"The primitive and poetical speculations of the ancient bandsman were interrupted by the recommencement of the dance, which seemed suspended for the special instruction of the Cameronian elder, in the mysterious symbols of tempest and sunshine. No sooner had the pipe and the fiddle, and the chorus of heels and smitten hands, resumed their reign, than John Macmukle, leaving him of the east and him of the west to arrange between them the complexion of the coming day, ascended the steep green bank, and between him and home he beheld a scene of mirth and joy, which was far from being in harmony with his settled notions of domestic enjoyment. On the green sward, shaven short and smooth, appeared a full score of Highland reapers, who, under the influence of a brilliant moon and a deep-toned pipe, were dancing with that lightsomeness of heart and heel for which the Scottish peasantry are justly famous. Indeed, their delightful music, and the partnership of their lovely lasses, bounding with dark tresses and bright eyes, would infuse a feeling of harmony and love into the most untutorable intellects. The Cameronian was not insensible to the beauty of the one, or the melody of the other; and though he advanced with an aspect of the most determined gravity, his feet could not avoid acknowledging the excellence of the pipe of Hamish Machamish, and actually were detected by their proprietor performing a measure resembling the first step of Shan Truish. The confusion of the Cameronian, at this detection, was not observed by his band of joyous upland reapers a race of hardy beings, who, when the Lowland harvests whiten the plains, descend from the mountains with sharpened sickles, and with music, and with mirth. At present they were in the full enjoyment

of the Highland reel preparatory for supper, and presented a picture of rustic merriment, yet common in farm-houses during the months of harvest. On each side of the door stood benches of stone, which on Sunday mornings served as "louping-on" stanes for the heavy believers of Cameron, but were now occupied by ancient dames and lyart bandsmen, who came to witness the evening pastime of the shearers. Among these sat several old shepherds, with bonnets of true Cameronian circumference; their sheep-dogs at their feet, and their hand and head keeping a kind of reverend time with the tune, which seemed a Highland half-brother to the delightful Lowland air of Nelly Weems. The piper, Hamish Machamish, a stout and ruddy clansmen, with a profusion of feathers in his bonnet, and an ample breadth of tartan, had exalted himself on the square freestone cheese-press as a kind of vantage-ground, reminding him of his native rocks, and from which he threw down music of such a moving quality, that the sweat-drops hung at the temple-locks of the maidens, the rapidity of their motions was so great. moment the music struck into one of those wild salutations with which a piper welcomes persons of note; and then ceasing, the dancers formed a lane, through which they beckoned their master to advance to his own threshold. The Cameronian looked right and looked left, and it seemed doubtful whether he would admonish or applaud.Alake, my bairns, my bairns, ye might surely find a wiser employment than leaping with the knees ye kneel with, and shouting with the lips ye pray with, within the sight o' the same heaven where the souls of just men made perfect reside.' Hamish Machamish was too imperfect a master of the Dumfriesshire dialect,

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perfectly to apprehend the meaning of John's counsel, which was purely spiritual; but, guessing it to be something of admonition, answered- Hout tout, gudeman, bide ye a bit till I wyse a pickle new wind into this auld bag,' and he busied himself in preparing his instrument as he spoke; and ye shall e'en shake your Lawland legs wi' bonny May Macfarlane, the laird o' Cairngorum's far-awa cousin-and ye shall kiss May when the dance is done, and let canker fa', that sall ye e'en, gudeman-and de'il a Lawland lip ever touched her afore, though plenty maun be willing, de'il a doubt on't.' The piper gave a glance among his companions, and May Macfarlane, a tall and comely damsel, stepped forward, a willing offering, to redeem the promise of her kinsman, and assuredly a pair of lovelier riper lips were never offered to the touch of the gudeman of Crumocomfort. With that arch and demure look, which has so often been remarked in the rustic maidens of Scotland, did this mountain-nymph survey the devout person to whose attention she had been so frankly recommended. The Cameronian, under the scrutiny of a pair of eyes so bewitchingly bright and alluring, maintained with difficulty his ancient reputation for self-denial, while Hamish Machamish beset him with other temptations-such as prevail with a devoted agriculturist.-An' fiend hae me, gudeman, gin we winna a' rise wi' the morning-star, and that star rises in Cairngorum-glen lang afore the sun, and I shall let the merry wind out o' this auld wallet wi' sic magic skill, that the sharp sickles shall move as if by enchantment. 'Od, gudeman, we'll win the kirn ere the sun has set. Sae e'en take the sward there wi' our winsome May, for its pleasant, wi' the full moon above us, and the green mountains afore us, to shake the cramps o' sair wark frae our legs, to the soothing sound o' a pipe.' John Macmukle looked at the piper, and then at the fair Highland damsel, who stood before him as an added temptation to the picture of joy which her kinsman had drawn, and nature, which often wages sore war with human conduct, had nearly delivered up the prop and pillar of the congregation to the dark eyes of this Highland sorceress. Already had the piper singled out one of his favourite airs, and it was

