drift." "You have been so," said I, "to very little purpose. Your hirsel is on the wrong side of the hill." He ordered some ham, and bread and butter; but it came through such hands that I could not eat. Over our glass of whisky we had a long conversation. I strongly recommended him to give up his farm, and come into Edinburgh, and attend to the publication of the "Mountain Bard," which he said agreed with his own opinion, for that he had in contemplation a long poem about Queen Mary. As Mr. Scott had warned me to keep a sharp look-out, particularly if his farming was doing any good, on giving him this account, he entirely agreed with the advice which I had given, and said that he would write him to that purpose. "Or why should he not engage again as a shepherd ?"— "That," said I, "is now impossible. One who neglected his own flocks is not likely to manage well those of another, unless you can get him appointed one of the king's shepherds in Hyde Park or Windsor Forest. It would be a glorious sight to see him with his checkered plaid round his shoulders, and his dog, Lion, lounging behind him! On his first appointment I should like to have the keeping of the Park gates for one week, at a shilling a head; it would be worth ten thousand pounds. One half of London would be out to see him. One day of it would make Hogg's fortune." fearful picture of savage cruelty. Young Benjie I have heard sung, or rather chanted, by the late Dr. John Leyden, with whom it was a great favorite. The air is beautiful and wild, and will be found in Alexander Campbell's "Albyn's Anthology." The ballad was given by Leyden to Mr. Scott, and may have received some dressing up. Mr. Leyden's style of singing Young Benjie was particularly wild. The tune is not a little obliged to Allaster Dhu, (Mr. Campbell,) whose taste for the old ballad music was exquisitely delicate. I likewise found a different edition of Johnie of Braidislee: Old. • Johnie sat his back against a aik, He shot seven arrows all at once, He broke three ribs frae that ane's back, Then fingers five came on belyre, O, true heart, fail me not! And, gallant bow, do thou prove true, And the silken strings that stenten thee, On my return to Edinburgh, and showing my sketches and scraps, Mr. Scott wished much that I would return and explore every cottage and corner of Upper Clydesdale'; "where," said he, "I suspect there is much valuable wreck still floating down the stream of Time." This expedition never took place; as f was engaged to go, early in the spring, to Soon after this Mr. Hogg came into Ed-meet Mr. Telford in North Wales, and eninburgh, and was at first received into the gaged in a survey of the Holyhead, Chester, house of his friend Mr. Grieve, where I often and London roads. met him, as well as at the house of Mr. Scott. In the Upper Ward of Clydesdal I efell in with some old editions of some of those ballads given in the Minstrelsy of the Scot. tish Border, and obtained two additional verses to the Twa Corbies. My mither cleket me of an egg, On mentioning the Holyhead expedition to Mr. Scott, he gave me several letters of introduction. "Draw every old castle and glen that comes in your way. Keep a regular Journal, which, if you bring it up every night, will be, so far from any trouble, rather an amusement. Wales is particularly rich in castles; but the old towers of the Welsh, prior to the ravages of Edward, are by far the most interesting, and have been much neglected. The Welsh have famous memories, hate the English, and are partial to the Scots. There are no parts of Wales, I suppose, where the Eng literal the better." I also got another edition of Younglish language is not understood. You may, Benjie; and the pool was pointed out to therefore, have translations; and the more me where the Lady Marjorie was drowned; her struggles to gain the bank are described but the relentless Benjie 'Took a fouw and fouwed her in, With respect to understanding English, Mr. Scott had been misinformed. I found many places where the Welsh language only was spoken and understood. Among the Welsh superstitions is the Fouw is pitchfork, and the image gives a Mort Bird, or Bird of Death, which appears spot. The public road from Melrose to Selkirk passes within fifty yards of the front of his house, and is on a level with the chimney tops. I have read somewhere, by some dashing Syntax, the following description of Abbotsford : "Beyond the gates you had an extensive park, laid out on the best and boldest principles of landscape gardening, as applicable to forest scenery!" The gates are very simple affairs; and the park, a field of eight English acres, rising up the shoulder of a steep brae, with the public road passing be twixt it and the mansion-house. Before mitted any mistake, you will have an oppornew plan; the stones are numbered as you take them down; and if you have com When at Bangor Ferry, I received from Mr. Scott "The Lady of the Lake." This book I regret much having lost. I lent it to a lady, who refused to return it. "You may building his garden walls, and constructa lady, who refused to return it. "You may ing a very expensive screen, as it is