dren, or rather nature had brought them up, to run wild about the country, to the destruction of every well-built ditch, every furze fence, every tree, every > bird's nest in the parish. Never were such a wild and wilful set as the young Jack Cumminses; if you heard a huge long-backed pig squeeling at the top of its voice, and discovered two or three children mounted thereon, shouting and hurraing louder than the pig itself, be sure they were some of the Jack Cumminses; if the young quicks in your hedge were converted into firewood, the Jack Cumminses were truly to blame; if a riot ensued, which enticed the old and the young to take part in the "shindy," the Jack Cumminses were surely the ringleaders. At first they were merry, rosy, wild, laughing rogues; they then grew into troublesome daring boys, and wilful slatternly girls. One would not dig the potatoes; another would not bind the shoes; another would not be a shoemaker, but would be a wheelwright; and because there was no money to make him so, he would not do any thing required of him. Another would go to sea; another would do nothing but follow blind Beesom the fiddler, and dance jigs. The whole family pulled different ways; and the consequence was, that Easy Jack Cummins, and his no less easy wife, were obliged, as long as they were able, to pay for the assistance in their business which their children could have rendered them, if they had been, like the bundle of sticks, united; but as Jack's neighbour, Thomas Hartigan, said, and his good father had not only taught him to read, but placed one or two good books in his way, "Easy Jack Cummins brought the sticks together, but had not strength to tie them up." This is often, particularly in Ireland, a grievous parental fault; they suffer their children to run wild; they do not consider that the strongest and best lessons can be taught in almost infancy, when the mind will receive any "Easy Jack" used to say, impression, and retain it. "Ah, thin, let the little fellow have his own way; sure he has no sense." But the "little fellow," when he had sense, was so accustomed to have his own way, that he would not give it up. Now, this was the case with all the little fellows, and "female fellows;" all in Easy Jack's household pulled, as I have said, different ways; all but one, and that poor boy was nearly an idiot "a natural," as he was poetically called by his neighbours, who also designated him "Black Barney" on account of the darkness of his complexion. While his brothers and sisters wearied their parents' hearts by wildness and neglect, "Black Barney's" lustreless but affectionate eyes were the light of his father's house, his inarticulate voice the music which gladdened his mother's heart. He gloried in a shoemaker's apron, and would brandish an awl as if it were a sword; he would wax the ends for his father, and card tow for his mother; and though he could not speak distinctly, he could sing snatches of old ballads; and sing he would, in rain or sunshine, all the same, and dance uncouthly, but still it was dancing. He would even undertake to chastise his brothers and sisters when they would not work; and if his father seemed worn out with his endeavours to support his careless family, the poor idiot wrung his hands, and tears coursed each other down his lubber cheeks. Poor creature, he possessed just sufficient intelligence to know what is wrong, but not enough to render him useful to his fellow beings.

The misapplication of intellect incurs far greater penalty and blame than its absence; the reckless progeny of Easy Jack Cummins, which, if united by the bands of love and industry, could have scared poverty from the door, were scattered away, and two of the sons only returned to their native cottage when they wanted money or food. The old man's connections dropped off one by one; there was no uniting principle there; and the last time I saw the old shoemaker, he had been to Thomas Hartigan's mill to beg a little meal for his wife, who was dying. Black Barney was rolling along the road before his father, like a huge hedgehog-now singing one of his old songs, then weeping bitterly for hunger, and, as he said, “Murning that God had made his broders widout a heart."

Look now at the other picture: thank God, if there is shade, there is also sunshine in this world. Tom Hartigan, the second, is a fine specimen of the chief stick of the bundle, round which all the little sticks are tied.

Tom-and I regret to say there were not a few of his neighbours who called him Hard Tom, a cognomen he acquired from his prudence, a virtue which Irishmen in his day held in sovereign contempt Hard Tom began life just in the same way that Easy Jack Cummins did, but with a far different example; Tom ground at another man's mill, while Jack worked another man's leather; but, in process of time, one achieved the dignity of his own last and cabin, and the other rented a windmill. What a picturesque old mill it was! perched on the top of the Hill of Graige, and commanding a view which is often, even now, spread out before me in my midnight dreams; the well-cultivated grounds and rich plantations of the old manor-house sloping to the edge of the brimming ocean; the house itself, with its gables and high chimneys; the bay beyond-the bay where the waters of my own blue sea were ever to me a source of serious yet unspeakable joy; the tower of Hook on its promontory, and nearer still the ruined church of Bannow; for the inland view, there was the bleak black stormy mountain of Forth, rearing its rocks into the very clouds. How fresh and invigorating was the

husband."

