and over a tumbler of toddy, my daily allowance, and, I believe in my conscience, the Helicon of all my musings image to myself the father of his people, habited in the most plain and homely manner, not less loved and respected at home, than esteemed and venerated abroad-carrying along with him, into all the intercouse of life, "a mind void of offence" a sincerity and an earnestness, which extended over all religious duty, from the "grace" to the frugal and homely meal,to the more impassioned elevations of an "Action sermon." When I fancy him, of a sacrament afternoon, and under no other canopy than that which the cope of heaven afforded, pouring over an assembled district the wholesome, and the soothing, and the nourishing refreshments of the gospel—when I follow him from the tent to the manseand mark, by the way, the every-day look and demeanour which he wearsthat total absence of all selfishness which he betrays, and which evinces itself in an easy, and unconstrained, and unassumed familiarity with every, even the poorest and the meanest Peasant around him. When I follow him into his Visitations," and advance with the venerable Patriarch, as he stoops to enter the door, or carefully avoids stumbling upon the threshold of the Cottager-as, in silent sympa thy, he grasps the skeleton hand, and presses the burning brow of the sickas he takes his seat by the bed-side, upon the carefully dusted chair, and opens his mouth in accents of heavenly comforting. When I still recall the plaintive and affectionate," O, sir, there has been a great change sin ye were here yesterday-an' meickle and sair has my poor man wearied to see you:" and when I listen to the petition, which on bended knee is offered up for pardon, and mercy, and comfort, and consolation to the dying man-for the possession of the kingdom, which it is and the bestowment of the mansion, the Father's" good pleasure to give; which the Son hath gone to prepare; When Timage and recollect all this by my afternoon table, I feel as if I were seated, westward, beneath an old ash tree, basking away my hours, under the soothing and mellowing influence of a bright and setting sun. Such cogitations as these are laudanum to my soul, amidst all the feverish anxieties of life, and afford me a source of enjoyment There are times, too, when under the presiding influence of reflection, I can pourtray for myself the homely, heartsome "Boanerges" of his people, idolized by them, and acceptable to all, possessed of strong common sense, of that Crassa Minerva, -without which nothing will tell, and with which nothing almost will fail of effect, and making use of that broad Doric accent and language, which is imbued and seasoned with the best feelings, and the most hallowed sympathies of a Scotsman. I can see him stretching out his arms over the pulpit, elevating the Bible above his head; and can In these good, old-fashioned, comeven mark the supplosio pedis," as fortable-looking times, of which I it comes hollow and alarming from write, "a Minister's man," and a beneath. I can view him, now meek, brace of horses, not quite indeed of and mild, and still, as the pause be the Pegasean description, together fore the clap,then bursting away in- with the necessary implements of a to noise, and thunder and lightning, small farming establishment, were as even to the dividing of the joints and essential to "a Country Parson," as a the marrow, deriving illustrations and goose and lap-board are to a tailor, or enforcements of his doctrine, not from a slouched hat and black silk apron the writings of men, but immediately to an English Bishop. The Minister and directly from God himself. was never seen five hundred yards blo In perfect keeping and conformity from his own door, unaccompanied by with this strength and fearlessness of his half" Pylades," half "Mentor," character, I can still recall the image of and, as my cousin Paddy O'Rourke the man of God, in his every-day ex- would add, half Servant-the " Miternals"unanointed, unannealed"-nister's man." To this bustling and straying about the doors in complete negligence of brace or buckle, or button, and altogether careless or unconscious of the somewhat uncouth and not a little ridiculous figure he cuts. Compared with this truly Tuscan order of clerical architecture, what are our modern imitations! the tortuous and top-heavy columns of imbecility, or the fluted and disproportioned shafts of affectation! of cattle, in predicating of the wea ther, and in assisting once or twice, in half a century, in the choice and purchase of a new wig. Scotland in particular," there is every probability that the Parson will have the worst of it. Even in his official capacity, and in the conscientious discharge of his sacred duties, he finds himself not unfrequently hemmed in and hampered. His " Examinations" are restricted to children, old women and servants; and whilst the Laird and his Lady are entirely out of the question, the Farmer begins to look exceedingly shy, and even the Foreman and Mechanic flinch on these occasions. Thus an air of vulgarity and partiality is thrown over the whole proceeding, and, what betwixt deser tion on the part of those to be examined, and consequent negligence and irregularity on the side of the "Examinator," this most useful and at one time most conscientiously discharged part of a Clergyman's duty, is falling fast into desuetude. These, however, Mr Editor, were the times when Presbytery could "cock her bonnet, and hold up her head, and look over her shoulder," (notwithstanding all the clerical simplicity of manners which prevailed) upon every rank and gradation of society, beneath "the Laird himsel" when" the Minister" was a word wherewith, in all companies, to conjure up attention, and command respect; when his sacred office formed that connecting link or chain, by which a communication was preserved betwixt the lower and higher ranks of society; and when the fireside of the Peasant and the hall of the Nobleman were equally accessible to clerical "Examination." But · tempora mutantur et nos"-in this present Anno Dom. 1822, it is "Angus," said the Reverend Mr Am not easy to determine what relative brose to his Servant-man. Angus Barsituation in the scale of society a Preston, or as it was pronounced in these byterian clergyman occupies. Whereabouts is he to be found?