called, spare, ," said she, "yourself the furthering trouble of asking it; give it to me, thereI seriously recommended that he would lift fore, with a good grace, and write your uation, and, being built of hewn stone, the or remove the whole to a more eligible sitown name under your friend's, Mr. Scott: and I will keep it for both your sakes, affair could be easily done; and cited, for besides making you a handsome present." example, the House of Glasserton, in GalloOn mentioning this to Mr. Scott," Iway, which was removed, stone by stone, - wonder," said he, "you hesitated one mo- and it was of treble the magnitude of Abfrom a distance of, at least, fifteen miles, ment to give the lady the book. I will re-botsford. "You require no architect, or place it. Pray, what was the present she Bible, in two volumes, accompanied by a made you?" "It was," said I, "a handsome letter of good advice, with a request that I never would sketch views on the Sabbath-tunity of correcting it in the new erection." day, and to make her a solemn promise to "I wish," said he," that it stood on Castlesteads, or Turnagain; but it has cost me so much to place it where it now stands, "Well; and did you promise?"—" No. I answered her with a story of Sir Joshua Drumlanrig, who built that castle, expectthat I feel something like a duke or lord of Reynolds and Dr. Johnson. When the lat-ing, it is said, to marry Queen Ann; and, ter was on his death-bed, he sent for Rey- when disappointed in that plan of ambition, nolds, and desired him to promise three things: First, you are not to ask me to the expense of the building, pronouncing a up, in an iron box, the accounts of repay the thirty pounds that I borrowed of curse on the head of any of his descendyou long ago; second, you are to read a ants who should uncover the nakedness of portion of your Bible every Sabbath-day; and third, never use your pencil on Sunday." To the first two Sir Joshua readily that effect." The consented, but bolted at the third. Alas! she has been several years dead. I would give any thing for the book; and have some thoughts of making a pilgrimage into Wales to endeavor to recover it. I was often at a loss to reconcile Sir Walter Scott's descriptions of scenery, which were excellent, to his practical taste, which was not always in good keeping; for, after all, Abbotsford is a strange jumble. If he had searched all over his property, he could not have built on a less interesting * The Bible was accompanied with other things two very handsome shirts, six neckcloths, and three pairs of Welsh stockings, wrought by her own fair hand. locked their father." estate of Abbotsford, Sir Walter was much While I was engaged in surveying the with me in the fields. He used to come, leaning on his favorite, Tam Purdy, and tell me tales connected with the spot Imight be surveying. field below is Castlesteads, where, between "This" said he, "is Turnagain; and the the Scotts and Kerrs, a battle was fought in 1526. Buccleuch fled, pursued by the Kerrs, when one of Scott's men, an Elliot, turned again, and killed Kerr of Cessford, which was the cause of a bloody feud between the families for many a day." by eight oxen, loaded with an obelisk from One day a large wagon arrived, drawn Forfarshire, or some of the distant eastern counties, covered with Danish or Norwegian hieroglyphics, animals, and so forth h; and was erected, with great ceremony, on the rising ground above Turnagain. was written in a style to meet the acquireHaving, no doubt, been erected to commem- ments of the country people. It was disorate some battle field, it was of little value tributed in the villages around, Galashiels, out of its original place. My opinion being Selkirk, Darnick, Melrose; and a large asked, I said that it had better be taken parcel was despatched to Jedburgh, Kelso, home again; for such monuments having &c. A Conservative acquaintance of mine been raised to commemorate some victory boasted that not a single copy of the Edinover the Scotch, were rather a disgrace to burgh Review, or Scotsman was received on the country. Sir Walter pointed out to the banks of the Jed. Mr. Harper, a great me, with considerable triumph, the door of favorite with Sir Walter, and a very large, the Heart of Mid-Lothian-that is, the old powerful man, was fixed on to distribute, prison-door of Edinburgh-which he had read, and explain the Visionary to his neighprocured, and erected as the gateway from bors. I asked Harper what success he had, his mansion-house to the offices. I ob- and what he himself thought of the pamserved that its grim aspect gave me a disa- phlet. "O! man," said he, "it's waesome greeable feeling, to think how many human to see so good a man in other respects, in beings had passed through it, never to return such a state of bewilderment." but to the scaffold and death. How many Sir Walter presented me with some of our noble martyrs and patriots!"Yes," copies, and said, "They may be useful to said he; “but many a traitor has passed some of your Galloway friends." After also to receive his doom!"