66

66

would it be before you'd have had your ship afloat? Though that's but a play toy, the lesson is the same of corn that my boys have thrashed and sown, and through life. Thank God! the mill has never wanted grist; and now I'm a farming miller, I grind a dale family are scattered like chaff before the wind." And my girls have reaped and bound; and there's a warm corner for the poor natural, Black Barney, whose my belief is, that if Irishmen were united, at home and heavens above look down, with the sunny beams of abroad, they'd carry the world before them. So the encouragement, on United Irishmen !

THE CAMP AND COURT OF RUNJEET
SING.*

IF our readers glance at a map of Hindustan, they
the river Sutlege, which, after a long but not very
sinuous course, falls into the Indus. Between the
will see that our north-western frontier is bounded by
66 country of
Sutlege and the Indus he will see a country of a tri-
angular shape, watered by three other large streams,
five waters," and sometimes the kingdom of Lahore,
which is thence called the Punjab, or
from its capital city. This is the territory of the
Sikhs, who, whether viewed politically or religiously,
are among the most interesting and extraordinary
races of India; and it was until very recently ruled
prince that has appeared in the east since the days of
by Runjeet Sing, the most able and intelligent native
Hyder Ali. In the present state of our eastern pos-
it covers the only side on which British India can be
sessions, this kingdom is one of increasing importance;
menaced with invasion; and were the Russians to
it lies between us and our new ally the king of Cabul;
appear on the banks of the Indus, their success would
or for allies. We shall therefore endeavour to give
mainly depend on their having the Sikhs for enemies
our readers as brief an account of the origin and pro-
gress of the Sikhs as is consistent with perspicuity; a
enable them to understand the frequent references
a view of the present state of the Punjab, as will
sketch of the career of their late sovereign; and such
made to its condition in the newspapers, in Parlia-
ment, and in the debates at the India-House.

The Sikhs were a sect, and are now a nation. Nanac,
tury. He was the son of a Hindoo merchant of the
the founder of the sect, was born in the reign of the
Emperor Acbar, about the middle of the fifteenth cen-
Katri, or warrior caste, and was educated during his
earlier years in all those scruples and prejudices so
beauty, his talents, and the purity of his morals, re-
deeply rooted in the Hindoo mind. His personal
commended him to the notice of a Mahommedan mer-
chant, who, being childless, adopted Nanac as his son.
to the Koran and the Vedas. The Emperor Acbar
He thus became acquainted with the most approved
had planned a new religion, which might unite both
writers of Islamism, and learned to pay equal regard
Hindoos and Mahommedans, and Nanac early adopted
and literally translate the moral aphorisms which most
pleased him, into the idiom of the Punjab; and when
the same project. It was his custom to transcribe
This compilation
his collection of maxims became large, he ranged them
by the Sikhs, than the Koran by Mussulmans, or the
in order, and put them into verse.
is called the Grunth, and is not less highly venerated
Bible by Christians.

Nanac completely abolished all distinction of caste,
declaring that his mission extended to men of every
crossed the sea to diffuse his doctrines at Mecca and
tribe, class, and race. During his long wanderings ho
Medina. In his character of Guru, or spiritual direc-
preached in the principal cities of India, and even
tor, he invariably inculcated doctrines of forbearance
and good-will towards men; he professed an utter
a long time were distinguished by the same peaceful
abhorrence of war and violence; and his followers for
About the beginning of the last century, Aureng-
characteristics as the Quakers in this country.
zebe commenced a fierce persecution of the Sikhs, as
apostates from the Mahommedan faith. It was at
first endured with patience, but at length, after the
martyrdom of the fifth Guru, the Sikhs took up arms
and made fearful retaliations on their persecutors.
Guru Govind, a man of equal genius and ambition,
enforced the wearing of steel as a religions obligation
on his followers; they seized several villages in the
Punjab; and as they now possessed a creed, arms, and
combination, they began to rank as a nation. Govind
same time as that emperor, and was succeeded in
maintained a desperate but unsuccessful war against
his temporal power by Banda, the first ruler of the
the whole power of Aurengzebe; he died about the
Sikhs who laid no claim to the title of Sut Guru or
pope, which thenceforth became extinct.

