan, brandished it aloft, shouting, in a tone which was heard distinctly along the Spitfire's deck, whilst the tire of both ships slackened Stand fast-stand fast your fire-follow me every man that can raise a cutlass !' term it, on the heads of several, as they vanished below, without picking their steps. "Ship the gratings, and secure them below,' said Burton. "Maybe Dan won't do that same,' said an Irish waister, who had spent four long years peeping through the bars of a French prison-It's myself, my joy, that likes to be looking at the inimy on the right side o' the gratin'.' "The 'gratings were shipped,' and a marine sentinel "Fast as he flew to gain a footing on the enemy's placed over each. At this moment of complete triumph, deck, he soon found himself not the foremost of about an incident occurred, not without its parallel in the forty of the British, who mounted the side, swung them- history of the late war, however revolting to humanity. selves, sword in hand, on the enemy's forecastle, and Whilst the sentinel on the main-hatchway grating was tumbled pell-mell amongst the Americans, who now peaceably occupied in this duty, he was deliberately shot crowded forward to repel the invaders. The Spitfires by a cowardly ruffian from below. The fury and sahad been so long engaged amid fire and smoke, that the vage hate which this atrocity on the part of the vanlatter had begrimed not only their faces, but naked quished excited in the British was such, that it required bodies, which were here and there palely seamed by all Burton's presence of mind and powers of persuasion streams of sweat, which ran from their burning temples. to repress their appetite for revenge, and the infliction The effect of excessive excitement was, in more than one of summary and ample retribution on the offender. instance, contrasted by the sunken eye of exhaustion Whilst some shouted aloud for the marines to fire on which too visibly betrayed a frame deserted by nature, them below, others, headed by the boatswain, tore up the though a heart sustained by all-enduring valour. From gratings, and were with difficulty prevented, by Burton's these appalling appearances, heightened by the clotted prayers and menaces, from descending sword in hand gore with which many had besmeared themselves in amongst the prisoners; who, now alarmed at the conheaving the mangled dead overboard, or the fresh blood-sequence of their treachery, cried for quarter, and begged gouts which streamed down from their own green wounds, the assailants assumed, if not the aspect of fiends, certainly the most formidable resemblance to those wild warriors who hideously paint and tattoo their bodies preparatory to battle. to be allowed to give up the offender. "Over this unhappy man's fate it is perhaps best to draw the veil. Aware of the certainty of his doom, he was handed struggling on deck. "Wanton cruelty, under circumstances of such deadly exasperation, makes retaliation justice; and it may be anticipated, that in punishing a crime so atrocious, had the offender a thousand lives, their full revenge had stomach for them all.' "The moment they reached the enemy's deck, Burton, leading on his men, was met by the master, a powerful, strong-built, resolute-looking man, armed with sword and pistol; the latter he levelled with keen eye at the British officer, which, happily for him, flash- "Here a scene of the most extraordinary exhilaration ed in the pan. Foiled in his aim, he flung the treache- and extravagant joy ensued, surpassing all power of rous weapon full at his adversary's head, carrying off language to describe. A thousand tongues appeared to the lieutenant's hat, and slightly scalping him. Burton be unloosened at once ;-congratulations, gratitude to now rushed on his huge antagonist, and they crossed Heaven, and the effusions of affectionate friendship, swords, a weapon in the use of which he was peculiarly embodied themselves in short sentences.-Thank God! expert. A few seconds had hardly elapsed ere the-thank God !' Well, Bill, my boy, I can swear you Columbian Ajax lay stretched on the deck. The victor were first aboard.'-'Hurrah! for old England!'-Didn't strode over the body, and cheered on his men to the at- I tell you her main-mast 'ou'd go?-I'll bet a week's tack. Fierce and resolute was the contest, where no- grog there's one o' my own chalking in it now. The thing but valour could compensate for the disparity of slaughter-house did the job.'