well for the devout Cameronian that the charms of music were not added to the sum total of other temptations, and each maiden stood eager to bound from the arms of her partner, when John, unbonneting as he advanced, laid his arms round the Highland maiden's neck, and, imprinting a devout kiss on her high white brow, said, with a grave smile, ⚫ eighty years may wish themselves twenty for thy sweet sake,' and into his house he walked, followed by his daughter and

me.

"A cozie ingle and a clean hearthstane, have been long held sensible tokens of domestic comfort, but in the mansion of John Macmukle the toil of continual thrift, with the large wheel and the less-the management of an extensive dairy, and the constant preparation of the stuff" that sustains life, rendered a clean-swept floor, a clear cheerful fire, and the fair order and array of household things, a matter for me to wonder at. Three young girls were busied sweetning and cleansing some forty or fifty wooden vessels, to contain the evening milk, as many were working among heaps of curds, scarcely more white than the hands which prepared them for the chessel, and on a long bench beyond them sat half a dozen shepherds, with looks so sedate and devotional, that, with holier men than me, they might have passed for those ancient and undefined deities who were believed to preside over the milk-pail and the sheep-fold. A peatfire sparkled on the floor, leaving space for a wide and comfortable bench between and the gabel-wall, and a wooden chimney, descending through the roof and ceiling, approached the floor to the height of a common man, and, presenting to the fire a gorge resembling an inverted mill-hopper, swallowed up the smoke in volumes. But the smoke, unsavoury as it is to people of fastidious eyes, was not permitted to escape without infusing its preserving spirit and delicious flavour into sundry rows of mutton and bacon hams, reested tongues, and immense kippers, which garnished the inside and outside of this primitive but effectual chimney. An immense meal-ark, with a full sack or two beside it, to repair the daily consumption of its contents, stood in a corner; a massive lang-settle of black oak, covered with rude carvings, stood under a window on

the sunward side, and a cushion laid at one end, and a shelf above, replenished with the works of the Caledonian worthies, profane as well as divine, showed the proprietor was fond of entertainment as well as rest. Indeed, nothing distinguishes the Scottish character more than the thirst of the people after instruction; and it is, besides, a common remark in England, that a Scotchman, rather than be idle, will pick amusement out of a pudding-pin. Over the whole of this extensive and busy domain, Marion Morehead, the wife of John Macmukle, directed her faded but experienced eye, sharing her glances equally between her domestic matters and that sage and savoury book called The Believer's vantage ground of Salvation; and which a profane as well as a malignant presbyterian, nicknamed The louping-on stane for heavy-bottomed believers.' This aged and resspectable matron sat in some state, in an ancient chair, which seemed coeval with the fashion of her attire-she wore a broad lappeted mutch, and a gray mantle, pinned over her bosom, leaving room for the motion of her hands when she directed her damsels. She appeared some sixty years old, but was hale, vigorous, and erect, and maintained a stately gravity-yet kindliness of demeanour, which endeared her to all. She had been bred a Cameronian, and her maiden charms had the merit of convincing and reclaiming the young goodman of Lillycross from the foul paths of latitudinarianism, and the crooked road of scepticism. This conversion was always quoted by the Cameronians as a proof of the prevailing excellence of their doctrines. At first he was a dubious disciple, and seemed to look back with regret to the blessed precincts of open presbyterianism, whither he had been hasting, and it was not without alarm that his beautiful and devout wife saw the approach of the Roodfair of Dumfries or the Lambfair of Lockerby; at these gladsome trystes, she dreaded he would forget the self-denial of the race of Cameron, and in the company of the Bells of Gotterbey, or Pate Irving of the Scroggs, or the merry laird of Drumbreg, forsake the limited field which Cameron or Cargill blessed, for the unbounded domains of a laxer kirk. It was in the midst of a graceless revel in the Ratton-raw of Dumfries, that John was made a confirmed Camero

