much sprightliness and vivacity, and such an expression of benevolence in his manner, and such an unceasing flattery of those he liked (and he never kept company with anybody else)—the kind commendations of a lover, not the adulation of a sycophant-that he was truly irresistible, and his entry to a company was like opening a window and letting the sun into a dark room." Preaching admirable sermons, attending excellent dinners, delighting his parishioners with his social qualities, and gradually acquiring a reputation for ability which promised the highest eminence in his profession, the minister of Inveresk kept himself for some time out of the party discussions which began to disturb the Church. We will follow John Home's sensible advice, conveyed in rather roundabout heroics"Oh! rake not up the ashes of our fathers! Implacable resentment was their crime, And grievous has the expiation been." Commending the narrative of debates in Presbyteries and Assemblies, the assault by the "Highflyers" on the "Moderates," the opposition to the law of patronage, and the triumphant overthrow of all attempts to alter the settled order of things, to those who are curious about the small beginnings from which great results arise, it suffices for us to point out the various classes to whom his volume will have a peculiar interest. Established Kirk and Free are equally represented. But the view we take of it at present limits us to its extraordinary merit as a collection of personal anecdotes. The leader, for instance, of the party which, we suppose, would not have disdained the name of Evangelical, was Dr Webster, a man well known for his ability, and also as the founder of the Widows' Fund; of his exertions against the Moderates, of whom Robertson, the historian, and Carlyle, were the chief champions, we need not speak. The prize will be adjudged according as the reader leans to the support of a national church subordinate to the law, or a dissenting body endeavouring to dominate, or, at all events, to ignore the civil courts; but both parties, at the time of the bitterest feud, acknowledged Dr Webster's matchless qualification for the guidance of an ecclesiastical party, in the one point, that he was a five-bottle man, preserving to the last bumper the most sanctimonious respectability of look and manner, and able to lay his companions under the table without the slightest effort. "This had brought on him," says Carlyle, "the nickname of Dr Bonum Magnum, but, never being indecently the worse of liquor, and a love of claret to any degree not being reckoned in those days a sin in Scotland, all his excesses were pardoned." In another place, he incidently alludes to the same subject, when a fitting opponent was found to the reverend sandbank of the Highflyers:-"Dr Patrick Cuming," he says, was at this time at the head of the Moderate interest, and, had his temper been equal to his talents, might have kept it long; for he had both learning and sagacity and very agreeable conversation, with a constitution able to bear the conviviality of the times." We have heard of constitutions being strong enough to stand any climate, or any amount of fatigue; but the "conviviality" of 1753 must have been more trying to health than a journey to the deserts of Africa, or a residence in the Campagna of Rome. With what hopeless emulation the younger generation must have accompanied either leader, perhaps as far as his second bottle, must be left to our imagination, while the triumphant "Doctor of tremendous paunch, Awful and deep, a vast abyss of drink, Outlives them all; and from his buried flock Retiring, full of rumination sad, Laments the weakness of these latter times." One incident, however, though intimately connected with Church politics, with which we profess not to interfere, we must dwell on for a little, as presenting us with some strange information on a point of literary history. John Home, the pleasant and popular minister of Athelstaneford, after various attempts at the drama, which remained in the privacy of his desk, at last produced the tragedy of Douglas. It is difficult for us to enter into the raptures expressed by the chief men of letters of the time, of the merits of this work. They were all imbued, to be sure, with a taste for the declamatory style of Racine and Corneille, and had not quite recovered from the assaults directed by the classicists against the savage of Stratford-on-Avon; but friendship for his companion and namesake probably entered into David Hume's criticism when he proclaimed it "a perfect play." When other learned personages pronounced the same decision, the minister of Athelstaneford announced his intention of carrying it in person to London and offering it to Garrick. As a bridegroom is escorted home from church, as a young heir is surrounded by his friends on taking possession of his estates, as a king is guarded by princes and nobles on entering his capital after a triumphant campaign, blithe Johnnie crosses the border, attended by an admiring body-guard of the ministers of the Merse and other parts of the country. Nine or ten parsons, booted and spurred, trotting on their Galloways, to keep the immortal drama and its well-beloved author from harm, must have excited no little curiosity in the villages they passed through. Saddle-bags were scarce, for the journey was to be short, and shaving or night shirts were not indispensable to the retinue; but great was their consternation when they