SHEPHERD ON NORTH AND THE SUN.

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idea of dotage. Come now, be frank with your old friend, and tell me, if the oil in the lamp be low, or if the lamp itself but want trimming?

Shepherd. Neither. But the lamp's o' a curious construction--a self-feedin, self-trimmin lamp-and, sure aneuch, at times in the gloom it gies but a glimmer-sae that a stranger micht imagine that the licht was on its last legs-but would sune start to see the room on a sudden bricht as day, as if the window-shutters had been opened by an invisible hand, and let in a' the heavens.

North. I never desire to be brilliant.
Shepherd. Nor does the Day.

North. Nor the Night.

Shepherd. There lies the charm o' their beauty, sir, just as yours. There's nae ostentation either in the sun or in the moon, or in the stars, or in Christopher North.

North. Ah! you quiz!

Shepherd. There's the sun.

Hoo aften does he keep out o' sicht through the greatest pairt even o' a lang simmer day! True, ye aye ken, withouten ony science, whereabouts he is in the sky; for that face o' his canna be sae entirely hidden that our een dinna hear it silently speak.

North. A mixed image, James-a

Shepherd. Saft, sweet, laigh murmur, as it were, o' licht. I'm alludin, the noo, to the sun far ben in heaven on a serene day-when, if you could suppose a human ee openin for the first time on natur, the human bein' would think the air was the sun o' which he had read in the Bible, and perhaps imagine that St Mary's Loch was what was ca'd licht! Or possibly he micht include in his idea the greenness o' the hills, out or in the water; but whatever he thocht or felt, we canna dout that he would be happy as a seraph, and utter a thanksgiving to the Invisible.

North. My dear Shepherd, I forget and forgive your banter in the beauty of such images-so purely Scottish.

Shepherd. Whare's the sun in a thunner-storm? You micht absolutely believe he was afraid o' bein' struck by the lichtnin.

North. That's an original thought, if ever there was one. Ha ha ha! James.

Shepherd. Wha the deevil ever heard a man afore lauchin at the shooblime ?

North. Why, that's another! I must begin to look serious. Shepherd. Knawin, like a great chemist as he is, that water's a non-conductor, and naturally abhorred by the electric fluid— when the tempest's at its hicht, and threatens to tak the sky by storm

North. That is the third.

Shepherd.

he has retired

North. Fourth.

Shepherd.

and to escalade the verra citadel into which

-the sun commands the clouds to become rain

and droon the lichtnin!North. Fifth. Shepherd.

And then sallyin frae the dungeon-vaults o' that celestial stronghold, he shows his unharmed heid a' glitterin wi' golden hair, mair beautifu' than an angel's, while earth lauchs back to heaven, and from all her groves hymneth the Lord of Light and Love in choirs of gratulation that gladden the blue lift and the green hills wi' holy echoes! North. The half-dozen.

Shepherd. O' whattt!

North. Of original ideas.

Shepherd. Na-you're turnin the tables on me noo, sir.
North. Well-well-let it be so.

[By his thumb on the rim NORTH makes revolve the Circular,
so that he and the SHEPHERD exchange jugs.

Shepherd. I ca' that selfish. A drap cauld wersh dregs at the bottom o' yours, and mine fu' to the brim o' het, strang, stingin toddy! But ae gude turn deserves anither. (Imitates NORTH in his management of the orrery, and restores the planetary system into its former position in space.)-Is that you, my bonny jug! Let me kiss your hinny mou! That's a kind cretur!

North. Then the moon, James?

Shepherd. Why, sir, she aften comes out o' her bower when the sun is shinin, frae pure modesty and bashfulness, that nane may see her takin a walk, happy to be eclipsed into obscurity by that omnipotent licht.

North. Seven.

Shepherd. In that resemblin yoursel, sir, wha are fond o' my society in a' its splendour, that, like the Leddy Moon in presence o' the Lordly Sun, you may escape notice in your ain quate and cosy nyuck, contented wi' your ain some

SHEPHERD ON THE MOON.

247

what pallid face, while the general gaze is concentrate on mine glowin wi' mair roseate colours.

North. Eight.

Shepherd. And haena ye seen her on a clear blue nicht, when she couldna help rejoicin in her beauty, and there could be nae use in denyin that she knew hoo exceedin fair she was, Mother o' Pearl o' the Firmament

North. Nine.

Shepherd. Haena ye seen her then acceleratin her pace to meet the laggin clouds, and divin intil the heart o' the first mass she met, carin naething for the disappointment o' the shepherds sprinkled ower the hills, sae that she enjoy for a while her beloved retirement, like a princess shunnin a people's gaze, and layin hersel doun on a bed wi' white curtains and white sheets, but no half sae white as her ain lovely limbs, for they are o' lilies-and what whiteness is like that o' lilies, whether they grow in the garden, or in the loch? North. Ten.

Shepherd. And yet she's no aye sae blate; for haena you and me aften seen her shinin in the sky, mair like the sun than the moon, brichtenin and brichtenin while we continued to gaze, as if she were resolved in her queenly heart to domineer -I had amaist said to tyrannise-in the divine power o' her beauty over all upward eyes,-outfacing her worshippers till they winked, if no under her lustre yet under her lovelinessand turned awa perhaps quite overcome- to relieve their hearts by a look o' the Evening Star?