- D-n their eyes, they fought hard for it, too! Nothing like boarding, after all - Didn't I back you, Bob, like a trump?''My eyes and limbs ! how the beggars tumbled below!' Bloody wars! how we sarved 'em out!' numbers. "The roar of cannon had now subsided, and was succeeded by the clink and clatter of brittle blades, which not unfrequently broke short in their handles, disappointing meditated revenge, and often occasioning the loss of the assailant's life for that of the assailed. The Americans were slowly dislodged from off their forecastle, fighting foot by foot. "Burton, elate with his success, eagerly sought the American captain, who, in consequence of the loss of both his lieutenants, was compelled to lead on his men alone, whom he now successfully rallied to a desperate charge, in which they beat down the British blades with the weight of their muskets' but-ends. Perceiving the Spitfires were beginning to give way, Burton shouted with energy, Hold on-hold on your own, my lads!' At this moment the well-known voice of the boatswain, who led on a few fresh hands, was heard roaring in the rear Make a lane there! I told the bush-fighting beggars I'd sarve 'em out! Hurrah! for Sallyport His furious haste into the thickest part of the combat, kindled afresh the spirit of emulation. Burton, thus supported, soon gained the quarterdeck, driving before him the enemy, who now tore down the fire-screens, and tumbled down the hatchways, in the utmost consterna tion. "This opportunity, it may be supposed, was not lost on some eager blades, for inflicting the broad R, as they "These strains of triumph were, however, at times interrupted by a volley of imprecations and oaths, which, however unsuitable to the morality of our times, were, in Jack's opinion, perfectly suitable to the dignity of the occasion. The young men seemed nearly delirious with joy at the result of their first encounter, shouting and flourishing their cutlasses, and dancing like madmen on the decks; whilst their seniors flung away their weapons, to grasp each other by the hand, and exchanged the most affectionate congratulations. "The boatswain swore to his mate, D-n his eyes! but he'd make him a bishop;'-but again recollecting himself, as if he had yet a duty to accomplish, he summoned the Spitfires to celebrate their triumph in due form, shouting, like Achilles of old, Come, boys, freshen your nip-rig your roarers, and stand by for three thundering cheers.-All ready?-Wait for the pipe-Now-now then.' The welkin rung with their Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!' "And one for coming up!' cried Brace, accompany. ing each cheer with his call,' and terminating the fourth with his chirping pipe of belay. "Had Homer, Ovid, or any bard of antiquity, described the effects of these singular shouts of triumph the fabled god of the ocean would, doubtless, have been introduced gracing their victory with his presence, and waving his trident over the brave tars as a tribute of admiration to their courage. We are not poets the reader must, therefore, content himself with learning, that, roused by the uproar, old Neptune raised his hoary head from the briny deep, only to smile at the frolics of his favourite sons."-Vol. III. p. 259–69. As the above extract is a long one, we have only room left for the following anecdote of A LIEUTENANT OF THE RIGHT SORT. "Well, then-what sort are the rest o' your officers?-kase, you know, one chafed strand's enough to condemn a whole cable. What sort o' chaps are they? These are spirited passages; and there are many such, intermingled with a great deal that is tedious and trashy. The name of "Sailors and Saints" is very inappropriate; and we cannot countenance or approve of the ridicule which is throughout the work attempted to be thrown, without any just distinction, upon the religious part of the community. A Treatise on the History, Constitution, and Forms of Process of the Bill-Chamber, &c. &c. By Thomas Beveridge. Edinburgh. Bell and Bradfute. 1828. THIS work has already been a good many weeks before the public; but a law book ought not to be reviewed with the rapidity of a new novel, and as the subject is, to those who interest themselves in such subjects, of more than a mere ephemeral importance, a few observations will not yet be too late. It was by the publication of the "Tyro's Index," a printed card pointing out the rotation of Lords Ordinary and other such matters, for the session, which appeared periodically, that Mr Beveridge first became known to the legal public as an author; at least we are not aware of any thing having previously emanated from his pen. When the able work of Mr Ivory upon the Forms of Process had become, in a great measure, a dead letter, in consequence of the sweeping changes introdumulgated immediately afterwards, Mr Beveridge assumed a higher position, and laid before the public two thick octavos, containing a statement of the judicial forms in the Bill Chamber, Court of Session, Teind Court, and Jury Court. It was not a little injudicious, and so time has shown, to bring forward a work of this description