found that the object of their solicitude had no saddle-bags himself, though bound for the great city, and that the invaluable manuscript was exposed to all the chances and perils of a place in his greatcoat pocket! A foray was made on a neighbouring manse, to procure a safer conveyance for the literary Koh-i-noor, and the pilgrims continued their course to Woolerhaughhead. Jolly the supper must have been, and uproarious the fun, in spite of the inferior quality of the inn, for Carlyle and Home, who slept in the same room, were disturbed in the middle of the night by a dreadful noise in the next apartment, and found it arose from a quarrel between a certain Mr Lawrie and another Merse man, the sharer of his couch, whom after a noisy and vehement struggle he had succeeded in kicking out of bed. The rest of the journey after the departure of the Berwickshire cavalcade was finished without accident, and John Home presented his tragedy to David Garrick. David was unconvinced by the testimonials of the northern lights, and declined to bring it out. The author returned without any demonstration on the part of his admiring friends, and made himself as charming and fascinating as ever. But Caledonia, stern and wild, would not allow her poetic progeny to be so despised. If London has not the taste to perceive the beauty of Lady Randolph, there is not a cady in Edinburgh who will not see the excellence of every line. So national pride coming into the question, the Theatre Royal was secured, the actors were instructed in their parts by the wits and philosophers, and applauded when the curtain drew up by the beauty and fashion, and John Home was the Scottish Shakespeare. That a Shakespeare should arise in the Canongate, and not be supported by the best educated and most literary body in the country, was not to be thought of; and on the third night, to witness the pecuniary reward of their friend as well as the reality of his triumph, Carlyle and others of the cloth made their appearance in the house. No actual law of the Church was contravened by this proceeding. It was known that the rural clergy, in their visits to the metropolis, did not deny themselves the gratification of seeing the excellent acting of Digges and his company, and no notice was taken of their dramatic taste. But when the noble countenance and commanding figure of the eloquent and unsparing eloquent and unsparing "opponent,' as he was called, "of fanaticism," the friend of David Hume, and patroniser of dancing and penny whist, was seen in the stage-box, the Highflyers were frightened from their propriety, and accused him before the Presbytery of the high crime and misdemeanour of having entered into friendly conversation, and even having had social meetings, with actors and actresses, "persons who by their profession, and in the eye of the law, are of bad fame, and cannot obtain from any minister a testimonial of their moral character." He defended his cause with great success, though Dr Webster, who was furious against all breaches of decorum except those of the table, took the lead against him, and decoyed the former leader of the Moderates, Dr Patrick Cuming, to his side. The number of bottles those two champions of orthodoxy and Bacchus must have consumed over their reconciliation, would have puzzled the late Joseph Hume; but the final result was, that Carlyle was triumphant in the General Assembly by an immense majority; that John Home, the fount and origin of the evil, resigned his living without a word of rebuke; and the clergy for a while were permitted to frequent the theatre. 66 Whether a continuance of that permission might not have had a favourable influence on the stage, and preserved us from the coarseness and buffoonery which, there is no denying, at one time characterised the pieces produced, we cannot tell. But we cannot help thinking that the wrong method has been pursued in banishing theatrical amusements altogether, instead of raising their tone, by elevating the moral feeling of the audience. If Dean Milman and the Bishop of London presented the spectacle of genius and religion witnessing the mode in which their countrymen spent their hours of relaxation, the lowest occupant of the gallery would hiss the slightest approach to impropriety in language or position in so purifying and exalting a presence. It is remarkable," says Carlyle, in commenting on this incident, "that in the year 1784, when the great actress, Mrs Siddons, first appeared in Edinburgh during the sitting of the General Assembly, that court was forced to fix all its important business for the alternate days when she did not act, as all the younger members, clergy as well as laity, took their stations in the theatre on those days by three in the afternoon." Robertson and Blair, however, held aloof from this open demonstration of their liberal feelings on the question, and limited their patronage of the players to the cultivation of the great actress's friendship in private. A mean compromise, exclaims the pugnacious Moderate, "for they got no credit for their abstinence, and the struggle between the liberal and the restrained and affected manners of the clergy had been long at an end, by my having finally stood my ground, and been so well supported by so great a majority in the Church." The success of Douglas in Edinburgh, led to its production in London, where, although Garrick maintained his original opinion that it was not fit for the stage, it was received