In the confusion that ensued on the death of Aurengzebe, Banda devastated the northern provinces of the Mogul empire, and committed the most frightful atrocities. He was at length taken prisoner, and brought to Delhi, where he was torn to pieces by red-hot pincers, a death which fanaticism alone could inflict or endure.

The Sikhs had lost their leader, but their strength

* A work recently published, entitled "The Court and Camp though spread over too great a space for the quantity of matter, of Runjeet Sing, by the Hon. C. W. Osborne (London, Colburn)," contains a variety of information respecting the court of Runjeet, which will prove interesting to those engaged in Indian affairs. has enabled us to draw up the above paper. Mr Osborne's work,

was not broken. When Nadir Shah invaded India, the impostor, particularly the Ameers of Sinde, and and left but a mockery of royalty on the throne of Dost Mahommed Khan. But the English, though Delhi, they again assembled in considerable strength, far from being satisfied with the Ameers, would not and not only occupied a considerable portion of the allow Sinde to be invaded, and proposed themselves as Punjab, but extended their conquests eastwards to umpires between Runjeet and Dost Mahommed. The the Jumna. Their success was favoured by the rising arrangement of these affairs led to an interview befortunes of the Mahrattas, who threatened to drive tween Runjeet and Lord William Bentinck, in which the Mussulmans from India, and were not very far the display of oriental magnificence surpassed the from realising their boast. The Afghan chief of Can-fictions of the Arabian Nights. dahar came to the aid of his Mahommedan brethren, Early in 1838, the open proceedings of the Persians, and the Mahrattas were irretrievably defeated at the and the suspected designs of the Russians, excited battle of Paniput, in the year 1761. The Sikhs, who much anxiety in England and India. Dost Mahomhad severely harassed the march of the conqueror, med Khan, who had previously besought the establishattacking his flank and rear, intercepting his baggage, ment of an embassy in Cabul, treated our envoy with and cutting off stragglers, were destined to feel the such disrespect, that he deemed it prudent to return. full weight of his vengeance. He razed their sacred This was the more suspicious, as the Afghans are Sooncity Umritzir to the ground, erected a pyramid of nees, and the Persians Sheeahs, two sects of Mahomtheir heads, and caused the walls of the mosques they medans more fiercely opposed to each other than had desecrated to be washed with the blood of the Protestants and Catholics ever were, even in the worst slain. But when the Afghans returned home, the of times. Obviously, some powerful foreign influence Sikhs recovered their strength so rapidly that they must have been exerted to make Dost Mahommed became masters of all the country between the Jumna abandon the hereditary policy of his family, and enter and the Indus, which they divided into twelve misuls, into negociations with the Sheeahs of Persia. or confederate associations, whose united forces were should be added, that this change gave great offence to about 70,000 mounted warriors. his subjects, and that their notorious discontent appears to have suggested to Lord Auckland the policy of restoring Shah Soojah.

The smallest of these misuls was governed by the grandfather and afterwards by the father of Runjeet Sing, both of whom being men of great valour and ability, possessed a moral power which compensated for the weakness of their military force. Runjeet was born November 2, 1780, at a time when his father's influence was daily acquiring fresh strength. He was attacked by the small-pox at a very early age, was badly treated by the native physicians, and having narrowly escaped death, recovered with the loss of an eye, and a countenance terribly disfigured. He had scarcely reached his twelfth year when he lost his father; his mother, a profligate and ambitious woman, undertook the regency of the misul, and the guardianship of the child. She preserved Runjeet's inheritance from the rapacity of his neighbours; but in order to protract his minority, she quite neglected his education, and supplied him with every indulgence which could gratify depraved passions. He thus in early youth formed those habits of licentiousness and debauchery which to the latest hour of his existence continued to be the darkest stains on his character.

Field sports afforded him more innocent gratification, and they also gave him an opportunity of becoming acquainted with public affairs, and learning the discontent produced by the crimes of the regency. On attaining his seventeenth year, he took the reins of government into his own hands, but was forced to consent to his mother's assassination, in consequence of the universal hatred excited by her tyranny and sensuality. In after life, Runjeet frequently declared that this sacrifice was essential not merely to the stability of his throne, but to the security of his own

existence.