-Not assuredly above the spruce and bustling Manufacturer, who can afford to lay out as much in a day as a clergyman can spend in a twelvemonth;-not certainly above the swollen and purseproud Merchant, who whistles home, with every October breeze, ships and wealth;-not undoubtedly above the home Retailer of merchant goods, the humbler Shop-keeper, who runs a gig to the country on Sabbath, drinks his bottle of port, and indulges occasionally in sixpenny whist. And as to the booted, and spurred, and wellmounted Farmer, who rides up once or twice a-day to visit his labourers, attends weekly markets, dines in the County inn, and pays a surgeon handsomely for setting his broken bones, he would take it" foul scorn,"-unquestionably to be brought into comparison with an "old prig of a Minis ter." It is quite a struggle now-a-days betwixt the Country parson and his butcher, baker, shoemaker, and tailor; and if government do not take some steps, and that speedily, to remedy the evil, in regard to the " poor Livings of days, "Bratton," who, as the Lass" was employed in removing the breakfast apparatus, had taken his wonted morning station immediately behind the parlour door, "ye maun saddle 'Shadrach' an' the grey Naig immediately; for this is Forsday, ye ken, an' we hae a diet † the day as far up the water as Caple yetts, and the vile kittle pass o' Fellybught afore us." Angus executed his Master's orders, if not with dispatch, at least with accuracy; and having drawn down from an Alder-bush a rough switch for himself, and another carefully stripped for his Master, the grey Naig's far-shoe and Shadrach's tail were in motion incontinently. "That beast's shoe maksa ye an awfu' clattering, Angus," said the minister, turning half round on the seat to ascertain if Angus was really within hearing; but as this was not the case, the cavalcade proceeded towards the Pass of "Bellybught," without farther attempt at communing. This Pass was a deep ravine, which a brawling and impetu ous stream had probably wrought out for itself, directly across a high and rocky mountain ridge; a small sheep There are upwards of 150 livings in Scotland, which, notwithstanding the nominal minimum of £150 per annum, do not at present average £100 each.-How much has the Scottish church suffered by the act of the murderer Bellingham! +Dict "of Examination," so termed “ of the Supper, &c. par excellence," as Sacrament, for Sacrament track lay along the side of the linn, curving upwards or downwards, right or left, as necessity or convenience had originally dictated to the fleecy travellers. Beneath, the water strug gled onwards through narrow gullets, boiling caldrons, and pooly whirls, which had been distinguished in the shepherd's nomenclature by the descriptive appellations of "Grey mare's tails," "Devil's aprons," and "Gully spouts." Above, even up to the very 66 carry" of the clouds, and almost in a perpendicular ascent, there was nothing to be seen but broad and loose shingly stones, large waterworn or weathered rocks, with every here and there the recent scar of some extensive "shot brae," or " avalanche," which had rushed into the flood below, and entirely obliterated where it passed every trace of a pathway. Remaining on horseback in such a ticklish situation as this was entirely impracticable; so both Master and man alighted at the entrance of the cleugh, and commenced on foot their somewhat perilous advance. "This is an awfu' bit," said the worthy Patriarch, adjusting his hat and wig, so as to set a sudden squall, which came down directly a-head, at defiance; " and yet it was in this eery and fearsome place, Angus, that mony a godly and heartsearching sermon has been preached, when there was nae pulpit but the ́ ́gouk thorn,' an' nae shelter frae the driving drift but the scoug o' a bare craig." "Tak' ye tent o' your beast, sir," rejoined the wary Menial, who was now employed in pulling and dragging, as if to the separation of the head from the shoulders, the recoiling chafts of the grey naig, up a kittle step. "Tak' tent o' Shadrach, that he dinna miss a fit, and coup the creels into the Covenanter's hole' there be low."" I remember, Angus," continued the man of God, the concatenation of his ideas being nothing interrupted by this abrupt and alarming address," I remember that it was here or hereabouts, for I have often heard him speak of the circumstance, that my worthy grandfather, the Gudeman of Hoalstane, was christened in the how, dumb, dead o' a caul' winter night, wi' water scouped out, in all likelihood, frae that very fearfu' pool, Angus.' "And if ye dinna tak' better heed, baith you and Shadrach will be christened o'er again or it be lang; had ye the auld Naig, sir, an' I'll try to manage Shadrach." But just as this prudent and managing menial was in the act of thrusting his somewhat large and broad-set person past the Minister's shoulders, a strong blast of wind, co-operating, in all probability, with a sudden collision, sent hat and wig at once, and without possibility of prevention, into the “Covenanter's hole" beneath ; and, to increase the disaster, these two hitherto almost inseparable friends, from the violence of the descent, were seen to float distinct and apart upon the sur face of the flood. Angus, with that discretional foresight for which every one in the family, except his Mistress, gave him credit, stationed himself at the head or commencement of the gullet beneath, and thus intercepted first the hat, which came on blithely, bobbing and tilting upon the curl,and latterly the wig, which, more in the manner of a saturated hedge-hog, made a leisurely and less ostentatious approach. The Hat was easily picked up, and, having pitched on the crown, was little, if at all injured; but the wig had drank pretty largely of the flood, and had to undergo first a wringing, and then a flapping process, ere it could with safety resume its former position. "This is no my Wig," muttered the somewhat confused and disconcerted Owner, having made due investigation, by means of his finger ends, into the altered nature of his well-known head-gear; "this canna be my wig, Angus!"- "An wha's wig may it be, than, think ye?" retorted Angus, hastily, and somewhat snappishly; "I wat weel there's nae wale o' wigs in the linns o' Bellybught." The farm-stedding of" Caple-yetts" is situated, like many others of the same description, in what is considered a wild, yet in a most lovely and sheltered spot. To those, into whose notions of interesting landscaping, trees and cultivated fields, and frequent cottages, and smoking villages, invariably enter, this sweet retirement would appear irksome, lonely, and forbidding; but, to the admirer of the freshness and the sublimity of unstained, unsubdued nature, the twin converging streams, at the confluence of which the farm-steading is placed-the green apron, of gentle declivity, which, after affording a croft for potatoes, and a yard for " lies," still margins out on each side to the water's edge in native ver cur |