at such a period, when the new forms had not received the commentary of experience, nor the corrections which practice would show to be indispensable. Of course, the work, in so far as these important changes were concerned, could amount to nothing more than a meagre analysis or repetition of the Statute and Acts of Sederunt, and there was scarcely a hope of its continuing to be authority for three months. Accordingly, a succession of decisions settled many points not indicated in Mr Beveridge's work; while a succession of Acts of Sederunt, by introducing many important alterations, speedily rendered it an unsafe and dangerous guide. It seems the author contemplates bringing out a supplement, which will contain these alterations; but this, at the best, will be a piece of awkward patch-work; and the work, even as it originally stood, did not appear to us to be skilfully executed. "Why, there's the first lieutenant, to be sure, gets sometimes a-head of his reck'ning-does things hand over hand, in a hurry; but there's the boy," said the bowman, pointing to Burton, who was too far a-head to overhear their conversation-" that's the boy as can box the brig about; he can do more with the watch than t'other could do with all hands. He's the smartest young fellow I ever see'd in my day, and never axes a man to do more nor he can do himself. I'members one morn, lying moored at Spithead, when the first leaftenant was ashore on leave, and he was left dicky aboard, and, bekase we wasn't first, as usual, in crossing to'-ced by the Judicature Act, and the Acts of Sederunt progallant yards may I never see light, if he didn't send the sticks up and down thirteen times, afore he piped to breakfast; and the twelfth time, he got so vexed, (what no man afore ever see'd in the ship,) that he sings out to Bob Law, the second captain of the foretop, as was rigging the upper yard arm at the time Either you or me,' says he, Mister Law, 's a tailor.'-' I served my time to the sea,' says Bob. Then the sea sarved out a lubber,' says t'other. That puts Bob, you know, so much on his pluck, that, singing out loud enough for all hands to hear him aboard, • I'd like,' says Bob, to see the fellow in the fleet, as could rig an upper-yard-arm smarter nor me. You would, would ye?' says the leaftenant, with the blood flying up in his face. Here, Stowel,' says he to the master, send the yards up,' says he; and flying forward, he fings off his coat on one of the guns, runs aloft like a lamp-lighter, and afore he gets fairly a-foot in the top, he sings out, 6 Sway away, master; damn it, don't wait for me, man!" Well, you know, though there wasn't a man in the brig that wouldn't go farther, ay, farther than Fiddler's Green, for him, still it wasn't in nature, you know, to let poor Bob be beat by a gemman; so, you see, they makes the devil's own run with the yard rope, to sway the upper-yard-arm out of his fist; but he was too sharp for 'em all for he levelled it so well at the mast-head, as he held the lift-and-brace in both hands, that the stick flew through 'em just like a fair leader; and there was the fore-to'-gallant yard across, ay, half a minute afore the main was rigged." "Well," said Tiller, "I suppose Mr Law, as you calls him, looked a bit blue ?" 66 Why, you may suppose he dropped his peak, as soon as the leaftenant comes down on deck, and says, with a sort of swagger, There, my man, you see,' says he, you see I never axes another to do what I couldn't do better myself!' Well,' says Bob, cheering up a bit so as to clinch the concern at once, I declare to my God, sir,' says he, I axes your pardon; but I didn't think 'twas in mortal man to beat Bob Law at any thing aloft and I'm blowed,' said he, if I turn my back to another in the fleet, 'sides yourself.' I doesn't know whether this palaver o' Bob's pleases the leaftenant or no; but I knows, ever since, they've both taken together, as natʼral as brandy and water." -Vol. I. p. 42-5. Mr Beveridge's next performance was the construction of an Index to the consolidating Act of Sederunt of 11th July 1828, which was stitched up and sold along with the Act itself, by authority of the Court. To this Index we alluded some weeks ago, when we observed that it was as long as the Act itself, and that it had contributed to increase the price of the Act, which we complained of as exo bitant. We cannot help thinking that the public were entitled to have the Act of Sederunt sold alone, without this voluminous and unauthoritative appendage, leaving it to be purchased by those who desired it; and one of two conclusions is inevitable,-either the Act was very ill drawn up, to require so prolix a commentary or paraphrase,-or, that commentary was very superfluous. We are certainly of the latter opinion; and we cannot