It

enjoyed by their brethren on the east side of the Sutlege; they would gladly exchange their miserable independence for the milder and more equitable sway of the British government, which, even in its worst form, is infinitely superior to the very best administration under the native powers. General Allard is dead; General Ventura is very anxious to get safe out of Lahore with the fortune he has acquired; and the Sikh infantry, at least, if not the cavalry, would gladly join the sepoy battalions: to use their own phrase," Koompanee Bahadoor" (General Company) is a very good paymaster; and this is no trifling consideration with men whose pay is often two years in arrear, and whose miserable pittance, even when paid, is subject to the clippings, parings, and deductions of corrupt officials. These matters, we know, have been often and earnestly discussed between the Sikhs and our sepoys; and the whole question is one deeply affecting the position of the British in India.

SCOTTISH AND IRISH AGRICULTURE. BY MARTIN DOYLE.*

Shortly after the fall of Cabul, which consummated the triumph of the English arms in Afghanistan, Runjeet Sing fell a victim to inflammatory disease. His four wives, and five of his Cashmerian Amazons, burned themselves on his funeral pile, and his prime minister was with difficulty prevented from making a similar self-sacrifice. Kurruck Sing succeeded to the throne, but he was deposed in a few weeks, and his son, a youth desitute of talent and experience, elevated to the musnud, which it is probable he will not long be permitted to occupy.

Soon after gaining possession of his limited inheritance, he determined to carve out a more extensive kingdom, by invading and finally taking possession of The future state of our Indian possessions depends the Punjab. Aided by the Mussulmans of Lahore, mainly on the condition of the kingdom of Lahore. he expelled the rival Sikh chieftains from that city, The Russians are now marching upon Khiva, and and soon established his authority over the surround- whether successful or defeated, they will form diploing country. At this crisis the kingdom of the Af-matic relations with all the states of Mawer-en-nahar, ghans was rent asunder by civil wars; taking advantage and probably occupy the harbour and fortress of Asof these disturbances, Runjeet resolved to seize all the trabad. From this position they may, as before, push Afghan provinces east of the Indus. In making this forward the Persians against Afghanistan, while they, daring attempt, he was compelled to withdraw by the at the same time, aided by the Turcomans, would force British, and he was ultimately confined to his acquired their way to the banks of the Indus. The Sikhs, if territory of the Punjab. faithful, would no doubt beat the Cossacks and Turcomans, and perhaps prove a match for the regular forces of Russia; but if they joined the invaders, the Russians, admitted into the Punjab, would be in close contact with the Goorkas, our old enemies in Nepaul; they would also be within short reach of the Mahratta powers, who have never forgotten or forgiven their repeated overthrows; and they could thus, from the same point, menace the presidencies of Bombay and Bengal. Much depends on the character of Shah Soojah; if he becomes unpopular with any large portion of his nation, Afghanistan will be an aid instead of an impediment to the progress of Russia.

In 1810, Runjeet celebrated the marriage of his eldest son, then only ten years of age, and invited Colonel Ochterlony, the British resident at Loodiana, to witness the festivities. In spite of all their old disputes, the Maharaja treated the colonel as an intimate friend, and obtained from him valuable instruction for disciplining his Sikh infantry, and erecting fortifications round Lahore. From this time Runjeet bent all his efforts to forming a regular army; he organised several battalions, officered principally by deserters from the Company's service, and he began the formation of a corps of artillery.

In 1822, two French officers, Messrs Allard and Ventura, entered the service of Runjeet Sing, and by their military talents soon raised the Sikh army to a higher state of efficiency and discipline than were ever possessed by any native force in India. Their services were obtained at a time when Runjeet's power was menaced by the greatest danger to which it had been yet exposed. The hearts of the Mussulmans throughout India were grieved by the erection of an idolatrous monarchy, in a country which had been for ages the stronghold of Islamism; and they were easily induced to listen to the pretensions of Ahmed, a Syed or descendant from Mahommed, who declared that he was summoned by the Almighty to restore the empire of Islamism. He declared that it was necessary, however, that he should first visit the shrine of Mecca, and for this purpose he came down to Calcutta, where the excitement produced by his arrival gave serious alarm to the British government. On his return from Mecca in 1827, he commenced his holy war against Runjeet; but the fanaticism of his followers could not compete with the steady discipline of the Sikhs; he was routed in every engagement, and at length, in 1831, was surprised and slain in the midst of his followers. Runjeet was anxious to take revenge on the Mahommedan states, which he suspected of favouring

