been as a servant. As to his father the Colonel's splendid pleasure-vessel, the EMPRESS, I could remember nothing, either at Ensay, Rothsay, or Tarbet. I recollected something of a Mr M'Neill coming into Loch-Fine in a little stout square-rigged vessel of his own from some of the western isles, and of his being bound to the Clyde, but nothing at all of ever coming in contact with the gentleman. I was fairly bamboozled, and began to suspect that the man was a warlock or an enchanter. At the hour appointed, to a very second, I went to the hotel, rung the porch bell, and taking the waiter aside, asked him very ingeniously for the proper designation of the Highland gentleman who lodged there, for that I was engaged to dine with him privately, and it looked so exceedingly awkward to have lost his address. The lad said, there was no Highland gentleman lodging there at present but Major Cameron, who was dining out; but there was a gentleman in No. 6, who had ordered dinner for two, and whose address he supposed was Colonel Cloud. M'Leod, you mean," says I. "No, no," said he; "not MacLeod; that is my own name, which it is not likely I would forget. The gentleman, I think, gave his address as Colonel Cloud of Coalpepper. But he does not lodge here. I never saw him before to-day." "You astonish me, callant, more ways than one," says I. "Such a designation as Cloud of Coalpepper I never in my life either heard or read, and this gentleman and I are old and intimate acquaintances. That cannot be the gentleman I want." "Come up stairs and look at him," said the lad; "and if he is not your man, you have nothing ado but to beg pardon, and come down again." I did so, and found my friend in the full insignia of his honourable office. He was, as I judged, extremely polite, only that he took the greater part of the conversation on himself, which proved a great ease for your awkward friend in his awkward predicament. To have heard him talk, you would have thought that I had been in his company for the greater part of a number of years. He never instanced a party in which I had not been; but then he never represented one of them as they were; the greatest part of the particulars he mentioned, I was certain, were purely imaginary, but yet I did not like to tell the gentleman to his face that he was lying. He mentioned the Right and Wrong Club with great sang froid-said he was only one night there, and had no inclination ever to go back again. I asked who was in the chair that night? "Confound me, if I recollect," said he. "But whoever it was, he was as often on the floor as in the chair. However, there was a great battle that night, so that you cannot have forgot it, unless you had one every night.' Cornel, I declare, I never saw any fighting at that famous club," said Í. "I think there was a sort of row one night between some M'Leods and M'Donalds, which gave the designation to the club, but there was nothing serious; merely a drunken rally." "What! have you forgot your rising to knock Norman M'Leod down? and how he tripped the feet from under you, so that you fell against a green screen, and down went you and screen together with a tremendous rattle? And don't you remember what you said when you arose, which set us all into such a roar of laughter, that, saving two at the farther end of the room, we all took to our seats again, and no one could ever tell that night again, what we quarrelled about ?" "I remember nothing about it at all ?" said I. This "But I do," said the Colonel; "you got up, and held your elbow, which seemed to have got some damage,'D-n the Hieland blude o' him,' says you, 'an it warna for his father's sake, I wad pit the life out o' him.' I may well remember the circumstances of that night's fray, for, being a stranger, I had meddled too rashly in the dispute, and had like to have paid very dearly for my temerity. won't do, thinks I; I must show the lads some play before I am overpowered in this way. I had, at one time, five of them floored at once, all lying as flat as flounders. And don't you remember of two that fought it out ?That was the best sport of all! After the general row, we had all taken our seats again, and sat I know not how long, when the president, whose name I think was Mr Gildas, or Gillies, or something of that sound, says in a queer quizzical voice, 'Gentlemen, I wish you would look in below the table, for I think always that there are some of the party missing.' The room being very large, there was a screen set round behind us, and, on a search commencing, it was discovered that there were two still fighting at the farther end of the room. I wonder when they began?' says you; for if they hae feughten very lang, it wad maybe be as gude to pairt them. I think,' says the president, ringing the bell, that we had as well ascertain that fact.-Pray, waiter, do you know when these two gentlemen began fighting About two hours ago, sir. That is very illustrious,' says the president. And have they fought all this while O no, sir; I don't think it. They were both sleeping when I was last up.'-'O, very well!' says the president. 