understand the anomalous phenomenon of an Index as large as the work whereto it applies. But Mr Beveridge, thus taken under official patronage, and especially now that he has added to his other works the treatise on the Bill Chamber under review, assumes the important attitude of genera dispenser of the forms of process. He seems to have vindicated to himself this essential and extensive department as his own peculiar province; and, in the following observations, we shall have in view his qualifications for the task he has thus assigned himself. there we can discern symptoms of carelessness. For instance, we are informed that “Bills of Advocation, on the head of contingency or incompetency, may be passWhile the prior works upon the Bill Chamber, espe- ed without caution. Also Bills of Advocation in order cially the short manual of Mr Scott, were confined to to Jury Trial." Now, the last class of bills not only the mere mechanical forms by which bills were managed "may," but must, be passed without caution. It is and proceeded in, Mr Beveridge has taken a wider range, said (par. 253) that the Ordinary may order written and embraced, within the scope of his observations, the Answers to a Bill of Advocation of the interlocutory legal competency of the various sorts of bills. He com- judgment, on the head of incompetency or contingency, mences with a history of the Bill Chamber, from its first" in virtue of 1 and 2 Geo. IV. c. 38, sec. 1," although institution downwards, and shows a disposition fairly the statute cited has no relation to interlocutory judgto exhaust the subject. Had this plan been distinctly ments. It is stated (par. 274) that a written Answer formed, and carried into full completion, there is no may be received to a Bill of Advocation, of a final judgdoubt that a great desideratum would have been sup- ment of the Judge-Admiral, in a mercantile cause; alplied. But, in our humble apprehension, many breaches though, in the same paragraph, it is virtually admitted and chasms have been left in the execution, which spoil that the matter is regulated by the 6th Geo. IV., which the symmetry and hurt the utility of the Treatise. What expressly prohibits such answers. It would lay a heavy is it, for example, to tell us, in the brief phrase of the tax, we suspect, on Mr Beveridge's ingenuity, to reconAct of Parliament, that advocation is competent from cile the following paragraphs: 159. When a bill is an interlocutory judgment on the ground of "contin- passed on caution, caution must be found within fourgency," without a word of explanation as to what "con- teen days; and if this not done, the charger is entitingency" is, or where it is held to exist, and where tled, in like manner, to have the bill refused, in respect not? Or what instruction do we get from the maxim, of no caution; and on obtaining a certificate by the that in suspensions of decrees pronounced in foro by the clerk of the refusal, may go on with his diligence, just Court of Session, the reasons must be very strong and as if the bill had never been presented:"-" 308. But solid, and not such as fall under the objection of com- in the case of a passed bill, if caution shall not be found petent and omitted ?" We shall immediately see that in due time, no motion is made to have the bill refused; the author can be more diffuse where there is much less a certificate of no caution is sufficient authority to go on occasion for it. with the diligence, and also to get decree for expenses." We forbear to press this matter farther, but must admonish Mr Beveridge, that inaccuracy, of all faults, in a work of this description, can least easily be forgiven. Wishing to give the author all due credit for a fair share of industry, research, and intelligence, we can ot conclude without offering a suggestion, that natural arrangement, compression, and propriety of diction, should receive more of his attention, than is indicated by this Treatise on the Bill-Chamber. Under Mr Beveridge's hands, the forms of the courts have swelled into unnatural dimensions; and, including the original work on the Forms of Process, the present publication on the Bill-Chamber, and the forthcoming Supplement,-the whole set will cost about two guineas or upwards, while, in our opinion, every branch of the subject might be comprehended considerably within the capabilities of a single guinea. Two faults are observable in the book, which seem the contradiction of each other,—an excess of arrangement, and a want of arrangement. In his anxiety to be systematic, the author has frittered down his subject into so many heads, that the continuity of detail, which alone can communicate clear ideas of the subject, is altogether sacrificed. Separate chapters are devoted, for instance, to" Bills of