The Punjab must therefore be regarded as the key of our dominions; and it would be most desirable if possible that it should be governed by an able and energetic ruler, like its late sovereign; but of this there is no reasonable prospect. The unpopularity of Kurruck Sing no doubt extends to his son. Sher Sing, the natural son of Runjeet, is an able chief, and favourably disposed to the English alliance, and his son Pertaub is a youth of great promise; but neither has such a party in the country as would suffice to establish their claims without civil war. Heera Sing, the son of the prime minister, is ambitious, and likely to create much trouble; so that between all the Sings, or "lions," as the name signifies, the kingdom runs a fair chance of being torn to pieces. We hold that the interference of the English at no very distant date is unavoidable, and we have good reason to believe, that, while we write, the military occupation of the Punjab is under the consideration of the Indian authorities. Mr Osborne says, "that the Company, having swallowed so many camels, need not strain at this gnat," especially as the opening of the Indus to steam navigation is now an object of great commercial importance. Moreover, the people of Lahore would very gladly consent to a change of masters; they have long looked with envy on the peace and prosperity

correct judgment of the principal causes of the contrast which so plainly appears both in the leading details of farm economy, and its general condition, in the two countries. To many there will appear neither originality nor novelty in what I may remark, but the great mass of those readers of agricultural subjects who are interested in the improvement of Ireland, whether landlords or tenants, are unquestionably heedless or ignorant of many important principles as well as practical details of management with which they ought to be familiar. I shall commence with the land-proprietary, who have a legitimate claim to precedence, both from the vast influence which they can exercise over the ordinary occupiers and cultivators of the soil, and from a proper sense of the respect due to their rank in the social scale. Without any minute reference to the splendid and gigantic improvements effected by some of the great landlords of Scotland, for example the late Duke of Sutherland, and the late and existing Dukes of Buccleuch, who, in the language of the present representative of the latter noble family, seem to have felt that "Providence requires more than ordinary diligence at the hands of him to whom much is given, in improving the trust committed to their care, and in producing the greatest possible amount of good to the country," I shall adduce the example of a proprietor of that extent of land which is far from uncommon in the two countries under consideration, and whose judicious and enterprising conduct should serve as a model of imitation to many of the Irish landlords, who, in proportion to their means and facilities, may pursue a similar if not an equal system of permanent and effective improvement. I shall illustrate my subject by presenting to view the estate of Closeburn in Dumfriesshire, and showing what has been accomplished by the zeal and perseverance of an individual. This property, which comprehends fourteen thousand imperial acres within one ring-fence, was purchased by the father of Sir Charles G. Stuart Menteath, the present possessor, for L.50,000 in 1783, when it produced but L.1800 a-year. The leases did not, however, expire until 1803, when the proprietor commenced his spirited operations. These, as well as I have been enabled to collect them from different sources, may be thus detailed.

Sir Charles, then Mr Stuart Menteath, finding the property in every respect in a miserable condition, and not worth at that time more than the rent which it yielded, took into his hands 2000 acres as a beginning, which he ploughed, harrowed, &c., by the stipendiary labour provided by those of his tenants who possessed horses and implements; thus giving them the means of paying their rents, and acquiring some money capital, in which they had previously been deficient to a lamentable degree. These 2000 acres were then divided into fields of ten and twenty acres, principally by stone walls five feet in height, gradually diminishing in breadth from 32 inches at bottom to 15 inches at top, or, as it is provincially termed, from double to single dyke, at an average expense of a shilling per yard. So poor and light was the soil of these fields, that, after paring and burning, it produced little or no ashes, and, even with the addition of lime, was too sterile for a potato crop. It was therefore laid down with grasses for sheep pasture as fast as possible, and top-dressed with lime; Sir Charles Menteath having invariably found this to be the most efficacious mode of applying his calcareous manure on the dry hungry soil of Closeburn, which has a substratum of sand or sandstone. When lime has been incorporated with the earth in the usual manner, by harrowing it down on fallow, it has there signally failed of success, sinking into the porous land, and lying below inert and useless. That section of the estate so reclaimed has subsequently produced, on an average, from twelve to four

*The above paper, purporting to be a comparison of agricultural management in Scotland and Ireland, is directly communicated to us by the well-known Irish writer who takes the name of Martin Doyle; it has been written in consequence of a recent

visit paid by him to Scotland.

At a dinner given at Branxholm in September last to the Duke of Buccleuch by his grace's tenantry.

reason. A' the folk were bumbazed about it, and auld wives thocht that Sathan was playing cantrips wi' the lichts. Some were knockit doon, and ithers got off wi' their pockets turned inside oot. And what was the cause o' a' this hobbleshow, think ye? What! but the oily bastes o' Russians. They were catched speeling up the lamp-posts and taking oot the cruizes and drinking the ulye, wick and a'. What think ye noo o' your Russians, sir?-are they o' ony use on God's earth, think ye, but to burn like tar barrels in a general illumination ?"