nian, the wanton song of auld Glenac was demanded by Jamie Johnstone of Wyliehole, and he demanded it from John Macmukle, who, in his less sedate days, could sing and act this interlude with arch grace and glee; the young Cameronian scrupled, but was inwardly preparing himself to sing, when William Macrone, the laird of Lammerbead, cried out, What d'ye bogle at, ye bride-bed Whig.' At this uncourteous allusion to the circumstances of his conversion, the Cameronian grasped the portioner by the throat with both his hands, and such was his strength, that he actually lifted him from the floor, and holding him at arms' length in the air, looked on him for a second with an eye which actually darted rays of dark light. Reflection returned in a moment, and he dropped the terrified laird of Lammerbead out of his hands an an eagle would drop a lamb from its clutches, put his bonnet on, and said, 'Change-house or chapin-stoups shall never know me more-and as for thee, thou wretch, scrimped by nature in the wit, as well as the make of a man, be thankful I slew thee not in my wrath'-and away he stalked-and in his purpose remained till the present hour, unchanged and unshaken. When Marion Morehead saw her husband and daughter approach, she welcomed them with one of those affectionate glances, by which, in her youth, she had ruled her wayward lord, nor did she withhold from me the same token of regard. 'Marion Morehead,' said the Cameronian, the name of Morison has ceased in the land-and though it savours o' rearing a statue to dead Dagon, I am sorely inclined to place a mark and a memorial at the head of the last of the name-and assuredly, woman, I shall have no graven images, nor vain symbols, nor pastoral crooks, nor jewelled crosses, nor mitres, on this humble stone of remembrance; but as these makers of monuments are a vain and a headstrong race, and think that dust lies pleased under the unintelligible labour of their chisels, I shall covenant with auld Mortstane Crombie of that barren spot Knowebuckle, for a plain and simple memorial. He is a commandment-keeping man, imitates nothing on the earth beneath, and keeps a sedate chisel, that never goes astray among graceless or superstitious devices. I have said it--and so shall

it be-what sayest thou, Marion Morehead?' And even so let it be, John Macmukle,' said the Cameronian dame, ، and gather sundry douce and sponsible folk to lay her in honour amang her fathers; and let douce Saunders Corson, a kind man, though a rank catholic, lay her head in the grave-it may sooth her spirit-and in death we ought to have done with distinctions. And moreover, I bethink me, I should be laith to see the last refuge of the noble Morisons made a den for mendicants and tinker gypsies-we maun think on some meet inmate, who can brook meeting with the shadows of those who lived in the body, for that glen is haunted, and so shall ever be.' The Cameronian nodded acquiescence, and, seating himself in the lang-settle, left me to win my way to the regard of Marion Morehead in the best way I was able-her beauteous daughter accomplished this in a moment: ، Mother, that my father wasnae slain by that known stabber, auld Francie Mackittrick, ye may thank this young lad,' and, taking me. by the hand, she led me up to her mother's chair. ، Bless thee, my bonnie lad,' said the venerable dame, laying back my hair from my brow, as she blessed me, and shedding the ringlets away which covered my templesI aye like to see all the face which I bless, and a high, and white, and open brow deserves to be seen for the sake of the Maker-blessed be all his works -and this brow is ane of the fairest now let me consider the lineage; this is the brow, and this the determined lip of a Macrabin-but this is the gentle and dark eye of a Corrie-fair fall thee, Mark Macrabin, my bairn, I I am glad to see thee in the hame of Crumocomfort-even for thine own sake, as weel as for that of thy father, who was, some forty years ago, as stately a man as ever put a foot in a black leather shoe, and but for John Macmukle, had been the pride o' three parishens.' I took my seat on the lang-settle, and looked with no incurious eye over the whole domestic establishment of the Cameronian.

"I was soon made sensible of having overlooked on my entrance some important personages. The Cameronian maiden trimmed the fire, and refreshed the cruse with oil; an augmented light rewarded her diligence, and diffused itself over the immense spence, making wall and rafter gleam.

Beyond the fire, along the gabel wall, I now observed a bench, on which five of those persons were seated who live on the free grace and bounty of their more frugal or richer brethren. The three in the centre, one man and two women, seemed ordinary and vulgar mendicants, whose chief delight was in accumulating awmous-meal and gathering halfpence, or lightening the thorn bush of the encumbrance of linen, a smock or a snood. For this purpose they were amply provided with large haversacks or clouted wallets, suspended before and behind, together with a species of pouch, something between the modest depth of a maiden's fairing pocket at Roodsmass, and the ravenous dimensions of a gypsie's travelling wallet. They frequented funerals, lyke-wakes, and weddings, and scraped the bones, and mumbled over the crumbs, which sorrow or mirth alike leave as a repast for such corbies. Their looks were downcast and dissatisfied; and they inwardly cursed the accuracy of the dame of Lillycross, and her sharp and inquisitive eyes, which alike bade defiance to the most gainful part of their calling. The two remaining figures that occupied this bench for travelling mendicants, belonged to a nobler order of human beings, and had a form and an air which commanded respect, and, what was equally fortunate, obtained it. The one seated on the right, was a straight and stately old man, with long flaxen hair, a forehead high and furrowed, and his eyes, feeble from extreme age, or weak as all eyes are with flaxen browlocks, seemed to single out no object for meditation, but looked forward with a staid and undeviating gaze. Both his hands rested on the head of a staff, polished smooth as horn by constant use, and a bonnet with a torn feather in it lay at his foot, beside a beautiful moorland dog, which spread its white bosom to the fire, and looked forward with a satisfied eye, like its humble owner. old harp stood beside him, partly shrouded by his plaid, which he had laid aside, and though this instrument seemed much worn by practice, and was despoiled of some silver foliage, which, in the more fortunate times of minstrelsy, had been inlaid on its oaken frame; it still possessed the power of pleasing the maids of the vale and the mountain, who listen with admiration, and are resolved to be pleased. His

