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Episcopal church to his troops, with Saunders Saunderson, in military array, performing the functions of clerk. The vignette to this volume is by Stephanoff.

from the field of Flodden. Even a real ghost would, in all probability, have produced little effect on that obstinate monarch; but the truth is, that the phantasmagoria seems, in this case, to have been so bunglingly managed, that no one but a ninny would have taken the ghost's word for a thousand farthings; for the spectre, in this case, walked in, not through the key-hole, but the church door, and contrived to take up a position which allowed him quietly to make his exit through a private door in the north wall. The whole business was a weak invention of the enemy to prevent the intended expedition, and James, in all probability, saw through the artifice. The conclusion of the ghostly message shows pretty plainly from what quarter this angelic missionary was dispatched. He forbids James "to mell or use the counsel of women, quhilk, if thowing minor pieces, hitherto unpublished, (among which is doe, thow wilt be confounded, and brought to shame." The queen probably thought, that while it was politic to interfere with his military expedition, it would not be amiss, at the same time, to read him a lecture on his amorous extravagances.

Absurd as the story is, however, it has been turned to good account by Sir Walter in Marmion. His description of the disappearance of the figure is at once highly poetical, and a literal transcript of the language of old Pitscottie. Sir David Lindsay is the speaker:

The wondering monarch seem'd to seek
For answer, and found none;
And when he raised his head to speak,
The monitor was gone.

The marshal and myself had cast
To stop him as he outward past;
But, lighter than the whirlwind's blast,
He vanish'd from our eyes,
Like sunbeam on the billow cast,
That glances but, and dies.

Canto IV. § 17.

"Before the king's eyes," says our old naive historian," and in presence of all the lords that were about him, this man vanished away, and could no ways be seen or comprehended, but vanished away as he had been a blink of the sun, or a whip of the whirlwind." We shall perhaps resume the subject of these palaces some other day; meantime we cordially recommend the work to the public, and to Scotchmen in particular.

Waverley Novels-New Edition, with the Author's Notes. Waverley. 2 vols. Edinburgh. Cadell & Co. 1829.

Passing from these external attractions, (which are of no common kind,) the present edition of the Waverley Novels acquires a peculiar interest, from its containing the last revisions and corrections of the author, and from the declaration contained in the General Preface that it is not probable he will ever again revise, or even read, these tales. A great deal of new and interesting matter is accordingly introduced in the shape of Notes and Illustrations; and the General Preface alone, comprising, as it does, an account of the author's early career, and private views and feelings with regard to the Wa verley Novels, together with one or two highly interestthe first chapter of the first Novel Sir Walter ever attempted, and an excellent chapter it is,) the General Preface alone is worth a great deal more than the price of the whole book. From it we shall cull one extract with which to grace our pages. It is an anecdote upon which Sir Walter's brother, Mr Thomas Scott, of whom he speaks in the most affectionate terms, proposed at one time to found a novel. It is finely and vividly told in the following words :-

ANECDOTE OF SCHOOL DAYS.

"It is well known in the South that there is little or no boxing at the Scottish schools. About forty or fifty years ago, however, a far more dangerous mode of fighting in parties or factions was permitted in the streets of Edinburgh, to the great disgrace of the police, and danger of the parties concerned. These parties were generally formed from the quarters of the town in which the combatants resided, those of a particular square or district fighting against those of an adjoining one. Hence it happened that the children of the higher classes were often pitted against those of the lower, each taking their side according to the residence of their friends. So far as I recollect, however, it was unmingled either with feelings of democracy or aristocracy, or indeed with malice or ill-will of any kind towards the opposite party. In fact, it was only a rough mode of play. Such contests were, however, maintained with great vigour with stones, and sticks, and fisticuffs, when one party dared to charge, and the other stood their ground. Of course mischief sometimes happened, boys are said to have been killed at these Bickers, as they were called, and serious accidents certainly took place, as many contemporaries can bear witness.

