and to have been among the first to have received his blessing. "With sentiments of the most filial reverence, love, and esteem, "I have the honour to remain, "Your truly faithful, &c. JOHN SKINNER.” Extract from a letter from Bishop Low to the Rev. Dr. Walker. "I almost envy you your present happiness, which must be great and pure. I request that you will offer my best respects and regards to the venerable Bishop of New-York, and say, that I expect, with real delight, to meet him either in Edinburgh or in Fife; in the former, either before or on his return from the north, or at the priory here, which, though shorn of all its splendour, I shall endeavour to make as comfortable as I can. Should the Bishop take me in his way north, I would accompany him to my Lord Kellie's, who you know would be highly gratified by a visit from his reverence, and afterwards to St. Andrew's, for the purpose of viewing the melancholy remains of Knoxian desolation. You must be upon the watch, and give me due notice, as far as they shall be known to you, of the Bishop's intentions and motions." Extract of a letter from Bishop Jolly to the same. VOL. I. 36 "Fraserburgh, Dec. 22, 1823. "MY DEAREST REV. BROTHER, "Your truly surprising letter gives such a transporting diversion to my thoughts, as more resembles a pleasing dream than the expectation of a reality. To meet the most amiable and most excellent Bishop Hobart, (for such is the idea which his highly valued writings have impressed of him upon my mind,) I would go to Edinburgh, even at this day of the year; and to make the journey to Aberdeen, could I find no vehicle, I would set forward on foot, although it should cost me the six days to accomplish the walk. "This will impart to you how I am affected and inclined upon the occasion, as if I expected to meet Bishop Seabury revived, a name I never mention but with the highest veneration." From Bishop Torry to Bishop Hobart. "RIGHT REV. AND DEAR SIR, Jan. 5, 1824. "It is with painful feelings I have to deplore the circumstances that prevent me from enjoying the happiness of meeting you at Aberdeen, which my worthy colleague there had kindly invited me to do, but I beg to be considered as bearing towards you the warmest sentiments of fraternal regard. "The visit with which you have honoured us, will strengthen the cords of affection already subsisting between the American and Scottish Episcopal Churches, so similar in many respects, and will tend to enlarge the intercourse between them in such a way as may, it is hoped, be not only mutually gratifying, but beneficial to both. "Accept of my warmest wishes for your health and happiness, and the continued blessing of God on your official labours, and believe me to be, 66 Right Rev. and dear Sir, "Your very affectionate brother, "PATRICK TORRY." From Bishop Low to Bishop Hobart. 66 Priory, Pittenweem, Dec. 30, 1823. "RIGHT REV. AND DEAR SIR, "I congratulate myself on your happy arrival in Scotland, and on my expectation of having the honour of a personal interview before your departure. "Our friend, Mr. Walker, of Edinburgh, mentions your motions northward, and your intended return south by St. Andrew's, where I purpose, please God, to meet you, and after viewing the curiosities, the antiquities, and the melancholy remains of the departed grandeur of that once far famed archiepiscopal city, to accompany you to Cambo, the seat of the venerable Earl of Kellie, whom you will find a nobleman of easy and primitive manners, and a staunch friend of the Church. "From other friends I have applications also for the pleasure of your society, but on that head I shall at present only say, that the more of your time you can spare, the greater will be the compliment and the gratification to us all. "If you leave Aberdeen on Monday, the fifth, it may be the afternoon of Tuesday, or the morning of Wednesday after, before you can meet me; but that I may have some certain knowledge of your motions, and of the time that you can afford to us in Fife, I take the liberty to request that you would write a note by the return of post, addressed to me at Dr. Melville's, St. Andrew's. "I beg the favour of you to make my best remembrance to all my brethren whom you have gone to meet at Aberdeen; and requesting your prayers (as you have mine) for the speedy, complete, and permanent re-establishment of your health, I have the honour to remain, with sincere esteem and regard, "Right Rev. and dear Sir, "Your very faithful "And very affectionate servant, "DAVID LOW, "Bishop of Ross and Argyle." From Bishop Hobart to Mrs. Hobart. 66 Edinburgh, Dec. 24, 1823. "MY DEAREST WIFE, 66 "I have just finished my solitary dinner, the only one which I have eaten at the hotel where I lodge, for this week past, having dined out almost every day since I came to this city, where I arrived last Friday week. It was by candle-light, for the sun sets here a quarter before four o'clock, and it is generally so hazy and foggy that candles are lighted some times before that hour. ***. Sitting by myself, my thoughts turned on my dear home and family, on the occupations of the day before Christmas-eve, the decking the rooms with evergreens, &c. &c. I endeavoured to see you all as I thought you might be now engaged. While melancholy thoughts at my distance from you were stealing over me, a hand-organ struck up some plaintive Scotch airs, the same as those which I have heard played in the streets at New-York-I was obliged to turn my thoughts to other subjects, or my feelings would have been too much excited for my comfort. I must indeed break off, by wishing you and my beloved children all the blessings of this happy season; and earnestly do I pray, that while they indulge in temporal enjoyments, it will be their supreme aim to secure those which are spiritual and eternal. "Your affectionate husband,. "J. H. HOBART." It will doubtless be no less a matter of surprise to the public than of unfeigned regret, that a portion of Bishop Hobart's life, so replete with interest to himself, as that which he passed in Europe, must in a great measure be a blank to others. He made notes, indeed, of the objects on the route with which he was struck, in every country which he visited, but they were, with a few exceptions, naked and unfinished sketches. While his recollections were fresh and vivid, he himself might have filled them up in such a way as to form many a delightful picture, but he never found time for it, and they are now therefore lost for ever. These notes were for the most part written with a pencil, and are |