An

look was particularly mild and resigned; and though something of the conscious pride of the minstrel still remained unsubdued by age, it was hallowed by association with saint-like qualities; and I never looked on any face that commanded my respect so deeply. His fellow-wanderer at the other end of the bench, was an old man of a different stamp from the ancient minstrel. He was neither so tall nor so well-proportioned, nor had he that native elegance of manner which the other, from the grace and inspiration of his calling, possessed. He owned a profusion of white hair, with which the wind had wantoned as it pleased the face of a being at once approachable and companionable and an eye that, with all its humility, had a lurking acuteness of remark, and a kind of sensible enjoyment of the humorous or the ludicrous, which he nearly effectually concealed by a gravity of demeanour approaching to the morose. He was of a far more gross and sensual stamp than the minstrel; and, though the traditional historian of three populous districts—the receptacle of all the antiquarian lore of Dumfries-shire-and the most notable mendicant for narratives, either pathetic or humorous-he was never known to keep the supper hour aloof by a favourite tale, or disturb the time of dinner by the intrusion of a single saying. He possessed too the winning faculty of suiting his stories to the ages and wishes of his hearers; and, while he had a grave, sedate narrative, plentifully sprinkled with devout and moral remarks, for the aged and the serious, he did not want those more agreeable and airy tales, which find such ready way to the hearts of the young and the joyous: nay, even for the solitary ear of some person who delighted in the ballads composed by the simple muse of Caledonia, in days when she went high-kilted, he had an ample collection, but which he always reprobated as things in themselves sinful, and related with regret to oblige his entertainer. No wonder that the arrival of this tractable worthy was hailed by the old and the young, and though the times were worse than the days of his youth-and men gave more limited credence to tales of superstition or wonder, he still continued to increase in wealth and in fame; and that farmer would have been branded as a churl, and that dame as tasteless and uncha

ritable, who refused to harbour him, or hearken his tales. On John Macmukle he looked with a sedate and quotation-making eye; on his daughter and me he threw a glance unusually shrewd and knowing, and which seemed steeped in true love enjoyment, and on the menial maidens he placed looks of that humorous and amusing kind, which kept them in a continual giggle, and interrupted the tranquillity of the Cameronian's establishment.

The hour of supper was at hand, a pot of prodigious dimensions was unlinked from the fire, and the favourite supper-meal of harvest was prepared by a couple of bare-armed maidens.-In this ancient household hollow vessel of iron, the wooden implement with which the menials crushed the potatoes into powder, raised a clang that was heard far and wide and equalled in melody the clang of the parish bell, which, from that circumstance, was called the "muckle pot of Lillycross." Milk and butter were next showered upon the vexed vegetables, called, by the poetical peasants of Ireland, "the ground melon," or "St Patrick's manna ;" and a smell more ambrosial and provoking was never emitted from kettle or cauldron.Shepherd and shepherd's dog, turned by that natural relish which all living things have for good cheer, to the mighty vessel round which the girls moved, keeping a kind of time like the Highland sybils round the charmed cauldron in Macbeth, and so delicious was the flavour, that the Highland piper, Hamish Machamish, abated in the fervour of his music, and wound suddenly up one of those lively and bewitching reel tunes to which the mountain maidens bound. like beings enchanted. The harvest horn of Lillycross was winded thrice, and the echoes of Ae water alone replied, for neither maiden nor swain were found insensible to the attractions of this provincial dish; which, by some fatality unknown in the history of good cheer, has been charmed within the precincts of Dumfries-shire and Galloway. Circles were formed suddenly round three supper-tables, and a blessing, which included the three groupes, was pronounced by the Cameronian, though it was observable, that a shepherd or two preferred blessing their supper in their own way; for the grace of John Macmukle was lamentably brief. The length of his