"The author's father, residing in George Square, in THE public have been already sufficiently apprised of the southern side of Edinburgh, the boys belonging to the intended publication of this new cabinet edition of that family, with others in the square, were arranged the Waverley Novels, which is to be completed in 40 into a sort of company, to which a lady of distinction volumes, a volume to be ready every month, and the presented a handsome set of colours. Now this com price of each to be five shillings. The two first volumes, pany or regiment, as a matter of course, was engaged in containing Waverley, are now before us, and we hesi-weekly warfare with the boys inhabiting the Crosscausetate not to say, that a more beautiful book has never way, Bristo Street, the Potterrow,-in short, the neighissued from the Edinburgh press. The typography is bouring suburbs. These last were chiefly of the lower in Ballantyne's very best style, the paper is of an un- rank, but hardy loons, who threw stones to a hair'susually fine quality, and the appearance of the whole is breadth, and were very rugged antagonists at close eminently tasteful and inviting. The frontispiece to quarters. The skirmish sometimes lasted for a whole the first volume is engraved by R. Graves, from a de- evening, until one party or the other was victorious, sign by Stephanoff. It represents Flora MacIvor sing. when, if ours were successful, we drove the enemy to ing and playing on the harp to Waverley, in the fore- their quarters, and were usually chased back by the reground of a romantic Highland landscape. The vig- inforcement of bigger lads who came to their assistance. nette to the same volume is in Landseer's happiest If, on the contrary, we were pursued, as was often the manner. It introduces us to Davie Gellatley, (the very case, into the precincts of our square, we were in our man, we are certain,) waiting at the Dern Path, with turn supported by our elder brothers, domestic servants, Ban and Buscar, two splendid hounds. Much, how- and similar auxiliaries. ever, as we like these illustrations, the frontispiece to volume second pleases us still more. It is a beautiful engraving by Charles Rolls, from a design by Newton, representing the fine old soldier, the Baron of Bradwardine, engaged in reading the Evening Service of the

"It followed, from our frequent opposition to each other, that, though not knowing the names of our enemies, we were yet well acquainted with their appearance, and had nicknames for the most remarkable of them. One very active and spirited boy might be considered as

the principal leader in the cohort of the suburbs. He was, I suppose, thirteen or fourteen years old, finely made, tall, blue-eyed, with long fair hair, the very picture of a youthful Goth. This lad was always first in the charge, and last in the retreat-the Achilles, at once, and Ajax, of the Crosscauseway. He was too formidable to us not to have a cognomen, and, like that of a knight of old, it was taken from the most remarkable part of his dress, being a pair of old green livery breeches, which was the principal part of his clothing; for, like Pentapolin, according to Don Quixote's account, Green-Breeks, as we called him, always entered the battle with bare arms, legs, and feet.

"It fell, that once upon a time, when the combat was at the thickest, this plebeian champion headed a sudden charge, so rapid and furious, that all fled before him. He was several paces before his comrades, and had actually laid his hands on the patrician standard, when one of our party, whom some misjudging friend had intrusted with a couteau de chasse, or hanger, inspired with a zeal for the honour of the corps, worthy of Major Sturgeon himself, struck poor Green-Breeks over the head, with strength sufficient to cut him down. When this was seen, the casualty was so far beyond what had ever taken place before, that both parties fled different ways, leaving poor Green-Breeks with his bright hair plentifully dabbled in blood, to the care of the watchman, who (honest man) took care not to know who had done the mischief. The bloody hanger was flung into one of the Meadow ditches, and solemn secrecy was sworn on all hands; but the remorse and terror of the actor were beyond all bounds, and his apprehensions of the most dreadful character. The wounded here was for a few days in the Infirmary, the case being only a trifling one. But though enquiry was strongly pressed on him, no argument could make him indicate the person from whom he had received the wound, though he must have been perfectly well known to him. When he recovered, and was dismissed, the author and his brothers opened a communication with him, through the medium of a popular gingerbread baker, of whom both parties were customers, in order to tender a subsidy in name of smart-money. The sum would excite ridicule were I to name it; but sure I am, that the pockets of the noted Green-Breeks never held as much money of his own. He declined the remittance, saying that he would not sell his blood; but at the same time reprobated the idea of being an informer, which he said was clam, i. e. base or mean. With much urgency he accepted a pound of snuff for the use of some old woman, aunt, grandmother, or the like,—with whom he lived. We did not become friends, for the bickers were more agreeable to both parties than any more pacific amusement; but we conducted them ever after under mutual assurances of the highest consideration for each other.

