Some account of Peter Daunerabout. The principles on which the Mirror is conducted it is hoped have been hitherto recognised as sound and rational. It has been the study of the Editors to make it recommend and enforce, the truths and precepts of Christianity-to make it the fearless opponent of vice and immorality-and to make it the pleasing and instructive companion of virtue. They have studied most particularly to avoid making it the vehicle of party sentiment and of party feeling; and, as they are desirous that its pages should be open to every class of readers, they have avoided every thing like personal invective-political discussion, and unprofitable trifling. These objects the Editors still keep in view; and they trust they will be able to make the second volume, even more worthy of the approbation and support of the public. SOME ACCOUNT OF PETER DAUNERABOUT. I have for many years been in the habit of making an annual visit to my granduncle, the laird of Forresthaugh, and of remaining some weeks with him when the fatigues of harvest have ceased, and the chill of November's blast renders an extra companion agreeable. The residence of my relative is an antiquated edifice, which has served as the mansion house of his ancestors for many generations; and though the roof is low, and the parlour unadorned by Chinese drapery, there is more comfort at his fire-side when enlivened by a canty ingle, and a little chit chat, than will be found at the ceremonial revels of towns, and modern manors. My aunt, Mrs. Spierwell, is a lady of the old school, with a considerable portion of hereditary dignity, yet much goodness of heart, and a more than ordinary stock of disinterested kindness. Her notions of family seldom interfere with the conviviality of the evening; and indeed are never obtruded except when her pride is kindled by the rapid progress Some account of Peter Daunerabout. of a family of insignificance towards wealth and importance, who have lately purchased an estate in the neighbourhood, and who drive to church on Sunday in an elegant chaise, while she and her lord are contented to trudge on foot, except on rare occasions, when convenience or necessity suggests the use of a cart with a chair, which Davie Crummy, the laird's factotum, drives with much pomposity to the parish kirk. Forresthaugh has few prejudices of this kind. Bred to the bar, from which he retired in disgust, he has enjoyed the advantage of a liberal education, and justly considers that industry and honest exertions are more serviceable to a country than titles and highsounding names; while his native generosity induces him to rejoice in the success of a deserving individual, and his whig principles to acquiesce fully in the maxim of the French philosopher, c'est la campagne qui fait le pays, et c'est le peuple de la campagne qui fait la nation. The period of the year which I have selected as most proper for my visit, is not perhaps that which a person desirous of country recreation would conceive the most agreeable. For my own part, I am so singular in my taste as to be partial to it, for in the ordinary routine of business at this season, I have better opportunity of remarking the peculiarities of my uncle, than when he is busily employed about his agricultural affairs; for notwithstanding his activity, which is uncommon for his years, the approaching infirmities of old age have obliged him to resign the management of the winter operations to Davie, who, as was customary in days of yore, has a variety of occupations, and is equally expert at butler, groom, or grieve. Immediately after breakfast, the laird sallies forth, and leaning on my arm, leads me to all the remarkable spots in the neighbourhood, occasionally taking a station on an eminence to view some place consecrated by the recollections of boyhood, or memorable for a national conflict, then wandering into the hut of a cottar, where the homely welcome of the hostess, and the timid civility of the little rustics, induce us to be seated on a stool constructed of rude materials; while, amid reiterated proffers of kindness, Forresthaugh inquires after the health of Robin, and gives a halfpenny to one of the little inmates, who with unconscious familiarity, takes his station by the old gentleman's knee, and plays with the seals of his watch. There is something in such an exhibition which is exceedingly pleas Some account of Peter Daunerabout. ing, and on such occasions I cannot help looking with increased interest on the countenance of my venerable relative, when I observe the fondness which he displays for the little ones, and the pleasure he appears to take in their happiness. He is on his own lands a patriarch, whom the old esteem, and the young reverence: one of a description of men who are now disappearing rapidly, but who sixty years ago, formed the body of respectable landholders in Scotland; and who, living by the produce of their own estates, and amongst their own tenantry, became individually important at the head of a small society, keeping alive the natural and martial spirit of the Scotch peasantry. Though possessed of no delegated authority, unless from the accidental circumstance of their being justices of the peace, they enjoyed perhaps as much judicial power as an inferior order of barons; being on all occasions umpires in disputes which now require the interference of the judge, and the corrector of such abuses as now render a compulsatory journey to New South Wales necessary. The connexion betwixt the tenant and his laird was like a species of feudal tenure, with this difference, that labour and obedience were not obligatory, but the result of attachment for a respectable man. This pleasing picture of patriarchal union has been obliterated by the spirit of merchandise, which, like a mighty gulf, threatens to swallow up all national as well as moral feeling, and will in time leave us a race of discontented paupers, contaminated by the vices of trade, and a prey to those selfish and unworthy sentiments which chicanery and petty artifice engender. 