'Bring two stoups more of bourdeaux,' party of fourteen that day, all engaged in the same sport," said he. "I would gladly have been of your party, but our own could do nothing without the assistance of my dogs. Without them, the sport would have been entirely blown up. I shot seven roebucks that day for my own part, and never once fired at a doe. But my dogs are so completely trained to the driving, that it would be an easy matter to root out the whole breed of roes in the kingdom with their assistance." "They were both on the floor at that time fighting like men in a dream, and neither of them could get above the other. We never regarded them in the smallest degree, but set to work again. We never noted when they joined the party; and when supper was set at one in the morning, not one amongst us knew who the two were that had fought all the night, and I suppose none ever knew to this day." This was certainly an amusing picture, and I believed it; not because it was so like truth, but because it was so unlike truth, that I thought I was sure no man could ever have contrived it. I was sure, meantime, that my distinguished entertainer was never at the club when I was present, else he had been there either as a waiter or an invisible being. He had the wit, however, of never suffering me to make any remarks on his narrations, for he always began a new subject with the same breath in which he ended the preceding one; and here he began with the query, "When I had seen our worthy friend, Mr M'Millan ?" "M'Millan, of Millburgh ?" said I. "Is he an acquaintance of yours?" "Yes; an intimate one, and a near neighbour," was the reply. "Do you not remember of his sending for me to a shooting-party in the Wood of Culloch-More, one day?" "I remember of being there a roeahooting two days," said I, "but knew not who the laird had sent for beaides." "My father, the Colonel, had a He then entered into a long detail of the marvellous feats he had performed on the moors, describing them with a great deal of animation, and I fairly set him down as a most wonderful and highly-gifted gentleman. He next described his various breeds of dogs, which were without end. He had three Russian pointers, and two Russian terriers, most valuable and interesting animals of their kind; but he had a handsome bitch, of a Transylvanian breed that surpassed everything. He never took less than 100 guineas for every one of her blind pups. I never had heard of such a beast in the world as that! He had far too high a value for her, that was the truth! for she had been the cause of much mischief to him. Owing to some disputes about her, he had been compelled to cowe one young nobleman on the moors, and challenge another, so that she had very nigh cost him his life; but he did not value her a bit the less of that, he rather valued her the more. sides these, the breeds he enumerated were prodigious, so that I rather got confused among them, never knowing which he talked of; till at last he was so good as give me all their names, every one of which was either German or classical. Be All this time I had never been able to recollect where I had seen this distinguished officer and sportsman ; and, in order if possible to effect this, Í asked bluntly, what regiments they were which he and his father commanded? He did not answer the question directly, but began a long explanatory story, the substance of which was as follows: That though he allowed his compa. nions to call him Colonel, he was not one in fact, having the title and emolument only in reversion. His father, the Colonel, held the lucrative office of Deputy-Adjutant-General, under the Emperor of Austria, which office he had secured for this his only son, long ago, the Colonel's hope and delight. That his father had reared him solely with the view of filling that important station; and though he had restricted him in none of his pleasures, he had kept him at hard work as a student, both in arts and arms. He said a great deal more to the same purpose, for he was very long and very minute on this interesting topic. At a late hour we parted, with mutual professions of esteem, and I had, before that, accepted of an invitation to the mansion-house of Coalpepper, close beside the celebrated village of that name. The Colonel and I were to leave Edinburgh together in the spring, make a tour of the middle High lands, and arrive at his father's house by a certain day-have fishing-parties, and pleasure-parties in the Empress, and I cannot tell you what all. From that day forth, I saw not the Colonel for three months, nor did I ever during that period, meet with a single individual who knew him either by name, title, or appointment. I applied to the Almanack, but found it vain to consult it for the staff-officers of the Emperor of Austria. Matters remained in statu quo. It approached toward the end of March, at length; and as I had engaged to be at Alloa on the 23d of April, and in Athol and Glen-Lyon early in May, I began to be impatient at not meeting again with my friend, the Colonel, for I intended introducing him to all my friends and correspondents in that tract, and show him that I had honourable, noble, and respectable friends as well as he. One day, about that period I had been walking with my friend Mr Forbes, the wine merchant, and as I knew he had a great number of the nobility and gentry on his books, I stopped him on the street, just as we were going to part, and asked him if he could give me the Edinburgh address of young Cloud of Coalpepper. Forbes fell a-laughing, until he had almost fallen down on the street, and, without giving me any explanation, left me standing there quite dumfoundered. As I was turning round to go away, what should pop out of Mr Laing's shop but the very image and likeness of the gentleman I was in quest of, but in such a dishabille habit, that I knew not what