"Such was the hero whom Mr Thomas Scott proposed to carry to Canada, and involve in adventures with the natives and colonists of that country. Perhaps the youthful generosity of the lad will not seem so great in the eyes of others, as to those whom it was the means of screening from severe rebuke and punishment. But it seemed to those concerned, to argue a nobleness of sentiment far beyond the pitch of most minds; and however obscurely the lad, who showed such a frame of noble spirit, may have lived or died, I cannot help being of opinion, that if fortune had placed him in circumstances calling for gallantry or generosity, the man would have fulfilled the promises of the boy. Long af terwards, when the story was told to my father, he censured us severely for not telling the truth at the time, that he might have attempted to be of use to the young man in entering on life. But our alarms for the consequences of the drawn sword, and the wound inflicted with such a weapon, were far too predominant at the time for such a pitch of generosity.

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"Perhaps I ought not to have inserted this schoolboy tale; but, besides the strong impression made by the incident at the time, the whole accompaniments of the story are matters to me of solemn and sad recollection. Of all the little band who were concerned in those juvenile sports or brawls, I can scarce recollect a single survivor. Some left the ranks of mimic war to die in the active service of their country. Many sought distant lands to return no more. Others, dispersed in dif. ferent paths of life, my dim eyes now seek for in vain.' Of five brothers, all healthy and promising, in a degree far beyond one whose infancy was visited by personal infirmity, and whose health after this period seemed long very precarious, I am, nevertheless, the only survivor. The best loved, and the best deserving to be loved, who had destined this incident to be the foundation of literary composition, died before his day,' in a distant and foreign land; and trifles assume an importance not their own, when connected with those who have been loved and lost."

We sincerely hope that Messrs Cadell and Co. intend throwing off a very large impression of each volume of the present edition of these Novels; for it is a book which every body will buy, and not to possess which will come to be considered a sort of literary delinquency.

The Hope of Immortality. A Poem in four Parts. Edinburgh. William Blackwood. 1829.

THIS is a respectable poem-that is to say, the author is by no means an idiot; but he is a dull rogue, and his book, on the whole, is portentously heavy. It is too full of commonplaces about death, and long-winded attempts to prove, from the light of nature, that man's soul is immortal. It is a sad mistake to suppose that this constitutes poetry. Immortality is a dangerous subject to meddle with. It is not every body who goes into a churchyard, and gets sentimental over the tombstones, who can grapple with the mighty theme. The whole soul must be poured out upon it, and that soul must be no purling rill, but a deep, dark, rushing torrent. It makes us sick to hear the mawkish sentimentalities drawled out by old women with white pocket-handker. chiefs, who dare to envelope with their drivelling fantasies the awful majesty of death and futurity. Neither can we listen with patience though, perhaps, it is very wrong in us-to the wise saws and modern instances of a divine, in his twenty-third year, who, because he has got into the pulpit, and feels the necessity of looking grave, deems himself justified in treating his auditors to all the declamatory insipidities and tautological morali ties suggested by dissolution. In spite of his black gown we hate the spouter, for there is no more real feeling in what is uttered by his thick ugly lips, than there is in the twang of his precentor's nose, who hebdomadaily murders the hundredth Psalm. Nor have we ever been able to reconcile ourselves to that tribe of poetasters who consider themselves great in el giac stanzas and pieces of sublimity, founded on the grand revelations of religion. Mortal agony, and death, and eternal life, are not weapons for the hand of a rhymester. So many libraries have already been written about them, that it requires something more than the pen of an underling to venture upon adding another volume.

We shall just quote one stanza from "The Hope of Immortality ;" and, with the author's leave, we shall print it in our own way. It runs as follows:

"Open the grave, and ask the dweller there if it avails him that his life was spent in deeds of piety,that he did share his substance with the poor, and that he went about still doing good? Is he not pent in the same miserable house of clay, as the polluted monster who hath sent Death and Destruction, in their wild deray, through the abodes of men? They meet the same decay."

As this is a tolerably good piece of prose, we advise the author to give up dividing his lines into ten syllables.

1829.

66

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

SKETCHES OF THE LEADING MEMBERS OF THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[As the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is now

usually distinguish themselves at its meetings, may not be unacceptable to many of our readers. We trust that our sketches, though necessarily short, will be found accurate and impartial. We would wish it also to be understood, that we affect to settle no claim of precedence by the order in which we present them, this being entirely accidental. The gentleman who has favoured us with several papers on the General Assembly, is not the author of these sketches.-Ed. Lit. Jour.]