Reared in a little district where his word was law, and where habits of violence and private warfare were scarcely yet extinct, Macnab was not disposed to be very scrupulous in the use of his powers, whether personal or otherwise. The knowledge of his immense strength, and his recklessness in using it, in general kept him free of provocation; but on one occasion a thoughtless person, who was but slightly acquainted with him, had the misfortune to incur his wrath in a dismal manner. The laird had appeared one year at Leith races on a small horse, which, oppressed by his great weight, fell down under him, and died on the spot, its back being literally broken. Observing him next year mounted on an animal not much bigger, this individual went up to him, and said, in a sarcastic manner, "Macnab, is that the same horse you rode last year ""No, billy," replied the laird; "but it's the same whup," and with that instrument felled the interrogator to the earth.

Macnab had an intense antipathy to excisemen, whom he looked on as a race of intruders, commissioned to suck the blood of his country: he never gave them any better name than termin. One day, early in the last war, he was marching to Stirling at the head of a corps of fencibles, of which he was commander. To continue in the words of the writer already quoted "The pencil might, but the pen never can, adequately portray the grand, picturesque, and magnifique appearance of the glorious Celtic chief. Goliah of Gath, Alexander, Cæsar, all heroes, ancient and modern, nay, what must be an august spectacle, the grand mogul enthroned on the back of his elephant-all dwindle into insignificance before the great Macnab. He bestrode a mighty steed of raven blackness, whose flowing mane, and long and bushy tail, had never suffered under the dilapidating operation of the ruthless shears. His ample jacket was composed of tartan, adorned with massy silver buttons. Adown his breast depended gracefully the belted plaid. On his head was the Highland bonnet, surmounted by waving lofty plumes, which added fearfully to his gigantic height. His puissant limbs were encased in no constraining habiliment: no, gentle reader, the ancient philabeg formed his sole nether covering. His warlike hand sustained an enormous claymore, flash ing lightning to the sun's rays, and clearly indicating its owner's ardour for immediate conflict."

About seven miles from Stirling, a numerous band of excisemen assailed the rear of the regiment, declaring to the adjutant they had positive information that in the baggage-carts was concealed a large quantity of smuggled whisky. The adjutant, knowing it would be of little use to argue the matter with them, rode hastily up to the front, and told the commandant the scrape they were in. Without saying a word, away to the rear furiously gallops the laird, brandishing his Andrea Ferrara in a most terrific style, his visage inflamed with wrath and indignation. When he came up to the aqua vitæ, 'Hounds!' he roars out in a voice of thunder, what the foul fiend want ye here, ye abortions of the human specie, ye unwordy, pitifu' vermin o' abomination! Wad ye daur to stop his majesty's offishers and men on their way to fight for their king and country, and, what's mair, e'en for the like o' sic wretches as you, ye unchristened whelps o' Belzebub.' The laird was enough to fright Belzebub himself, and no wonder he horrified such personages almost into convulsions. After a long pause, during which he regarded them with a truly diabolical aspect, one of the boldest mustered courage enough to display his badge of office, intimating, in a trembling voice, that what they did was in the line of their duty. Line o' your duty!' vociferated the chief. By a' that's gude, if I thocht ye worth my while, I ken ae line wad fit ye a deal better!' Then turning to the rear-rank, he cries, My lads, this is like to be a critic business-load wi' ball! The effect of this appalling order was electrical: the discomfited gaugers fled in all directions, leaving the victorious chief in undisturbed possession of the much coveted mountain-dew.