with unanimous applause. Theatrical applause in those days was generally the herald of more substantial things. On this occasion, Lord Bute, the governor of the Prince of Wales, and afterwards the ruler of the nation, became attached to the captivating author with the warmth of personal friendship; procured a pension for him, and was for many years guided by his advice. The secret influence behind the throne which occasioned so much parliamentary eloquence and public indignation would have been found, if inquiry had been made beyond the ostensible favourite and statesman, in the person of a displaced Scotch minister, the kindest hearted, merriest mannered of his tribe, who never missed an opportunity of benefiting a friend, and never availed himself of an opportunity to advance or enrich himself. A journey to the great metropolis in 1758, united Carlyle to his old companion; and as Robertson was also besieging Paternoster Row with the first volumes of his History of Scotland, "three blither lads were not to be found in Christendie." Little information is given us of public affairs at this time; and, indeed, the worthy trio had little leisure for such small concerns as the war with France and the glorious administration of Chatham. A club was formed for social intercourse, and, after the manner of our countrymen, it was almost limited to "our noble selves." The list of members is strictly Caledonian; "there were J. Home and Robertson and Wedderburn and Jack Dalrymple and Bob Adam, Adam Ferguson and myself." With such a set, perhaps, no foreign admixture was required; and in spite of Carlyle's complacent statement with regard to his correct English pronunciation, there might be another reason for confining the conversation to men who were to the language born; for we are presented with a somewhat suspicious anecdote of Dr Congalton, at this time one of the set, and medical attendant on Sir David Kinloch. "I said to him one day, 'Charlie, how do you like the English, now that you have seen them twice, for two or three months?''I cannot answer your question,' replied he, for I am not acquainted with any of them.'-'What! not acquainted?' said I.-'Yes,' says he, I have seen half-a-dozen of them calling on Sir David, but I never enter into conversation with the John Bulls, for to tell you the truth, I don't yet well understand what they say.' The story thus related loses half its humour, from the correct English in which Charlie's disclaimer is conveyed. If the Cottagers of Glenburnie had at that time been published-the first novel which ventured on the native Doric-Carlyle would have seen the necessity of putting Charlie's confession into the very broadest of Scotch. Dr Congalton, however, we hope, repaid himself for his involuntary silence among the John Bulls, by the most ferocious prolixity among his associates at their weekly meetings at the British Coffeehouse. Properly it was a physicians' club, and Home, Robertson, and Carlyle were only honorary members. But the catalogue of practitioners, all determined by pill and bolus to revenge the slaughter of their countrymen at Flodden, present us with very distinguished names, all redolent of claret and heather: Pitcairn, Armstrong, Orme, and Dickson, William Hunter, Clephan, and Graham of Pall Mall. Hunter-great himself, and only equalled by his brother John had a standing toast to which the club did honour, "May no English nobleman venture out of the world without a Scottish physician, as I am sure there are none who venture in !" But clubs supplied society for only two nights in the week, and what was to be done with the other five? Glimpses are given us of the higher stage on which dukes and ministers were strutting their hour, but the real stage of Drury Lane had more charms for the emancipated ministers and the dramatic poet. cultivated mind, had great vivacity and quickness, and was very entertaining company. Though vanity was his prominent feature, and a troublesome and watchful jealousy the constant visible guard of his reputation to a ridiculous degree, yet his desire to oblige, his want of arrogance, and the delicacy of his mimicry, made him very agreeable. He had no affected reserve, but, on the least hint, would start up at any time and give the company one of his best speeches. As Garrick had been in Dublin when I was in London in 1746, I assiduously attended him at this time, and saw him in all his principal parts, both in tragedy and comedy. He used to say himself, that he was more at home in comedy than in tragedy, and I was of his opinion. I thought I could conceive something more perfect in tragedy, but in comedy he completely filled up my ideas of perfection. There may be a deception in this, for every well-educated person has formed to himself some idea of the characters, both in ancient and modern tragedy, and if the actor falls short of that, he is thought to be deficient in judgment: whereas comedy being an imitation of living manners, as they rise in succession among inferior orders of men, the spectator can have formed no rule or standard of judgment previous to the representation, but must accept of the picture the actor gives him, and must approve of it, if it is lively, though it should not be true. "Garrick was so friendly to John Home that he gave a dinner to his friends and companions at his house at Hampton, which he did but seldom. He had told us to bring golf clubs and balls Molesly Hurst. We accordingly set out that we