I. DR INGLIS.

The Family Library. No. II. The History of Na-sitting, we think a few sketches of the leading characters who poleon Buonaparte, (Bonaparte.) With Engravings on Steel and Wood. Two vols. Vol. II. London. John Murray. THIS volume of the Family Library is fully equal to the first, whether as regards its literary merits, or the beauty of its embellishments. There are nine engravings, and they are all good. The first, in particular, which represents Napoleon meeting the army on his return from Elba, is one of the most spirited things of the the ministers of the Old Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh, SINCE the death of Principal Hill, Dr Inglis, one of kind we ever saw. It is full of poetry, and is a gem of has been at the head of the moderate party in the great value. The other subjects are, Charge of Cossacks," "Head of Napoleon,' Head of Maria-church. For this eminence he has not been indebted, like Principal Robertson, to his literary fame, or like his own predecessor, Dr Hill, to popular eloquence and official situation; he owes it entirely to the high character for intellectual energy, for wisdom, and especially for knowledge of church forms and ecclesiastical polity, which he has always sustained. Dr Inglis does not possess what are called popular talents: his speeches are remarkable, not for flights of eloquence, or for ready repartee, or for humorous allusion, but for strong reasoning, clear arrangement, and a very large share of "El-what is understood by the term common-sense. He has

Louisa," "The King of Rome, ""Flight from Smor-
goni,"
"Fontainebleau,"
," "Waterloo," and "Tomb
of Napoleon." Let Mr Murray proceed as he has be-
gun, and the Family Library will yield to not one of
the numerous publications of the day, whether they be
cheap or dear.

Chapters on Churchyards. By the Authoress of
len Fitzarthur," "Solitary Hours," &c. 2 vols.
Edinburgh. William Blackwood. 1829.

now for many years distinguished himself in the debates, and principally influenced the decisions, of the Presbytery of Edinburgh. In the General Assembly, THE contents of these two pleasing and elegant vo- Dr Inglis is always listened to with the greatest relumes originally appeared in Blackwood's Magazine. specta respect which is equally due to his high taThey are from the pen of Miss Caroline Bowles, a lady lents, to the uniform integrity of his character, and to of much refinement and delicacy of taste, and to whom, the philosophical view which he generally takes of the we observe, Mr Southey has dedicated his last poetical subject under discussion. Church courts are not very production," All for Love," and "The Pilgrim of patient of mere eloquence: there the verbiage and the Compostella." As the Chapters on Churchyards have warmth which are not without their effect upon a popucome before the public in another shape, it is unne-lar audience, generally fail. Facts, sound sense, and cessary to say more of them at present, than to assure such of our readers as may not yet have seen them, that they will find them characterized by a strain of pure and tender sentiment, expressed in classical and beautiful diction.

Stories from the History of Scotland, in the Manner of Stories selected from the History of England. By the Rev. Alexander Stewart, minister of Douglas. Second edition, greatly enlarged. Edinburgh. Oliver and Boyd. 1829. 18mo. Pp. 374.

THE fact of this excellent little work having reached a second edition, notwithstanding the publication of the Tales of a Grandfather, is a sufficient testimony as to its merits. In a modest and well-written preface, Mr Stewart says: "When I was engaged with the first edition of these stories, I little thought that I was about to enter the lists with so formidable a competitor as the Author of Waverley. Of the presumption of rushing voluntarily to so hazardous a competition, I must plead altogether guiltless. My humble work was ready to issue from the press, when the Tales of a Grandfather' were first projected; and my only advantage was, that I preoccupied the ground, when my mighty rival was only preparing to buckle on his armour." Mr Stewart published his work six months before the appearance of Sir Walter's first series; and though similar in design, it is different in execution. It is an elegant little volume, which ought always to accompany the "Tales of a Grandfather," and will be read with advantage, even after their perusal.

decision, are the requisites most useful to a party leader; and Dr Inglis seems at all times willing to rest his cause upon these grounds, rather than show any desire to advance it by ingenious reasoning and plausible sophistries. In imagination, in fire, in glowing expression, in richness of illustration, in bursts of passion, he will stand no comparison with Dr Chalmers;-in acuteness, in point, in versatility of application, in humour, in vulgar, but yet telling satire, he yields to his usual antagonist, Dr Thomson: in dignity and forcible reasoning, and general wisdom, he is certainly superior to

both.