66 In one of our diurnal excursions we stopped at the house of a domestic, who, after the usual salutations, broke forth into a philippic against a neer-do-weel fallow," who had been accommodated with lodgings on the preceding night, and who had taken his leave at an early hour without even the remuneration of thanks. He had left a small parcel which, on in spection, was found to be a collection of manuscripts, and which the good woman assured me were only fit forlichting the gudeman's pipe." I immediately laid my hands on them, and recompensing the landlady for her attention to her guest, determined to take the first opportunity of examining their contents. Accordingly, when the evening arrived, and Jenny had adjusted the fire, and placed the lights, the papers were produced, and on inspection were found to be detached essays on subjects po Some account of Peter Daunerabout. litical, economical, and moral, arranged under the title of "NOTIONS;" By Peter Daunerabout, sometime resident in the city of Glasgow:"-which afforded the family circle at Forresthaugh matter for discussion for three nights and a-half. I shall not trouble the reader with the various sentiments which were entertained of their merits-the supercilious manner with which his plebeian notions were received by my aunt, who was observed to use more than three times her usual quantity of snuff during the reading, and who to boot, by her violence knocked a representation of admiral Rodney, on silver, off the lid-the steady attention of the laird, who maintained, notwithstanding his wife's vociferation, that he was a sensible long headed man, and a true whig, according to the principles of the glorious year Saxteen aughty aught"—and the pleasure and amusement afforded to the Editor of the Mirror, who is not so selfish as to deprive his readers of a chance of participation. Who this Mr. Daunerabout was, I never have had an opportunity of learning, for though six months have elapsed since this occurred, the papers have lain by me unreclaimed; and as I conceive they were intended as a compensation for his night's entertainment by the author, who like parson Adams and his Sermons, may have attached more importance to these than the world will be inclined to do, I propose to insert one in the Mirror occasionally till the stock is exhausted. If their author, who seems to be a well-meaning man, is still in the environs of Glasgow, or in the neighbourhood of Kilmarnock, I hereby intimate that he may claim a share of the profits arising from the sale; and if he will call at my publishers he will be informed of my address, and on his producing sufficient testimonials of his identity, will immediately be put in possession of his lawful property, on condition that I be allowed to carry my projected plan of publication into execution. Peter's forbears were, in all probability, itinerants, but he seems to be a man of cultivation and solid judgement, whose natural good sense, has been unwarped by the prejudices of an academic education, which he seems to have enjoyed; and who, in his intercourse with mankind appears to have acquired that analytical sagacity, which has enabled him to foresee such correct estimates of private character, without alluring the views of youth, or the peculiarities of old age, to obscure the virtues which flourish beneath. I do not mean to say that he is the advocate of petulance, or the patron of dissipation: it is quite Some account of Peter Daunerabout. otherwise. His morals are pure, and spring from the only unvitiated source of human actions, sound principle; and his religion breathes those elevated sentiments which the sublime doctrines of Christianity inspire, unmixed with the censoriousness of fanatics, and untainted by the subtilities of Calvinistic theoloHe gy. to have mixed with the world in that promisappears cuous manner which affords an opportunity of studying variety of characters, and of tracing the operation of similar principles in the actions of men in all ranks of society. Like every man of discrimination he perceives virtues amongst the poor, and vices amongst the rich, without allowing his judgement to be biassed by external circumstances; and he recognises in the life of a peasant or artizan, sources of pleasure and enjoyment which have no dependence whatever on wealth, while he is equally conscious of the innumerable causes of ennui, which accompany luxurious indolence, without concluding that to find virtue or happiness, a man must necessarily be very rich or very poor; never forgetting the strict relation which education and habit bear to comfort, and the mental health which is entailed on a due exercise of the intellectual powers. Peter has evidently been unmarried, though this must have. been a matter of necessity not choice; for his encomiums on connubial bliss, and his poetical sensibility when domestic enjoyment becomes the topic of discussion, show, that his feelings. were of that description which induced him to look on a life of celibacy as a violation of nature's institutes, independent. of its consequences both in a political and moral point of view. The habits of a student do not appear (as they often do) to have effaced the amiable qualities of the man, and upon no occasion will it be found that his observations are deformed by personalities, or tinctured with that bitterness which is indicative of a splenetic disposition. He has exercised, as every man ought to do, the right of private judgement, and as he did not anticipate publication, he may be thought to discuss subjects rather unconected with the province of a periodical writer, but which I do not feel myself warranted in altering. Having said so much about him, I will now allow the public to judge for themselves, with this simple caveat that he does not make mighty pretensions to classic attainments, that he lays no claim to infallability, and desires no man to think as he does unless it please himself; in fact, having a religious respect for liberty, he will not infringe even in imagination on the rights of any individual, nor quarrel |