ception to the munificence of such a help to me through so large a tract of country; but after you had done so much,

and well do I know how the explorations, and the climbings, and the shell-gatherings, and the bathings, would be enjoyed by Helen and Fanny in this deep and peaceful solitude.

Sunday, 26th.-Another day of complete rest. Enjoyed the quietness of the sacred Sabbath morn. Had family worship and exposition in the evening; and as Sir Andrew and I were next day to take leave early, I bade a grateful and affectionate adieu to the rest of the family.

"Monday, 27th.-Instead of taking the direct road to Wigton, Sir Andrew was kind enough to take me round by the coast, for the sake of its interesting scenery. A plain, pristine, russet-looking country, poor in produce, but not of unpleasing aspect, with rocks peering forth of the verdure every where, and a beach which presents a number of fantastic and impressive forms. Had the kindest possible reception from Colonel Vans Agnew.

Tuesday, 28th.-A general movement to Wigton, four miles off, at one. Several carriages put into requisition. We landed at Mr. Young's, the clergyman of Wigton-a most beautiful village, both in respect of its site and its interior, placed on a gentle eminence, where it commands a noble view of Wigton Bay. The church quite full, as indeed I had been led to expect from seeing at least twenty carriages on the street when we entered the town. I delivered my address from the precentor's desk; and it went off apparently with the entire and cordial approbation of the audience. Sir Andrew took me out in his carriage to Cumloden, not the seat but the cottage of Lord Galloway. It was a ride in the dark of about nine miles, through, I was told, a very beautiful country, chiefly along the Cree. Passed through Newton Stewart, and about a mile on reached Cumloden, where Lord and Lady Galloway (their visitors having all retired to bed) gave us a very flattering reception.

፡፡

Wednesday, 29th.—Cumloden is a most enchanting place; a large cottage spread over a great extent of floor, with but one good story of numerous apartments and attics above it. A highly-decorated lawn of shrubbery and clumps of trees, and at one place a bushy flower-garden; a brawling river, tributary to the Cree, of rapid descent, and which a shower swells into a torrent; a noble Alpine background of northern hills, on the confines of Galloway and Ayrshire, with beautiful glimpses of nearer objects, as the tower of Minigaff Church, &c. Walked with Sir Andrew to Minigaff, about a mile off. Every step disclosed new charms of landscape. Minigaff itself has a manse like a rectory, with a most gentleman-like approach; and the view from its front door, comprehending the banks of the wooded Cree, rolling past and before it its dark, moss-colored waters, is one of the most exquisite

you should have done no more; and, allow me to say, it was ultra, or beyond all that ought to have been done, that you

I ever saw. Walked to the church, at whose door there were a number of carriages. A large meeting of people whom I addressed on Church Extension. Mr. Blair took me in his carriage to Penningham House, his mansion.

66

Thursday, August 30th.—Went in cavalcade, with a riding horse and two open carriages, six miles up the Cree, to a small church now building for a simple and upland population. Delighted with the scenery on the banks of this river, more especially when the Minwick enters it, which one might trace upward through a most romantic and remote glen, but at the entry of which into the Cree, also, we are presented with a truly interesting panorama of level cultivation, skirted by rocky eminences, and expanding upward into ascents of a bolder character, which terminate at length in a noble Alpine boundary projected upon the sky. After our upland survey of this new parochial locality, with its rising church and now completed school, was driven forward by Mr. Gordon to Newton Stewart, and then took leave of my numerous conductors. The views over the Cree from this to the parish of Minigaff are truly glorious. Went alone into Sir Andrew's carriage. Rode sixteen miles in it by myself over a plain, pristine, peat country, not without its charms, however, and which kept my interest perpetually alive, from my having with me a map of Wigtonshire, by which I could verify the hills, rivers, and places. Passed the church of Kirkcowan half a mile on my left. Got to Glenluce about three. Sir Andrew joined me there, and we got on six miles farther to Dunragget, the seat of Sir James Hay. The Misses Hay, and particularly Susan, greatly interested in my movement here. It seems two Glasgow voluntaries-the Rev. Messrs. King and Anderson-are now hanging upon my rear, and held a meeting after me at Stranraer, which has turned out a failure. They tried to evade the hissing by stating that they would understand every hiss to be directed against the doctrine which they were opposing; and then Mr. Anderson fell foul of me, and they, unmindful of his interpretation, began lustily to hiss; he, as unmindful of his own position, felt greatly annoyed, saying, What, will you hiss the great Dr. Chalmers? Left Dunragget about seven. Landed in Mr. Symington's, where I took leave of Sir Andrew, and who undertook to order a post-chaise for me to Cairnryan, the place of General Sir Alexander Wallace, whither Mr. Symington and I went, and where we landed about ten, and got a warm welcome, a warm room, and warm and comfortable bed.