It may be thought singular by some, that although at the head of the moderate clergy, whom their opponents are fond of representing as less orthodox in creed than themselves, Dr Inglis is admitted by all who have heard him to be a strictly Calvinistic preacher. We may remark, that the terms wild and moderate, as applied to the two great parties in the church, are characteristic of a difference in opinion upon questions of discipline, ra ther than upon the articles of their common faith. To separate the real Calvinists from the Arminians on the one hand, and Antinomians on the other, would require, if it were at all practicable, a new and very different division.

Dr Inglis has been sometimes accused of overbearing haughtiness, but we believe there is not much foundation for the charge. He and his great political opponent, the late venerable Sir Henry Moncrieff, had this in common-they were both distinguished for gentlemanly feeling, and a high sense of personal honour. They lived together, not, we believe, on terms of great intimacy that could hardly have been expected-but of perfect courtesy ; and entertained that reciprocal respect

him. Dr Inglis is the only man whom Dr Thomson himself appears to be afraid of. He is not less frequently the object of his attack, however; but, conscious perhaps that the clear head and the extensive knowledge of the veteran moderate are an overmatch for his own ingenuity and dexterity, he usually assails him with that ridicule which no man can direct with better aim, and which sometimes insures him an easy triumph, by making his opponent lose temper.

for one another's talents and virtues which they so eminently deserved. Dr Inglis has, in the course of his life, made some very able appearances in public. His speech in the case of Professor Leslie, which came before the Assembly more than twenty years ago, was perhaps the ablest speech which has ever been made in that court. Of his controversial talents it may be enough to say, that upon the same occasion he entered the lists with the late Professors Playfair and Dugald Stewart, and bore away a divided palm. His late speech in the Presbytery upon the question of Catholic Eman-neral Assembly than Dr Thomson. The students' galcipation, whatever may be thought of it in a political point of view, proves that he has not yet lost any of that vigour of mind which distinguished his earlier appearances.

11. SIR JAMES MONCRIEFF, BART. We mention the learned Dean of Faculty, (if we may still give him that title,) not for the purpose of sketching a portrait of him, since his fame is more intimately connected with another profession, but because it would be unjust to omit his name in a notice of the eminent speakers in the General Assembly. Sir James has been for many years an active elder of the church, and, did we not fear to excite the jealousy of two of his own clerical friends, we should be inclined to call him the leader of his party, which is the evangelical. His learning and his knowledge of law make him an invaluable acquisition to his own side of the house, particularly as the moderates have generally a whole posse of learned Judges on their side. Sir James is not a pleasing, but he is a forcible speaker; his matter more than atones for his harsh voice and costive manner. There is no man of his party whose opinions are more valued by his friends, and respected by his opponents, than those of Sir

James Moncrieff.

III. DR THOMSON.

As the leader of a party, Dr Thomson is perhaps deficient in dignity, in temper, in prudence; but as a debater in church courts, he is unrivalled. There is no one, either of his own party, or among the ranks of his opponents, who can with greater readiness detect a weakness, or with more dexterity patch up a flaw, than Dr Thomson. As a special pleader, he is quite a match for any lawyer in the house; and he never shows any reluctance to enter the lists with the weakest or with the ablest of his opponents. The one he overwhelms with irresistible sarcasm ;-with the other, he uses nobler weapons; and, if he should be foiled in argument, he never fails to effect a safe retreat under the shouts of laughter which he can at all times command from every part of the house. But we should be doing great injustice to Dr Thomson were we to represent him merely as a special pleader, or as a witty satirist. A good cause can never be in better hands, for then he is as powerful in argument, and as truly eloquent, as he can be ingenious in the defence of error. His greatest fault, and his misfortune as a speaker, but especially as a leader, is, that he seldom proportions his zeal to the real importance of the subject under discussion: he is just as warm and vehement in battling a paltry point of form, as if it were a first principle affecting the safety of the Presbyterian establishment, or the authority of scripture. He is rather a common weakness, we confess never willing to acknowledge himself in error; and this, together with the indiscriminate violence as a debater to which we have just alluded, derogates from. his authority as a leader, though they might be esteemed two very useful points of character in a mere partisan. Dr Thomson has, we believe, been involved in more personal disputes and controversies than any of his brethren; and it must be confessed that, however much we may question the propriety of his entering into some of these battles, few men could have fought them so well. The orthodox party has great and just confidence in his talents; and the moderates dislike him and fear

No man is listened to with more delight in the Ge

lery is crowded with grinning faces; and, at some explosure of laughter from below, every mouth in that nursery of the church is open from ear to ear, guffawing at the Doctor's joke-the majority of the laughers postponing till their own and their companions' mirth has somewhat subsided the anxious "What is it? what did he say?" which shows that they had taken his wit on trust. In this, however, they are perfectly safe; for, though the jest is sometimes old, and very often not a little coarse, it is always told with effect.