to think. He looked me full in the face, but did not see me, and away he went, carrying three books below his arm. "I'll see where this singular apparition goes," thought I; and accordingly I dogged him until he entered a lodging down two pair of stairs, in an elegant eastern street in Edinburgh. I followed close at his heels, and said to the girl that opened the door, that I wanted to speak with the gentleman who entered just now. Accordingly, I was shown into a darkish shabby apartment, and there was my friend, the Colonel, who had just set himself down amongst an immense number of papers and a few books. I could not help addressing him by his title, though still dubious as to the identity of my man. He received me with perfect ease and great kindness, and at once assumed his high ground and exalted character. He said his father the Colonel (and Deputy-Adjutant-General to the Emperor of Austria) had compelled him, as a test of his improvement, to write out essays in thirteen different languages, and that in order to finish these in time for our northern and western jaunt, he had been obliged to conceal himself in that most quiet of all retreats, and study almost night and day, but that he would now be ready to set out with me in the course of a fortnight. We had settled everything, before we parted, regarding our tour, but in place of sending for the Colonel's carriage, as had been previously intended, we resolved to proceed to Alloa in the steam-boat, take a chaise the length of your mansion, angle from that to Crief, and so on to Atholl, GlenLyon, and Glen-Orchay, and then turn to the southward on our way to Coalpepper Castle, where pleasures without number awaited us, and where we were to remain for a whole month. Accordingly we set out together on the 20th, attended the annual festival held at Alloa in commemoration of the anniversary of Shakespeare; spent eight or nine days with the kind and intelligent gentlemen of that place, and for several of these days the Colonel and I went a-fishing in the Devon on the forenoons. It was here that I experienced the first disappointment in my illustrious friend; and, trivial as it may appear in your eyes, it made me feel very queer. He had boasted fully as much of his angling as his shooting, and as I had determined not to be beat at that sport, on any consideration, I went from Edinburgh, fully provided with fishing apparatus; and lest the trouts of the Devon should despise the Edinburgh flies, I went to M'Isaac of Alloa, and picked all his. The Colonel had nothing-he had not so much as a fishing-rod, which I thought very shabby, but Mr Bald supplied him with everything, and away we set. When we went to begin, he could not so much as put on his flies, for his father the Colonel's servant, who always went with him, was so complete ly master of these things, that neither he, nor his father the Colonel, ever paid the least attention to them. This was very well. So accordingly he put on magnifying glasses, which he kept for the purpose of angling, that he might trepan the trouts the moment they were so imprudent as to snap at his fly, or even to toy with it. I never saw a gentleman go forth to the water side with such an important look; it was so knowing, and at the same time so confident and so profound, that I did not know whether to quake or laugh. "I shall be beat at the fishing for once, though I had a thousand guineas on it," thought I, with a sigh, as I followed this champion down the bank. But an experienced angler knows another the moment he first sees him throw the line. The mason word is a humbug; but the very first wave of a rod is sufficient between anglers. Colonel Cloud, younger of Coalpepper, and, in reversion, deputy adjutant-general to the Emperor of Austria, began that finest and healthiest of rural sports. Good and gracious! Madam! if you had seen how he began it! With what an air! What a look of might and majesty through the magnifying glasses! I never was so petrified in all the days of my life. I cannot describe to you the utter absurdity of his address in the art, as I am afraid you have never regarded it; but, in the first place, he fixed upon a smooth, shallow part of the river, where no fish in his right judgment would ever take a fly; and then he held the rod with both his hands; set out his lips, as also an immense protuberance behind, and thrashed on the smooth stream with such violence, as if he intended to strike the trouts on the head, in the majesty of his power. I was like to burst with laughter, and wist not what to do, yet still I contained myself. But at length a par rose at his fly, a small insignificant fish, not thicker than a lady's little finger-the Colonel perceived this through the magnifying glasses, (magnifiers they were with a vengeance,) and he pulled the line with such force, that his rod sounded through the atmosphere like a whirlwind. Yea, with such violence did he pull it, that his feet slid in a reverse direction, and he fell. "By the L-, I had on one a stone weight," cried he. “Nay, he was more. I'm sure he was more.' more This was altogether beyond my capacity of bearing any longer. I crept in beyond an alder bush, laid me down on my face, and laughed till I was weak. The tears ran from my eyes till the very grass was steeped; but it was in vain that I held my sides, and tried to refrain laughing. I had some fears I should never do more good. I waded across the river, and no durst I come near the Colonel that day, but