Advocation,' ""Sists," "Certificates by the Clerk to the Bills," "Intimations, Petitions for leave, &c. in the Inferior Courts,"" Intimations and certified copies in the Bill-chamber," "Transmission of Inferior Court processes." This disjointed account can no more impart an easy or natural conception of the process, than the exhibition of the separate tessella could give the mind a faithful impression of the finished mosaic. From this cause also a great deal of repetition has arisen. The subjects were so naturally and strongly connected, that, in their unnatural disruption, a view of any one could not be given, without recalling the kindred features of several others. The following paragraphs, for example, are mere repetitions of each other:-119 and 281, 57 and 284, 160 and 297, 318 and 445, 91 (in part) and 338, 374-5 and 545, 460-1 and 479, 483 and 546-7-8-9, &c. The subject of Advocation of Action above forty pounds in value is discussed three several times. There are other superfluities, too, which appear quite misplaced in a practical work; and among these not the least observable is the detailed account given of two several systems of reviewing Bill-chamber Interlocutors, both now superseded by a third. In the obsolete regulations, which related to the merest matters of form, we defy the most resolute antiquary to pick out a single grain of either instruction or amusement; and a still greater inconvenience arises from the fact, that by neglecting to separate the obsolete from the existing rules, with sufficient care, it is rendered, in some instances, difficult to perceive the distinction. We venture to say, that by lopping off repetitions and useless redundancies, about a sixth part might be subtracted from the size of the book, and a great improvement effected upon it. But the first and most essential requisite of a law book is accuracy; and where that appears, it forms a cloak capable of covering a multitude of sins. The author's qualifications, in this respect, we are not going, generally, to impugn. Yet we must confess, that here and citizens, well-known in the said town and vicinity for his annual concerts, for his own pleasant voice, deep-toned and melodious, and for the numerous little airs of his own composition, with which he has long delighted the cognoscenti of the place. Sometimes, (though often too rarely,) circumstances enable him to take a bolder flight, and by the publication of his most successful efforts his genius becomes better known and more appreciated. Mr John Turnbull of Ayr is one of those whom we are glad to have it in our power to bring more widely into notice. His musical taste has been well cultivated, and his style of composition, without being destitute of character, is chaste and simple. The song before us, in B. flat, is a very pretty melody with an exceedingly appropriate piano-forte accompaniment; and, what is of importance in all songs, the music and words are well adapted for each other. We advise Mr Turnbull to proceed as he has commenced; he is following the footsteps of his deceased countryman, R. A. Smith, and it is not unlikely that he may be one of those destined to make up to us for his loss. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. RECOLLECTIONS OF A PARSONAGE. THE MINISTER AT HOME. "You will never find yourself at home and comfortable," said one of my most respectable farmers to me on the day after my settlement, "unless you rent as much ground as, along with your four acres of glebe land, will keep a man and a couple of horses." So to it I went. I rented a small farm, contiguous to the glebe, which my predecessor, who was a sensible, well-doing man, had farmed (but at a lower rent) successfully before me; and I contrived, at the very first market, by the assistance of the said friend, to select a strong pony, for the double purpose of riding and farm labour, together with an old grey mare and a curly-headed urchin of seventeen, from a great variety of beast and human samples there produced. For a few weeks things went on pretty smoothly. The maids and the man arranged pretty well, and I saw the labours of the season proceeding without much annoyance; but, anon, matters went otherwise. My man quarrelled with the one maid, and became fully intimate enough with the other;-my ploughs, harrows, carts, and all manner of crooked and pronged utensils were to pay; the old grey mare became lame of the far leg (by this time I wished both her and her leg far enough); and my amphibious pony had twice nearly broken the minister's neck; in fact, his knees were now witnesses against him in any market, and he was of no service whatever in riding. Andrew found that he would not draw without the auld mare, and the auld mare again figured rather awkwardly on her lame leg. bours (and