-"Yes," said having perused a copy, I returned the I; your friend Montrose passed through parcel and said, that it was my business to it."" Noble martyr!" said Sir Walter, prevent such principles being circulated in with great emotion. "As he passed to my native country. "Why," said he, “I prison, up the Canongate,-placed back- have been endeavoring to prevent the ras wards, with his face to the horse's tail, the cals from pulling down the old house about hurdle drawn by an old white horse, and their ears; and some of my best friends driven by the common hangman,- -on pass- will render me no assistance." ing the Chancellor's house, his head uncovered, the ladies, the Chancellor's wife and daughters, leaned over the balcony, and spat on his sacred head-the b――s !" AFRICAN DISCOVERY.-We have the satisfaction to announce the arrival in England of Captain Becroft, a gentleman well known for his recent exploWe entertained very different sentiments rations in the Delta of the Niger, and by whom part respecting the character of Montrose. of the late Niger expedition-H. M. steamer, AlAbbotsford is intersected by foot-paths bertt-was so courageously saved, at the time when in every direction; and he was particularly all the officers and crew of that ship, with the exanxious that none of these paths should be Stange), were wholly unfitted for duty by fever, ception of two individuals (Drs. MacWilliam and interfered with, although the road commis- and were in extreme danger of perishing on the sioners offered to close some of the least sand-banks in the lower course of the Niger. Capimportant up. "Remove not the ancient tain Becroft, in the Ethiope steamer, nobly came to their rescue, and towed them to Fernando Po; for landmarks," he would say. The conse- which service her Majesty's Government awarded quence was, that he never received any in-him £100. Captain Becroft but recently sailed jury in the way of trespass; and the people declined of themselves to walk on many of these paths, restricting themselves to those that were least offensive; such was the effect of his forbearance. "If I was to stop up any of these footpaths, which I might be able to do as unnecessary, the people, if they took it in their heads, would walk over them in spite of both the law and myself so far, then, my indulgence is good policy." His attention to the lower orders of the country people but ill accorded with his high aristocratical visions; and his political principles were as ill digested. He wrote and distributed the Visionary, a poor ridiculous pamphlet, which he said from Fernando Po for the Old Calabar river, on the opposite African coast, previously unknown, excepting embouchures. Having entered that magnificent river, he steamed up a distance of 400 miles, meeting everywhere with an intelligent and industrious race of Negroes, who received and treated him hospitably. At length he reached a rapid in the river, where, although there was plenty of with the strength of the current. Captain Becroft water, he had not steam power sufficient to contend returned to Fernando Po; and we are gratified to add that he has been appointed Governor of that island by the Spanish Government, and at the same time they have given him the rank of Lieutenant in the Spanish navy. From Captain Becroft's known hardihood and activity-and from what he has already accomplished for geographical science is an earnest for the future-we have little doubt of his adding greatly to our knowledge of that part of the west coast of Arica, to which he will shortly proceed, and will venture to predict that his explora During the heat of the Reform Bill agitation.- tions will have the most beneficial results as regards E. T. M. the slave-trade of that part of Africa.-Colon. Gaz. MISCELLANY. SPAIN. The appointment of General Mazaredo, the Military Governor of Madrid, to the post of Political Chief, was a concession made by the Ministry to General Narvaez, to save the capital from being declared in a state of siege. The liberty of the inhabitants was thereby entirely placed at the mercy of the latter. Senor Caballero, the Home Minister, leaves Madrid for Saragossa. There remains in the Cabinet but one hapless Liberal, Senor Ayllon, the only representative of this parliamentary party, which Senor Olozaga led against the Regent's Government. Senor Olozaga himself has escaped to Paris. Senor Caballero is now off to Saragossa, or some village near it, and both Queen and Government are left in the uncontrolled hands of the men who made the ruffianly attack on the Palace of Madrid some time back. made no objection to sign it, as it was not exclu- GENERAL BOYER.-General Boyer, ex-President of the republic of Hayti, arrived in Paris on SaturThe following was received late on Tuesday by day, with his family and suite, and took up his temthe French Government:-" Madrid, October 1-porary residence at the Hotel Victoria, in the Rue The deputies elected at Madrid are Cortina, Mar- Chauveau la Garde. The general's mother, an intinez de la Rosa, Gonzalez Bravo, Montalva, Canteresting personage, more than 80 years of age, and tero, Morena, and Arraliet, all Moderados or Gov- his nephew, accompany him; his wife, as has been already announced, died about six weeks ago. The ex-president appears to be in deep affliction at this loss, but bears his political reverses with great fortitude. The Minister of Finances, and M. Odilon Barrot, had interviews on Monday with General Boyer, at his hotel.