“Friday, August 31st.-Lady Wallace and Sir Alexander both very cordial. Took leave at ten, greatly rested and refreshed by this quiet family visit. Got into the mail for Ayr. Entered inside; but was so

should propose to bear any part of my expenses after leaving Stranraer. When Mr. Symington told me that you insisted on settling for the chaise-hire to Cairnryan, I felt doubly ashamed of all your goodness to me, though doubly grateful for your kind feelings both to myself and to the great object of Church Extension in Scotland.

Will you forgive me if I entreat that you will not exceed in your public liberalities, for my impression is, and I state it frankly, that your disposition is to encroach on the duty which a man owes to those of his own household. Do indulge me in the freedom I use. You have done more for our cause by your testimony and personal countenance than you could have done by any pecuniary contribution. It is to the multitude of subscribers, and not to the enlargement of subscriptions, that I look for the increase of our means.

With best regards to Lady and Miss Harriet Agnew, and to one and all of your dear family, I have the honor to be, dear Sir Andrew, yours most gratefully,

THOMAS CHALMERS.

No. CCLXXXIV.—TO MR. THOMAS WALKER, Flesher,

GALASHIELS.

BURNTISLAND, 1st July, 1840. MY DEAR SIR-I received your letter of the 22d, and read it with the greatest interest-admiring as I do greatly both the sentiments which it expresses and the spirit which it breathes. The excellence of that composition, as well as the account I have received of you from your worthy and esteemed clergyman Mr. Veitch, has encouraged me to address you as an acquaintance and a friend.

Next to the approbation of my own conscience do I value such a testimony as yours, and more especially as coming from one in your class of society; and I feel it to be an ample comdelighted with the scenery, that I soon got outside. Reached Ayr at ten."-Extracted from Dr. Chalmers's Journal.—See Memoirs, vol. iv., p. 166.

pensation for all the discouragements which I have experienced in my attempts to extend the means of a pure Christian education for the people of our land.

I can truly say, that after the salvation of the working classes there is no object which I have more at heart than their elevation in the scale of comfort-only to be attained, I think, however, through the medium of their own worth and their own intelligence. And I am therefore all the more cheered and gratified in every new instance I meet with of their high capabilities for mental and moral improvement. I do hope that the influence of your example and your exertions will tell powerfully in the diffusion of a spirit and principles like your own throughout the mass of our population.

I spend the winter months in Edinburgh. Should you ever visit the capital at that season, I beg you will call on me and let me make your personal acquaintance. With many thanks for your kind and encouraging communication, I am, my sir, yours very truly, THOMAS CHALMERS.

dear

No. CCLXXXV.-TO REV. DR. STRACHAN, BISHOP OF TO

RONTO.

BURNTISLAND, 1st May, 1841. MY DEAR SIR-I received your letter a few days ago, and have read it with the greatest interest. I spent ten days lately with Professor Duncan, and both he and I put it down to the account of your honest, we have the vanity to think, your intense, and cordial friendship for us that you have given us so kind and affectionate an invitation. Though older, he is stronger and healthier than I; and I must acknowledge that, apart from engagements altogether, I should, on the consciousness of my infirm and irregular health alone, shrink from a voyage and then a journey of such magnitude. I fear that with me it must ever remain a speculation; but I am not the less grateful on that account for the effusion of so much regard to one of your earliest companions.

Besides the great kindness of your letter, I was much in

I had before read your letter

terested by its subject-matter. in the Times, and think that you have made out a complete case. I can also well believe that no injustice against you, either in the public papers or by public men, will ever countervail the substantial good-will which your official and personal attentions are sure to gain from all the classes of your extensive diocese among whom you expatiate. It is here that the real strength of clergymen lies, and I have no doubt that the knowledge and experience of this go far to explain the passionate hostility felt toward every conscientious and well-principled ecclesiastic on the part of Chartists, Radicals, and all those have leagued themselves against social order and the stability of our existing institutions.

I rejoice in your willingness to intrust with so much power every man above twenty-one, "provided his religious principles are sound, and that he felt it matter of conscience to exercise it aright. Give a man a strong feeling of moral responsibility, &c." Your strictures on De Tocqueville are admirably just, in that he would confide power to a people merely on the score of their secular education. But, on the other hand, our High-Church conservatives are as wide of the truth as he who apprehends danger in confiding any ecclesiastical franchise to a people whatever their religious knowledge and character might be, and though they should pass through the ordeal of the most strict and conscientious examination previous to their entry on the roll of our communicants: in other words, nothing can be more blind or ignorant than the prejudice of those hard and impracticable Tories among us who spy democracy in the present doings of our Kirk-the most distinguished for loyalty and love of order of any corporation in the known world.

We are steering on the middle path between Puseyism on the one hand and Voluntaryism on the other. I do not say that we will succeed, but it is my firm belief that if we do not, National Establishments of Christianity will and ought to be put down, not for a perpetuity, but till that period when