Like many other proprietors of large but unproductive estates, the Laird of Macnab was often under the necessity of compromising his dignity by granting bills for his various purchases. These bills for many years were always discounted at the Perth bank, and when due, he no more dreamt of putting himself in the slightest degree out of the way by honouring his scraps of paper, conformably to the established rules of trade, than of paying the national debt. In fact, it would have been a dangerous experiment to have hinted to him the propriety of what he considered a most degrading and unchieftain-like practice. The directors of the bank, knowing their money to be sure, humoured him, as being a character of no ordinary description. His acceptances were therefore never (strange to say) noted or protested; indeed, such an impertinent pro

cedure on their part might have brought down like a torrent the furious chief and a score or two of his gillies, to sack great Perth. Unluckily for him, one of thae bits o' paper' found its way to the Stirling bank, an establishment with which the laird had no connection. Agreably to his auld use and wont, he gave himself no trouble about the matter. It was in due course noted and protested, of which due intimation was sent to him. The laird treated these various notices with the most sovereign contempt. He was, however, effectually roused, by the alarming information that a writ of horning and caption had been taken out against him, and that, in consequence, a clerk belonging to the bank, accompanied by two messengers, would proceed on the following Friday to Achlyne House, for the special purpose of taking him into custody. Even this dire communication the laird received with unruffled composure.

On that portentous morn' which threatened him with 'durance vile,' he took aside an old woman who had been long attached to the family, and who was highly regarded by her master for her shrewdness as well as fidelity. C Shanet,' said he, there are three land-loupers, a clerk, and two limbs o' Satan in the shape o' messengers, coming ower the hills the day frae Stirling, to tak me awa bodily, and to clap me within the compass o' four stane wa's; and for what, think ye?-a peetiful scart o' a guse's feather-deil cripple their soople shanks! It would ill become me to hae ony hobbleshow wi' siclike vermin; so I'll awa up to ma lord's at Taymouth, and leave you, my bonny woman, to gie them their kail through the reek, Having thus primed the old lady, he departed. The transaction now recorded having occurred upwards of half a century ago, it is proper to mention, that the line of travelling between Stirling and Achlyne was of a most rugged and toilsome description, and only passable by pedestrians. The clerk and his legal myrmidons, therefore, did not reach the place where they expected their prey till it was nearly dusk. The ancient carline had been long on the outlook, and going to meet them, she invited them into the house in the most couthy and kindly manner. 'O, sirs,' quoth she, 'ye maun be sair forfoughen wi' your langsome travel. Our Hieland hills are no for them that hae breeks on, I reckon. Sit doon, sit doon, and pit some meat in your wames, for atweel they maun be girnin' and wamling like knots o' edders. The laird's awa to see a freend, and will be back momently. What gars ye glower at that daftlike gate, sirs? There is what ye're wantin' in that muckle kist, in bonnie yellow goud, fairly counted by his honour this blessed mornin'. Wha wad hae thocht ye wad hae been sae langsome in coming up here; chields like you, that are weel kent to be greedy gleds after the siller. But bide ye till the laird comes in, and ye will get what ye want.' So saying, she spread before them a plentiful store of mountain delicacies, not forgetting a plentiful supply of glenlivet; and, in short, she put them beyond the power of proceeding further in their business that night, and they were fain to stay in Janet's cottage till the morning. The clerk, in respect of his gentility, was bestowed in an apartment by himself; the messengers were put in another, containing a single bed for their accommodation. One of the latter worthies, feeling, towards the morning, his entrails scorched with that intolerable heat consequent on mighty over-night potations, got up in quest of some friendly liquid. To aid him in his search, he opened the window-shutter-when the first object which saluted his astonished organs of vision almost petrified him into stone. The sight indeed was rather alarming-a human figure dangling in the winds of heaven from a branch of an ancient oak in the front of the house.

mash, was quietly reposing in his bed; and if he dreamed at all of suspensions, it was that of the writ of horning and caption. When he got up, he was surprised at the non-appearance of his companions, ner could he extract the smallest information on the subject from trusty Janet. Being therefore deprived of his legal tools, no other resource was left for him but toplod homewards back his weary way?

To conclude: so tremendous an account did the messengers give of their expedition, that no temptation could have induced twenty of them to venture on a similar errand, unless backed by a regiment of a thousand strong."

Many anecdotes could be added to these, to illustrate the character of this extraordinary man ; but our limits forbid. The laird of Macnab, with all his oddities, ceased to exist on the 25th of May 1816, when he had reached the age of eighty-two.

