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might have been quoted with greater justice and propriety against others more worthy of the name. However, vanity is perhaps more an equal possession of rich and poor, than one might be apt to imagine-and I thought I could see some little symptoms of the failing in our old preacher himself, when be observed the respectable attendance of gentry in their equipages-above all, between ourselves, when his eye rested on the unusual and airy elegancies of the unharnessed shandrydan. I nothing question this was the first time a tent-preaching in Scotland was ever listened to by one seated in such a vehicle. Indeed, if they borrow it from me, as I don't much doubt they will, I should not be a whit surprised to find them changing its name, and christening it A PETER, in honour of the individual that introduced its beauties to their attention.

That nothing might be awanting to complete my idea of the whole of the scene, the minister was so good as to ask me to dine at the Manse after the sermon, and Sir was included in the invitation. We both accepted, and really I bave very seldom eat a dinner which I should have been more sorry to have missed. I don't mean as to the viands in particular, although these too were not at all to be sneezed at. There was capital hotch-potch, a truly delicious kind of soup quite peculiar to Scotland, but worthy of being introduced into the very first leaf of the Almanack des Gourmands. It is made of mutton boiled-a complete chaos of vegetables of all sorts -green pease, however, being, I think, the predominant item. There was a dish.of boiled, and another of broiled, berrings from Loch Fine-and I assure you I think this fish is superior here to any thing I have met with in Wales. There were no less than three sheep's-beads singed in the hair, which I am sure you would like, with the addition of a little Harvey. There was prime old mutton, which the minister's 'wife took care to tell me had been sent by Lady Lastly, there

was a whole regiment of gooseberry pyes-and as much cream in bowls of all sizes as would have drowned Alderman Curtis-though I don't know, if that worthy knight were reduced to the Duke of Clarence's choice, whether this would be the liquor in which he would prefer to be extinguished

"Like a dish of fresh strawberries smother'd in cream."

After dinner, (which lasted a considerable time, and was dore full justice to by all present,) we had a few bottles of excellent port and sherry, and then two punch-bowls were introduced. The one was managed by our host himself at the head

of the table, (for by this time his wife had departed,) and the other, at the lower extremity, acknowledged the sway of the same jocular orator I have just been describing, who had now been advanced to the pre-eminence of croupier. The bowl at the top was presently filled with hot whisky toddy-that at the bottom with the genuine Glasgow mixture, in compounding which our croupier displayed talents of the very highest order. By and by, we were all in a state of charming merriment, although nothing could be more moderate than the measure of our indulgence. The conversation of the ministers was extremely picturesque and amusing, and opened up to me new glimpses at every turn, into the whole penetralia of their own. existence and that of their parishioners. They seemed all to be most worthy persons, but nothing could be more striking than the diversity in their carriage and demeanour. Our host himself, whose pale meditative face I have before noticed, seemed unable to shake from him, so much as he could have wished, the load of those official anxieties which had been burdening his mind during so many days of exertion. He sat, therefore, with rather an absent air in the midst of us, and smiling sometimes quite at the wrong moment. Some of his friends were old-some young-some silently disposed-some talkative. Some of them seemed to think it necessary or proper to be very sparing in their indulgence even of laughteralthough it was easy to see that the jokes which were going were not lost upon them. The only thing they all agreed in was enjoying prodigiously the good things of the reverend croupier, who really opened a budget that would make Matthews or Bannister rich for twelve months. Among other things, he gave us song upon song-one I got a copy of, which I liked very well. It is written by himself, and expresses nothing but the true feelings of the man-for he is a great sportsman-although that part of his character is not quite to the taste of the peasantry. But I fear you will form but a very inadequate notion of the treat it afforded us, wanting the precious accompaniments of the good man's fine clear pipe, and the liveliness of the air itself, which was one which I never heard before-but shall endeavour to procure for you. As for the words, I think they are not deficient either in spirit or character -they might almost have been produced by the great Bucolic Jamie of Ettrick.

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THE SHOOTING MINISTER.

When inclined for a shot, I am up with Aurora,
My jacket lies ready-my buskings are brief;
I speak not a word at the Manse to the snorers,
But whistle to Juno, and off like a thief.

I leave dykes and hedges, and up to the muirlands,

That stretch out so tempting, so brown, and so wide;
To me they are rich lands that others think poor lands,
As I stalk o'er the heather in freedom and pride.