Dr Thomson is so well known as a clever writer and an admirable preacher, that it is not necessary for us to say any thing upon that subject. In the latter capacity especially, we could speak of him only in terms of unqualified praise.

IV. DR COOK.

Dr Cook is well known out of the Assembly by his intelligent writings on the History of the Church. In the venerable house, there is nobody whose manner and appearance more pleasingly engage the attention of a stranger. A good voice, ready expression, much available information on subjects becoming a churchman's attention,-these are qualifications of an Assembly speaker which he fully possesses.

But though, on the whole, a fair and a pleasing specimen of the order to which he belongs, and, in fact, the very man that we should like to put forward as the representative of our Church, in all clerical and clerkly attainments, we doubt whether he stands in the foremost rank-certainly he is not the first-of his competitors as an orator. If you have the fortune and you will rarely miss it on a field-day-to hear him for a quarter of an hour on any question whatever, you have his gauge. No subject seems to inspire him and none betrays him into an appearance unworthy of himself. On points of order, and form, and precedent, his minute knowledge is always serviceable; and his manner of address is well fitted to put such matters distinctly before the court. But on general questions, though not usually a lengthy speaker, he is often wearisome. His illustrations from history-almost the only quarter from which he illustrates at all-are seldom sufficiently spirited or striking; and his constant parade of moderation and impartiality, while it may gain for him with some a degree of confidence and favour, which a keener partisan would fail to procure, positively injures the effect of his speeches, by depriving them of that point, and heartiness, and fervour, which, as they are thought to be the best tokens of self-conviction, are usually found very necessary to convince others. In his reasonings, too general, too diffuse-if he cannot justly be accused of wandering from the point, he can seldom be said to march boldly up to it. Accordingly, great on an overture, he fails in debate. At first you would suppose that his failure in debate arises solely from the want of enthusiasm-this being the chief apparent defect of his style of speaking; but the real cause of his failure lies a little deeper, and consists in the absence of that concentrative and synthetic power which is necessary to make good materials serve a direct and valuable purpose.

Altogether, however, Dr Cook is a credit to the As

An overture is a recommendation from a Presbytery or Synod, to the Supreme Court, to make or alter a law.

sembly and the Church, and it is with no unkind feeling, that, in addition to some strictures, which no man can better afford to have transferred to the debit account of his popularity, we venture to hint his too great partiality to the introduction (into his speeches) of a subject on which, says Lord Byron, "all men are fluent, and few agreeable."

V. DR MEARNS.

A shrewd, cautious, and searching Aberdonian; a great master of Divinity and Church Law; he speaks with little ostentation, and with a great indifference apparently to oratorical effect. Nevertheless, there is something interesting, independent of this great information, in his speeches. His language is good, and his manner earnest. But the thing most characteristic of his style of speaking is, its clearness and conciseness. Whether his object be to save the time of the court; or to secure for himself at all times a patient hearing,-no easy matter in such a place, but which he certainly does; or whether he is anxious to act on the rule, that the end of all speech is to convey the greatest possible measure of sense in the fewest possible words ;-whether he have any or all of these objects in view, it is certain that no man expresses himself with more uniform, intelligible, and pithy brevity. But though a man of varied knowledge, and that of a kind, too, that might be made popular and interesting, the hardness and dryness of his manner are certainly far from engaging. In the Assembly his value was early ascertained, and he will always be held in due estimation. In the North he is, of course, a kind of oracle; and it is characteristic alike of the man and of his reputation, that when, at an early age, he declared himself a candidate for the Divinity Professorship of his College, which is in the gift of a Synod, and usually settled by comparative trial, there was nobody found willing to oppose so redoubted a champion.