North. Eleven.

Shepherd. What's a' the ships that ever sailed the sea to her -what's a' the isles that slumber on the sea-what's a' the birds, though God kens they are beautifu', that, on the bosom o' that sea or o' thae isles, alicht and fauld up their pennons spotless as the snaw! She heeds them not-for to her the sea is but a mirror in which her heart is gladdened by the beauty o' her countenance; and that she may enjoy her gaze on hersel, she chains in saft shinin fetters the charmed world o' waves. North. The dozen, by Diana!

Shepherd. As for the stars-never could my heart decide whether they were fairest risin, settin, or studded, stationary sparkles, in the sky, like diamonds on the sclate-roof o' a human dwellin.

248

SHEPHERD ON THE STARS.

North. Second Series. Number One.

Shepherd. I'm glad to see you dinna start at the comparison. For what's bonnier than the yellow glintin diamonds on the blue sclate-roof o' a human dwellin—laigh though the riggin be? And what forbids that they should be likened to the starry splendour on the cope o' highest heaven?

North. Nothing.

Shepherd. The same hand formed those in the earthen mine, that hung these on the celestial vault-and then methinks, sir, that the laigher roof, as the heart keeps narrowin and hallowin its feelings in domestic peace, is something even mair sacred-seein that God gied us sic shelter that aneath it we micht sing His praise-than the far-aff roof star-spangledthe roof, as it were, o' the boundless universe. For 'tis the roof o' ane's ain wee dearest warld, where everything is suitable in its significance-I had amaist said insignificancebut ae great thocht made me change the word-for are we not immortal-though born to die!

North. I have lost count, my dearest Forester, of the original and delightful ideas you have been pouring forth this last halfhour, and hope this shovel of oysters will be to your taste. Nothing, after all, like the open-stitch shovel for roasting natives. [Scrapes off half a hundred natives on the Shepherd's plate— and half a hundred on his own.

Shepherd. Prime. As I look on a risin star I feel the same as if listenin to a soarin laverock-I wad think, as the star sets ahint the hill, I saw the bird drappin earthward to its nest.

North. Love you best, James, to gaze on them clear or in mist-in scores or in thousands?

Shepherd. I seldom noo, sir, gaze on them ava. It is sufficient to ken that they are there-their presence aboon is impressive on my heart, though my een be on the grund as I am trudging hame outower the hills, or atween my yad's1 lugs as I'm trottin alang the bridle-roads wi' a tight rein for fear he comes doun and breaks his knees-nae unusual occurrence. If they're dimmish, which they may be without bein' misty, that's nae positive sign that it will rain the morrow-but when wannish it will surely be wat; and as I never yet kent rain thrown awa in the Forest, I'm aye glad to see them wannish; for sae far frae bein' then sickly, 'tis a symptom o' health, 1 Yad-jade, roadster.

1

WHAT IS SPIRIT ?

249

and indeed diseases there are nane amang the heavenly lichts, nor did a single ane o' them a' ever send down to earth but a blessin on man and beast. I canna thole noo to look lang on a refulgent star—it maks me sae melancholy; but frequently sic a ane obleeges me to see it—singlin itsel out frae the rest as if it wished a' the warld below to admire it; and then I pause, and wi' a sigh give it a silent benediction. When they hae taen possession o' the skies in thousands—and that tens o' thousands are aften visible at ance to my naked een, I shall continue to believe in spite o' a' the astronomers that ever peepit through telescopes-'tis then that I hae nae fear to tak a lang steady look at the nocturnal heavens. A's sae cheerfu' as weel's sae serene—sae merry, I had amaist said, as weel's sae majestic-a' sae gay, sir, as weel's sae glorious—that a tempered joy diffuses itsel through a' my bein', and the man admires like a child the illuminated sky-palace o' nature.

North. The Material Universe! and is there nothing beyond? Where is the abode of Spirit? And what is Spirit? Shepherd. O sir! surely ye are no a materialist!

North. No, indeed, James. It has been argued by materialists that we know nothing at all about what we call Spirit —but believe me, my dear friend, that we know as much of it as we do of Matter.

Shepherd. Do you say sae, sir?

North. In the first place, James, it is probable that we have generally included in the notion that may have been in our mind at any time we have been meditating on our inner being, the idea of some action proceeding; that we have not conceived of Spirit as something in a state of utter rest, but rather in motion, or with thought awake in it, or with inclination of love or aversion, or under the affection of pleasure or pain, or as exercising agency on some other being?

Shepherd. Be sae gude as to speak affirmatively, sir, if you please, and no interrogatively-for it's my desire no to teach, but to learn.

North. Well, James, that act-the idea of which I conceive has commonly been in our minds when we have spoken of Spirit was not conceived of by us as impressed on this being at the instant by some other being; if it was motion, we did not think that the being was merely driven along by a force extraneous to itself, in which it had no participation, but