might play at that game on in good time, six of us in a landau. As stream regiment were changing guard, we passed through Kensington, the Coldand, on seeing our clubs, they gave us three cheers in honour of a diversion peculiar to Scotland; so much does the remembrance of one's native country dilate the heart, when one has been some time absent. The same sentiment made us open our purses, and give our Land of Cakes.' countrymen wherewithal to drink the Garrick met us by the way, so impatient he seemed to be for his company. There were John Home, and Robertson, and Wedderburn, and Robert and James Adam, and Colonel David Wedderburn, who was killed when commander of the army in Bombay, in the year [1773]. He was held by his companions to be in every respect as clever and able a man as his elder brother the Chancellor, with a much more gay, popular, and social temper. "Immediately after we arrived, we crossed the river to the golfing-ground, which was very good. None of the company could play but John Home and myself, and Parson Black from Aberdeen, who being chaplain to a regiment during some of the Duke of Cumberland's campaigns, had been pointed out to his royal highness as a proper person to teach him the game of chess: the duke was such an apt scholar that he never lost a game after the first day; and he recompensed Black for having beat him so cruelly, by procuring for him the living of Hampton, which is a good one. We returned and dined sumptuously, Mrs Garrick, the only lady, now grown fat, though still very lively, being still very lively, being a woman of uncommon good sense, and now mistress of English, was in all respects most agreeable company." "Garrick had built a handsome temple, with a statue of Shakespeare in it, in his lower garden, on the banks of the Thames, which was separated from the upper one by a high-road, under which there was an archway which united the two gardens. Garrick, in compliment to Home, had ordered the wine to be carried to this temple, where we were to drink it under the shade of the copy of that statue to which Home had ad dressed his pathetic verses on the rejection of his play. The poet and the actor were equally gay and well pleased with each other on this occasion, with much respect on the one hand, and a total oblivion of animosity on the other; for vanity is a passion that is easy to be entreated, and unites freely with all the best affections. Having observed a green mount in the garden, opposite the archway I said to our landlord, that while the servants were preparing the collation in the temple, I would surprise him with a stroke at the golf, as I should drive a ball through his archway into the Thames once in three strokes. I had measured the distance with my eye in walking about the garden, and accordingly, at the second stroke, made the ball alight in the mouth of the gateway, and roll down the green slope into the river. This was so dexterous that he was quite surprised, and begged the club of me by which such a feat had been performed. We passed a very agreeable afternoon; and it is hard to say which were happier, the landlord and landlady, or the guests." At this time the Scotch clergy were alarmed with a threat that the window-tax was to be extended to their manses, and Carlyle exercised his influence and habits of business in warding off the fatal blow. Greater prominence is given to this question than its importance deserves; but it shows how completely the author adopted the professional feelings of that presbyteries and synods should the cloth, and how natural it was soften in their estimate of a frequenter of plays and visitor of Garrick, when they saw the efforts he made on their behalf. It was not merely with a view to his own importance that he rode in Hyde Park with Lord Bute, and supped with the Duke of Argyll. Romance-writers have regretted, of the present day, where, unless you with great justice, the easy travelling are favoured with a collision of trains, there is no adventure possible. Smollet, who became one of the chosen brothers during this visit to London, could never have got through his three volumes without strange incidents on the road, and at the inns where the waggon put up; and Carlyle is indebted to the same unfailing sources for scenes equal to those in Roderick Random. But these we must pass over, leaving the reader to imagine the variety of queer incident and acute remark which relieved the fatigue of a ride of four hundred miles, performed between London and their homes by Carlyle and Robertson, Adam the architect, and Home. Oxford, Blenheim, Warand Birmingham, we are sorry to say, wick, are described with great vigour; roused no admiration in the soul of the author of Douglas, who remarked, after being dragged through an enormous manufactory, "that it seemed there as if God had created man only for making buttons." When they finally crossed the border, they took their different ways, having laid in a stock of presents and trinkets; "Robertson," he says, "for his wife and children at Gladsmuir, and Home and I for the children at Polwarth manse." And thereby hangs a tale. For one of these children was Mary Roddam, who, in two years after this, became his wife. A wise and beautiful creature of eighteen accepted the hand of the mature and now celebrated man of thirty-eight, and the view of his domestic happiness is delightful. Sarah, the elder sister, he tells us, was brought up in a higher sphere than her junior, being |