good and kind they were) for the labouring of my glebe acres, which I still reserved to feed a cow, and keep at the same time, as my friend the farmer expressed it, "roughness" about the house. My glebe, to be sure, was ploughed, sowed, and harrowed, but at the convenience of those who gratuitously offered and gave their services; consequently, it was seldom laboured in season, or sufficiently. "Thistles grew instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley;" every year my oats were shorter in the leg and thinner on the head than formerly, till at length, one very dry season, I could have carried the whol- grain produce of my three acres home on my back. "A mouse might have sat on its hind legs eating the top pickle of it." My cow, too, gradually mistimed herself, or was mistimed by the maids whose duty it was to attend to her. She seldom was in milk till midsummer, and the blankets were carried from the servant's bed, I could observe, to lift her, after the spring weather had returned; yet poor, and skinny, and feeble as she was, she cost me a great sum, under the general designation of fodder. Happily for me, she was fairly suffocated one evening on new uncut potatoes, and I shut the byre door for ever. I let my glebe to a neighbouring farmer, to him, namely, who had all along guided me in my measures took him bound to supply, at market price, my family with milk, cheese, and butter and immediately applied to the heritors for a garden-wall. This application, as I had not even the semblance of an enclosure, was immediately and effectually granted; and I saw, in a few months, a rood of good rich land around my front door, fairly enclosed with a stone and lime fence, from six to eight feet in height. I was now in my element; and I knew it, the moment that I saw the last stone placed over the gate of my garden. I felt all the force of that Eden happiness, which Adam experienced. I planned, dug, hedged, planted gooseberries, pears, apples, cherries, plums, pease, beans, strawberries, onions, leeks, carrots, turnips; together with every assortment of border ornament, from the splendid sun-flower, to the sweet-scented wall-flower and mignonette. Bees I procured, and they wrought, fought, hived, and buzzed about me. Arbours I constructed in every corner. Seats I erected, stationary and movable. Laburnums, ivy, sweet-brier, moss-roses, all manner of sweet-looking or smelling things, rose around me, as if by the wand of enchantment. I locked my garden gate, and, placing myself in a sunny corner, and under the shade of shrubberies of my own planting, I read-Boston? No.-Picten? No.-Matthew Henry? No-no -no-I read-Thomson's Seasons. When a boy I had been enthusiastic, and, as my years ripened into manhood, I had walked with poets in my pocket, and joy, heaving, beating, springing in my heart-in glens, along steeps, and adown rivulets. I had grasped, and clutched the mist and the darkness in my hands, and almost imagined that I could bring the spiritual world into contact with my bodily perceptions. When more advanced in the fervid and fearful voyage Thus, things came to a stand; and, instead of enjoy- of life, I had-whether the boat sprang to the wave, and ing myself, and my family, and my flock, and my various trode it downward, or seemed to sink beneath an overministerial duties, as I was wont to do, I was kept in powering, overbroken weight,-whether maddened with constant "hot water." The smith's grim phiz and long hope or with disappointment-still looked forward to a bill I will never forget; the carpenter was more modest future calm and quietude—to a fixed and a sunny resiand less importunate; yet still "carts were carts, and dence, where my heart might float onwards in peaceharrows were harrows." Another pair of horses would possessing a consciousness of its own internal capabilicost me a penny; and my old cattle were, in fact, ties, yet disdaining, as it were, and refusing to bring unmarketable. I fairly cut and ran." I went to them into conspicuous and strenuous exercise. My life the laird begged to be off-renounced my lease-paid dream had been nearly realized, when cows, carts, and one year's rent-sold the grey mare to an egg man, and all the trumpery of husbandry, had crossed my path, the brown pony to the gauger-rouped my plough, and had driven me out again to sea, when already in grapes, hows, and wheelbarrows-and commenced with the harbour. But at length and at last, as if by accident, the second year on a reduced establishment, and under and under the guidance of circumstances which I had In actual loss of more extent than I care to make public. not the sense or the management to direct, I passed una was now dependent on the assistance of my good neigh-consciously into the happy valley. I found myself sur |