I despised him in my heart. He lost in my good opinion that day more than he has ever since regained. He caught not one fish, either great or small. I filled my basket. I overtook him at the village of Cambus about two o'clock. Mr Alexander Bald had come up to meet us; the two were sitting on a rock conversing, when I came immediately opposite, and I heard him informing Mr Bald that he had not caught any, but that he had hooked one which was fully a stone weight. The whole scene again presented itself to my imagination in vivid and more vivid colours, my knees lost their power, and I had no shift but to turn about, lie down on the bank, and fall again into a convulsion of laughter. Mr Bald called again and again, what ailed me, but I was unable to make him any answer, and never knew till he had waded the river, and was lifting up my head. "What ails you ?" said he, 66 I think you have been crying?" "Yes," said I, "I suppose I was crying. The Colonel was a great favourite with the good folks of Alloa, for he was eminently intelligent, and well versed in both ancient and modern literature; argumentative, civil, and courteous. But at length we left them with regret, as I had often done be fore, and that night we arrived at your hospitable mansion. This was precisely the bearing of our acquaintance before we visited at your house; and you yourself acknowledged to me that you thought me lucky in my travelling companion. There is no dispute with regard to his capabilities and general intelligence, yet I know now that there had been something about him, of which, or with which you were not perfectly satisfied; and as I have learned a good deal more of him since that period, I shall, as in duty bound, proceed to communicate that knowledge very shortly to you. If you at all regarded the thing, you might remember, that before we took leave of you, everything was amicably arranged between my honoured friend and me regarding our tour; we were to fish up to Crief that day, and so on by Glen-Almond and Ambleree to Kinnaird. But before we had proceeded two miles, he informed me, with apparent regret, that he was compelled to abandon his northern tour, as he had received an express from his father the Colonel, ordering him home. I was greatly astounded at this, being perfectly convinced in my own mind that he had never received a letter since he left Edinburgh. He had no possible chance, save at Alloa, and on sounding him a little, I found he did not so much as know where the postoffice of that town was situated. It was vain, however, for me to expostulate, after he informed me that there were some foreign dispatches arrived at the castle of Coalpepper, which required both dispatch and decision; that his father required his immediate assistance; and the carriage was to meet him at Dunira that day. I was compelled to submit to the emergency, and we parted; but before doing so, he again exacted my solemn promise, that I was to spend a month with him at his father's mansion. I repeated such promise for the thirtieth time, and with a bow so profound that my bonnet, which I held in my left hand, touched the ground, I parted from my illustrious friend. I spent the month of May in StrathTay and Glen-Lyon, the month of June in Appin and Lorn, and though the weather was eminently ungenial, I never enjoyed any excursion with greater zest. Often in my heart did I pity Colonel Cloud, younger of Coalpepper, and ASSISTANT DEPUTY ADJUTANT-GENERAL to the EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA ! With a heavy heart I was at last obliged to turn my back on the romantic lands of Ossian and of Fingal ; and, descending on the populous valleys of the west, on the 9th of July I arrived at the environs of the far-famed village of Coalpepper; but instead of going straight to the house of the Austrian staff-officer, I went to Millburgh, Mr M'Millan being my oldest acquaintance. I had not been many hours in the house ere I began to ask for my friend the Colonel. No one of the family understood who I meant, and I found it impossible to explain myself. "It cannot be Mr Jacob Cloud whom Mr H. means?" said one of the young ladies. "The very same man," said M‘Millan, "and that will be some title given him in a banter among his associates at Edinburgh. Do you style Jacob the Colonel now ?" "Yes, I understand he gets that title for the most part," said I. But hearing them call him Mr Cloud, or simply Jacob, I recollected the honour and integrity of my friend, who had previously informed me that he was only a colonel, and adjutant-general in reversion; and, admiring his modesty about his own native place, I mentioned his name no more. But the next day Mr M'Millan says to me, "Were you not saying that Jacob Cloud was an acquaintance of yours?" I answered in the affirmative, when he added, "Very well, I will invite him to dinner to-day. I have always been wishing to have him here since he came home." The dinner party was very numerous, and among the last who came into the drawing-room was my friend the Colonel, with the very identical magnifying glasses across his nose that had exaggerated the par of the Devon to such on enormous bulk. I felt some very tickling sensations, but behaved myself middling well. He came up to me, shook hands with great frankness, and far more affability than I had any right to expect, welcoming me to that district, in which he hoped I should never be so great a stranger again, &c. &c. It so happened, that the Colonel |