VI. PRINCIPAL MACFARLAN.

The leading features of Dr Macfarlan's character are too striking to elude observation. In that rare species of intellect which enables one to pilot oneself safely through the intricacies of business to weigh probabilities and improbabilities—to dispose and arrange a number of facts to interpret and apply a series of legislative enactments to concentrate, in short, at any given time, upon any given point, in the business of life, all his mental force, which constitutes the very soul and vitality of a public man, Dr Macfarlan is, of all the clergymen in the church, second only to Dr Inglis. Information at once extensive and minute, an accurate knowledge of all the details of ecclesiastical precedents, a thorough acquaintance with and rigid adherence to the established forms of process, and, above all, an aptitude of mind for applying these to individual cases, are the weapons with which he fights, and which he wields with dexterity and power. It is impossible to mislead him by any specious pretext. Amid a mass of collateral topics, he perceives intuitively the single question of which he is called to judge, and from that neither the treason of pretended friends nor the trickery of his adversary can divert him. It may have assumed one disguise in the Presbytery, another in the Synod, but in the Assembly Dr Macfarlan strips it of both, and displays it naked for inspection. He knows precisely, too, in what quarter his own strength or weakness lies; and he is at all times equally prepared for following in the pursuit, or covering his own retreat. He has many qualities that would have made him a great lawyer. The advice of such a man is valuable, and, accordingly, it is frequently asked, and always cheerfully and faithfully given.

As his views are always clear, so his language is simple and precise. While his manner is dignified, his style is by no means ambitious; it is more elegant than ornate. Impressed with the importance of public

business, he thinks a knowledge of things preferable to the use of words, and has an utter detestation and contempt of all verbosity. His theological opinions are sound, liberal, and enlightened; his views of ecclesiastical polity are those of the school of Robertson, Blair, and Hill; and, in these days of frequent and sudden change, he is remarkable for consistency of conduct. He is cautious in adopting measures; but, his ground being once taken, he is immovable, completely beyond the influence of threat or flattery. His party has implicit confidence in his honour and steadiness; and he has carried a majority of the Assembly along with him, against the combined forces of Dr Cook, the SolicitorGeneral, and the whole army upon the left hand of the Moderator. The very qualities which mark him out as a first-rate man of business, have perhaps prevented him from rising to eminence as a preacher. In the pulpit he has no passion, and little energy. He is tame and monotonous. His discourses are replete with good sense, but totally destitute of originality or feeling. His manner has too much Archiepiscopal stateliness for an every-day working Presbyterian minister. Even in preaching, however, this gifted individual has a faculty at command which few possess, and still fewer practise. He never reads his discourses in the pulpit. He commits them to memory, and delivers them with astonishing accuracy. So admirably are they recited, that he gives you, as it were, the very punctuation.

Closely allied to this readiness and retentiveness of meniory, are his conversational powers. Having cherished from his youth a taste for polite literature, he has moved in those circles where it was to be found. He was the intimate companion of the late Professor Richardson, and always welcomed as a visitor by the most distinguished members of the College of Glasgow. In private life he opens his treasures, and scatters around him instruction and amusement. To this part of his character, combined with other virtues and attainments, he is not a little indebted for his professional success. It rendered him a distinguished favourite at Buchanan House. The Duke of Montrose was his earliest patron, and is now his confidential friend. On the death of the late Dr William Taylor, Dr Macfarlan was translated from the parish of Drymen, in which he had succeeded his father, to be the Minister of the Cathedral and Principal of the University of Glasgow. In both of these important offices he gives perfect satisfaction. The prejudices against him as a pluralist soon yielded to the influence of his virtues. He is exemplary in the discharge of his parochial duties-is devoted to the prosperity, and consequently highly esteemed by the professors and students, of that University over which he presides.

LETTERS FROM THE WEST.

No. I.

THE non-literary "Journals" in this region are full of heart-rending details respecting our weavers. These are not in the least exaggerated, in one sense. In another that is, in as far as regards the general impression they are calculated to produce with you, and in other places where there is little manufacturing carried on-they are not literally accurate, inasmuch as they do not advert to exceptions to the general wretchedness which are not unfrequent. I was this day told, by an eminent manufacturer, of several of his handloom workers of fine goods being able to earn 15s. per week. Such instances are, however, too rare; and 5s. and 6s. may be nearer the average-from which loomrent, beaming, and dressing for the web, have to be deducted. The "pirns" are generally wound in the worker's family, and they cost nothing but the labour. This is a frightful state of things for 40,000 human beings; yet, notwithstanding their destitution, their

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