THE PRINTING-OFFICE-A VISIT TO

CLOWES'S ESTABLISHMENT. THE profession of the printer has within these few years undergone a most extraordinary revolution. From being limited in importance by the feeble efforts of the hand-press, it has, under the magical influence of steam and machinery, expanded into gigantic propor tions, and promises soon to become, by the increasing appetite for its products, one of the largest branches of manufacturing industry. At no distant date, printing was on a most antediluvian scale. A dingy "office," consisting of two or three apartments on the first or second floor of some faded genteel tenement in a faded part of the town-half-a-dozen lads, and a few old men with Dutch spectacles on nose, planted at so many composing frames, and laboriously setting dark wellworn types-adjoining, a couple of wooden or partially improved iron presses, wrought with a world of toil, and wheezing and groaning as if in the pangs of disso lution as every impression was pulled. Such was the printing-office of the early ages of mankind-that is to say, about thirty or forty years ago; for since these primitive times the printer's profession has advanced in the ratio of a hundred to one as compared with most other handicrafts; and we now look back to the eighteen hundred and ones and twos, as we should do to the era of Tubal Cain, the flood of Noah, or thereabouts.

reading has improved printing, or improved printing It may be a question with some, whether a taste for has created a taste for reading. Truth is partly on both sides; but it is beyond dispute that the great movement towards a revolution in the craft was effected by the steam-press, without which any increased taste for reading could not possibly have been satisfied. We therefore rank the steam-press as by far the most wonderful engine of modern invention. England has produced nothing more splendid, as respects its moral results, in any period of its annals. Yet, not to England belongs the entire honour of the discovery. Inasmuch as we owe the art of printing to the illustrious Guttenberg, a German of the Upper Rhine, so do we ascribe the final perfection of the craft to König, also a German, who, arriving in London about 1804, laboured ten years in the endeavour to produce printing by inanimate machinery, and at length triumphed in 1814, by constructing a steamand Applegath subsequently modified and adapted press for working off the Times newspaper. Cowper machinery for book-printing, and it is machines on their model, working by cylinders, of which we have now principally to speak.

last ten years, in which period cylindrical steamPrinting has made its greatest strides during the presses have been spread all over the country. Hardly a newspaper is now any where printed with a handpress, and few or no periodical publications. The covered what small sense he possessed, he made a shift great business. One maker in London lately menAs soon as the wretched minister of the law had re- making of printing-machines has in itself become a to stagger to the bedside, and roused his brother in tioned to us that he produced a machine regularly tribulation, who, when he beheld the horrid spectacle, every three weeks upon an average all the year round, was assailed with the most dreadful agonies of terror each at a price of about L.400. Other manufacturers and consternation. To add to their miseries, the door are similarly engaged; the machines being sent not was locked. Bells there were none in the Highlands only to all parts of Europe, but to America, Australia, in those days, but they stamped and kicked on the and India. In a few years there will not be a civilised floor with dreadful energy and clamour. After keep-country of any consequence on the globe which does ing the poor wretches in a state of unspeakable terror not possess these powerful distributors of human for a space of time which appeared to them an eter- knowledge. nity, the old woman unlocked the door, and presented a visage in which were expressed all the united horrors of countenance attributed to the infernal furies. What the foul fiend gars ye mak sic a din for? shouted the fearful beldam. Quaking in every limb, the only words their lips could give utterance to were, 'What's-what's that on the tree? What's that on the tree' cried the carline, in a dismally hollow and elritch tone of voice; 'it's the bit clerk body frae the bank o' Stirling, that cam here last night to deave the laird for siller-we've taen and hangit him, puir elf. The effect of this appalling disclosure was electrifying. Fear added wings to their speed, and the terrified brace of messengers never looked behind them for the first ten miles on their road to Stirling.

such exquisitely sensitive personages as messengers are Now, what almost frightened into convulsions two in general, was a bundle of straw, artificially stuffed by Janet into some ancient garments of the laird's, which she had suspended from the tree in the manner described. The innocent clerk, during all this stra

*The Earl of Breadalbane.

It is a received doctrine among the typographical gentlemen of the metropolis, "that a printing-machine always creates work for itself." You never by any chance see a machine standing idle. Its huge cylin ders are either revolving and sending forth sheet after sheet to the outstretched paws of the Flibbertigibbet who sits in attendance on its operations, or it is just going to begin, or it has only the last moment finished, and something else is preparing. These we take to be pleasing traits in its character. The creature absolutely seems to relish and grow merry under its awfully Herculean labours. Though turning out every instant the work of ten or twelve men, it never expos tulates or grumbles with its employers. An affair of fifty thousand copies is a mere trifle in its estimation. What next-what next-what is to be done next? is its something frightful in this insatiable craving for work, ever ready and cheery demand. There would really be if it were not for the blessed circumstance, as the London printers say, that work somehow always casts up for it, and so keeps the wheels moving without intermission. Need we tell our uninitiated friends, that the planting of such a working monster in a