-Colon. Gaz. ernment men." Madrid letters of the 27th mention that the examination of the votes on the election for Madrid took place on that day, under the presidency of Mazaredo. As this officer fills the situation of political chief, he of course presided over the elections; and in the operation of examining the votes the tellers set aside any number of votes contrary to their opinions. The Liberals have protested, beforehand, against the validity of the Madrid elections. The French Government had received the following telegraphic despatches:-" Bayonne, October 3-The elections of the provinces hitherto known are favorable to the parliamentary party." "Perpignan, October 4.-Prim entered Figueras yesterday with 5,000 infantry, 300 cavalry, and six pieces of artillery. He was there received with enthusiasm by the inhabitants." Great hopes are entertained of Saragossa submitting. Should it not do so, fears are entertained that some of the military will pronounce. At Vittoria and at Seville, too, there have been attempts at revolt. Barcelona papers of the 26th ult. announce that the patriot Pablo Por was advancing to the assistance of that city with four pieces of artillery. The division of Ametler was at Arengs de Mar, and was to have marched to Mataro with reinforcements sent by the junta of Girona. It consisted of about 6,000 men. The junta had discovered a conspiracy, having for its object to deliver the city into the hands of the troops. MANIFESTO OF BELGIAN BISHOPS.-The bishops of Belgium have issued a manifesto against the swarm of books of bad moral tendency daily reprinted (chiefly from the French) by the Belgian press. The extraordinary cheapness of these works has given them a wide circulation, and the evil seems to be rapidly spreading. The bishops also call upon the clergy of the country to form libraries for free circulation among the people. One library, which has been already formed, by donations exclusively, in Brussels, for this purpose, is said to have lent during the past year upwards of 30,000 volumes.-Athenæum. THE SCULPTOR SCHWANTHALER.-The sculptor Schwanthaler is now occupied on two statues, of the size of life, of Huss and Ziska. They are to be cast in bronze, and deposited in a Bohemian Walhalla, which is to contain statues of famous Bohemians, and is being formed by a private gentleman at Lobich near Prague.—Ibid. PRISON DISCIPLINE-A new scale of dietaries has this week been received at our county gaol, from the Secretary of State. The present dietaries are By accounts from Madrid it appears that some more nourishing than those previously in use; and extraordinary precautions, adopted by the authorian important change has been made in those for ties on the 25th, were observed on the preceding prisoners sentenced to long periods of imprisonment. evening. Several pieces of artillery had been Under the old system a prisoner sentenced to a term brought into the capital. The military authorities, of 18 months or two years, for instance, was treated whenever any disturbance should occur, were not from the commencement similarly to prisoners who to wait for the political chief to claim their assist- were only sentenced for short periods. It has been ance, but to repress the attempts themselves without delay. The troops are directed "to fight to the found, however, that the strength declines as the last extremity." Narvaez has been confined to his period of incarceration proceeds; and it will be seen from the details of class 5, that convicted prisbed by indisposition. He, who is resolved to place oners employed at hard labor for terms exceeding himself on the ex-Regent's pedestal, is to be crea-three months, will in future be placed on a better ted Duke de la Concord.-Examiner. allowance than others. This change is most just and judicious.-Gloucester Chronicle. GREECE.-Letters from Athens, of the 19th ult., state that the revolutionary movement was developing itself with perfect order and regularity. The royal decree excluding foreigners from public offices had given universal satisfaction. The King ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.-Considerable sensation has been created throughout Poland and at the Court of St. Petersburgh, by the attempt of a body of armed con SCIENCE AND ARTS. MOSAIC ROOMS AT DIEPPE. - We hear from Dieppe that the excavations at St. Marguerite, under the direction of M. Feret, the librarian, have brought to light six rooms in mosaic, and some skeletons of Saxon warriors, near which were found pieces of armor, coins, and fragments of vases. A complete Roman villa, in fact, has been laid bare. The size of the skeletons is small, and it is conjectured that they were young men of from 16 to 18 years of age.