I grudge not my time, nor of powder am chary,
But roam, looking sharp after Juno's white back:
Mong the flows and the rough bits she scuds like a fairy,
But, when fixed, she's like marble to wait for the crack:
It may shower-it may shine-or the big clouds may sever,
And drift with long shadows o'er mountain and fell,
But the muir-cocks still find that I'm their Fail-me-never,
Nor will finish the day till I've tickled them well.

When I spy at a distance a smoke gently curling,
I can guess that some gudewife's small cottage is near
She knows that the Minister brings nothing sinister,
And beckons me in to partake of her cheer.
Her cheese is most rich, and her cakes are delicious,
And a glass with clear sparkle concludes the repast;
O, long could I sit-but my wife is capricious-

And home to the Manse I must trudge away fast.

About nine o'clock we all departed. I was pressed very heartily to return to Sir's, but preferred, in spite of the hour, to proceed back to Glasgow, as I had been losing more time than I could well afford already. Before I mounted the shandrydan, however, I enjoyed a rich treat in witnessing the departure of the several Ministers for their respective habitations,

their visit being now concluded with this last not disagreeable part of the ceremonial. Some trudged away on foot, lightly bounding under the gentle and moderate influences of an inspiration, than which nothing can be more innocent,

των μετρίως ελθεί.

Others had their nags in readiness; and among these was my good friend, the Croupier. I forgot to mention that he had also his wife with him, but she now added very much to the effect of the farewell glimpse I had of him. They both rode on the same horse, which, indeed, had length of back been the sole requisite, might easily have accommodated a still larger company. The divine, of course, occupied the saddle before.

but ere he mounted, his wife pinned up the skirts of his coat in a most careful manner, under bis arms, in order, I suppose, to prevent them from catching any injury from the somewhatrough and tufted grey coat of Old Mortality, for that was the name of the animal. Alas! how different from the fine, smooth, milk-white coat of its synonym, the inimitable Old Mortality bestrode by the more knowing limbs of my friend John Ballantyne, in Edinburgh! Such as it was, off they were at a round trot, the old lady shaking and jolting on her blue carpet-covered cushion behind her spouse, and he sitting firm upon his saddle, in a most bold and manly, if not in a graceful manner. Before they departed, however, the Croupier called loudly for the stirrup-cup, of which I also having partaken, ascended the sbandrydan, and followed in the wake of this inimitable couple. Our roads separated after a little way, and the Minister turned up into a narrow country-road, while I continued in the line of the king's highway. I heard him shouting out after I thought he had been out of sight, and looking back, saw him grinning a parting smile over the shoulder of his better half, and heard his valedictory joke-" Post equitem sedet atra cura.” The joke was, perhaps, not a new one; but one cannot expect every thing at once.

Buck's Head.

Miss Currie received, and detains me with her kindest smiles; but on Thursday-my purposes are inflexible-on Thursday I am off for Rothesay. The weather seems to promise charmingly; so I look for a delicious trip in the steam-boat.

ΤΟ

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, ESQ.

MY DEAR COLERIDGE.

BEING desirous of adding a few more last words to a new edition of my Letters from Scotland, I hope I may be pardoned for the liberty I have assumed, in addressing them more immediately to you. To say truth, as the only criticisms on my book to which I

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have paid any considerable attention, are those contained in your two very interesting letters of last month, I know not to whom I could with so much propriety address the very short explanation which I have judged necessary upon the present occasion. But for what has fallen from yourself, I should never, most certainly, have thought of saying one word more in regard to a book, which I myself had consi--dered so very much in the light of a bagatelle. The Letters were written in great haste, and published originally without much reflection; and if they furnished a little amusement and a little information to the "reading public" of the day, I should have been willing to suppose they had abundantly fulfilled all the purposes for which they were printed. That they have already done so, you are pleased to assure me— and so far I am satisfied. But it is easy for me to see, from the tenor of your remarks, that my ambition has not in general been believed to have been so moderate as it really was;-under the guise of a simple traveller, apparently desirous only of describing what he had seen and felt in the course of a few months' tour of idleness and relaxation-it has been suspected or discovered, as you inform me, that I had really gone forth as the champion of a particular set of literary, philosophical, and political opinions--and the nature of these opinions, it seems, has been such as to call down upon my head a measure of graver spleen, and severer criticism, than usually falls to the share of the letter-writer or the tourist. Although I must deny that my intentions were of so serious a kind as has been imagined--and still assure you that my book was written mainly with a view, not to the inculcation of opinions, and the defence of dogmas, but the description of men and things---yet, as the opinions which have excited so much reprehension are most truly my opinions, I caunot refuse to stand by the consequences of having expressed them, even in this trivial shape and man

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