-Court Journal. spirators supposed to be Poles to assassinate In opposition to the above intelligence, the Frankfort Journal denies positively that the Emperor had been fired at, and states, as the origin of the alleged occurrence, that a footman, seated behind a carriage, conveying a part of the Emperor's suite, drew a musket from under his cloak and fired it in an obscure street in Posen. Now this story is in itself extremely improbable, (although our contemporaries choose to accept it as true;) and, moreover, it is the custom to endeavor to mystify the public upon all matters connected with Russia and her ruler. The Augsburgh Gazette follows up its original statement by additional particulars which induce a belief that, however much it may suit the policy of certain parties to deny the existence of a conspiracy against the life of the Emperor, such an attempt was made, although, owing to the extreme darkness, it was found impossible to seize any of the offenders. We therefore preserve our credence in the previous statement, that the shot was fired at, and not from, the Emperor's carriage.-Court Journal. COPPER IN THE HUMAN BODY.-This subject is again canvassed, and M. Rossignon insists that in the organized tissues both in man and animals it exists. He grounds his assertion on recent experi STATISTICS OF EUROPE.-At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, M. Moreau de Jounes presented some new statistical researches as to the population of Europe. According to his calculation, the entire population amounted in 1788 to 144 millions, and in 1838 to 153 millions, which shows an increase of about 75 per cent. in a period of fifty years. The countries in which this augmentation has been the most rapid are, we believe, Great Britain and Ireland, (particularly the latter,) and Prussia and Austria. The increase of the population in France is by no means in the same ratio.—Ib. FLYING MACHINE.-The ill-success of the inventor of the flying machine in England has not discouraged similar attempts elsewhere. A letter from Nuremberg, in the Journal de Francfort, informs us that M. Leinberger, of that place, has recently been exhibiting a model of a flying steam machine, or balloon, which has excited so much interest, that he is now constructing one 12 feet long, and 4 feet in diameter, with which he hopes to be able to perform experiments which will prove the practicability of the invention.-Ib. ALGIERS.-The Moniteur Algérien announces the discovery at Orleanville, in preparing the foundaA VOLCANO. According to letters from Ancona, tions for some new buildings, of the ruins of an old a volcano appeared last month in the rocky island Christian church. On the porch of the edifice was of Melada, situated in the Adriatic, near Ragusa. found an inscription in Latin, of which the follow. On the night of the 14th the crew of a Roman vesing is a translation: "Here reposes our father Re-sel saw lava issue from the centre of the island, and paratus, Bishop, of sacred memory, who for eight years and eleven months performed the sacerdotal functions, and who has passed before us in peace, the 11th day of the calends of August, in the 436th year of the birth of Jesus Christ.-Athenæum. flow over an extent of half a mile. The night after seven distinct craters were seen to send forth darkish inflamed matters.-Athenæum. RICH LEGACY.-The town of Tournay, in France, has recently received a valuable legacy. M. Fau value; 40,000 medals, 3,000 of which are gold, 15,legacy of 410 pictures, some of which are of great 000 in silver, and 22,000 in bronze; and the whole of his extensive library, chiefly composed of works on numismatics, several of which are extremely rare. Court Journal. EMIGRATION IN RUSSIA.-A letter from St. Pe-quez, one of its oldest inhabitants, has left to it a tersburgh gives some account of an emigration, on a large scale, which is going on in the heart of the Russian empire; and presents, as the writer observes, a great resemblance to the migrations of the primitive races of the world. The movement in question aims at distributing the crown peasants,— amounting to about twelve millions in number, and RAILWAYS.-The Journal des Chemins de Fer constituting thus a fifth of the entire Russian popu-says-"An inventor announces that he has found a lation, over those vast tracts of uncultivated land composition which will reduce to a mere trifle the which are held, as yet, by a thin and scattered pop-price of rails for railroads. He replaces the iron by ulation. The emigrants of the best character are sent into the Transcaucasian provinces, where the climate is mild and the soil fertile. "But, in truth," says the writer, "none of these unfortunate beings are voluntary emigrants. They are all, more or less, the victims of a system of despotism which disposes, at its caprice, of the human species, as of cattle who are driven in herds wherever their owners will."-Athenæum. a combination of Kaolin clay (that used for making pottery and china) with a certain metallic substance, which gives a body so hard as to wear out iron, without being injured by it in turn. Two hundred pounds of this substance will cost less than 12 shil lings, and would furnish two and a half metres of rail. The Kaolin clay is abundant in France, and the valley of the Somme contains immense quantities of it.-Athenæum. |