Hill of the sturdy steer, I love thee weel! When in my youthful prime, Scaling the eagle's nest, Skimming the mountain's crest, Since far in hostile land, Oft has the tear drop bland Once I was spurn'd from thee, Long have I mourn'd for thee, Now I'm return'd to thee. Hill of Lochiel!" As they finished the ballad, with which the music, or air, was in wild and beautiful unison, the boatmen shipped their oars at the bottom of a rugged hill, and one of them leaping on shore coiled the rope round the head-stone of a covenanter's grave. We looked with solemn feeling at the few grey stones which marked the spot, and gave name to the once consecrated place. Like our countryman Johnson, we may note in our journal that at dinner we had fish, which had been caught in the loch by a young laird, a boy about twelve years old. I do not know whether it was this circumstance which made his Tour to the Hebrides the subject of conversation; when some one present repeated that celebrated passage from his work, penned amid the ruins of Iona, where he says, 'Whatever makes the past or the future predominate over the present, is to be hailed with pleasure;' but the remarks made on it seemed to point out something false in this much admired sentiment, inasmuch as the influence assumed either by the past or the future over the mind is valuable only as it leads the individual to the improvement of the present. The present is all that we can call our own, and it is "To-day if ye will hear his voice," that we are VOL. II. 3d SERIES. Ff to act upon, and not to-morrow. The past is gone, and the future may never arrive, but present duty should be the great and paramount object with the christian. After dinner Sir John's barge was announced, and we went across the bay to spend the evening with some kind friends of our host's at a little distance. Margaret Norland, Lady N's eldest daughter, a young girl of fourteen, steered the boat. During our sweet excursion, I thought of the Laguna of Venice, and of the Greek isles, and all those places of which I had read, where the people almost live upon the water; for here there was a novelty in the aquatic habits of our friends, arising out of their local situation, which had something in it quite delightful and altogether unknown to us hitherto. As we sailed along, a youth who had joined our party at dinner was seen standing across the loch to his father's castle, in his beautiful shallop, unattended, except by a little highland boy who steered the skiff, while young Dunconnel himself managed the sail. After spending a pleasant evening at R—, we returned home by the light of one solitary star, the planet Venus, or Hesper, which rose bright and sparkling above the blue mountain-top on the shore. Next day we came down the Clyde in a friend's yacht, a most beautiful vessel, the cabin of which was elegantly fitted up with crimson paper and gilt mouldings, hung round with paintings of appropriate character, such as sea pieces by different masters,-The Ariel in a storm; the Lapwing in a brisk gale; le jeune Matelot becalmed in the Kyles of Bute, her sails motionless and her ensign hanging loose from the mast. There was also in this beautiful little apartment a valuable library of the best authors, in duodecimo editions, with which we amused ourselves upon deck. The children who accompanied us, enjoyed the voyage so much that they wished they might remain at sea two or three days, and when Duncan, a clever little fellow, already half a sailor, gave us a toast after dinner, May the breeze die away,' it was received by a loud cheer from the rest of the happy juvenile party. But their papa, who wished to return home the same evening, rather damped their joy, by giving as his toast an opposite sentiment, May a brisk gale spring up.' The gale was not brisk indeed but it was favorable to his wishes, and after parting with expressions of mutual regard and regret on both sides, we took leave of our hospitable friends, and landed at Aberhaven. Mamma, on reading over what I have written, says she wishes we had Q.Q.'s grand-papa to make some profitable reflections on this account of our excursion, but as we have not that excellent gentleman here, neither any ability to point the heavenly moral as he would have done, I must just leave it to yourself. I trust we are thankful for the tender care of our Heavenly Father over us in this delightful tour; that we have felt something of the sweetness which springs from seeing his glory, in the wonderful works of creation; that in the interchange of kind affections with those we love, we have also acknowledged his goodness; that in respect of the past we see He has led us all the way, and that, as for the future, we will still put our trust in Him; and at the present moment,' adds mamma, 'the language of our heart is, that which should always be the language of the living," The living, the living, they shall praise Thee as we do this day." Farewell, believe me your affectionate friend, A SATIRICAL SPIRIT. A Dialogue between Maria and her Mother. "MAMMA," said Maria, "when I was at Mrs. Marchmont's a clergyman came in one evening, and she asked him to conduct the family worship in the school-room. I happened to be with her at the time. He rather hesitated; and on her saying it was only a company of girls, he said he dreaded them more than any other auditors. Why should that be, Mamma? He must stand up to instruct much wiser and more learned persons than they, in the execution of his office as a clergyman." "Have you not given the very reason, my dear girl, in your questions? Do you consider the ability to judge correctly a power of easy or difficult attainment ?" 66 Very difficult?" "Then which are most likely to possess it? Persons whose minds have been matured by time and study, or a company of young ones such as you are at school, whose education is yet incomplete, and for whom experience and observation can have done little or nothing?" "O, the older and wiser persons, Mamma, certainly." "And the clergyman must have known this. It could not, therefore, you see, be any idea of superiority in the young ladies, which made him shrink from the task of addressing them. I recollect hearing Mrs. M. speak of the circumstance, and she said it arose from an opinion that school-girls were disposed to be satirical. And this, by-the-bye, is an opinion which makes many persons of real worth and wisdom shrink from the observation of this class of juniors-Misses in their teens." "Do you think the opinion well founded, Mamma ?" “There are few things which become so much a matter of general remark as this, my dear, that have not some foundation. It is however much to be lamented, because, as we have seen, it is often a means of depriving young people of that society which might really benefit them." "I should be very sorry to be regarded in this light, Mamma, either now or when I leave school. Whence do you think the disposition proceeds ?" "From different sources, my love. It often begins with young persons in a love of fun, thoughtlessly indulged by themselves, and as thoughtlessly encouraged by those about them, who, amused at their present sallies, forget to look forward to the consequences. They do not take the trouble to reflect that the children of the present generation are the men and women of the next, and that their happiness as members of society chiefly depends on the dispositions checked or nourished in their youth." "But this you say is not the only source." "No, my dear. A superficial knowledge is one source of it. You remember Pope's lines A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring : In that period of life when childhood is merging into youth, every species of knowledge is new, and things which are new make a more forcible impression on the mind. Finding then that they know much with which they were not acquainted in months that are gone by, and not knowing how much remains behind of which they are uninformed, they are apt to overvalue the little knowledge they have, and to set down any one who happens to be deficient in these things as a fair mark for ridicule." "Yet these persons may possess qualities very superior to themselves.". "So superior, my dear, that they may be disqualified from judging of them by very ignorance: they may be distinguished for a knowledge of sciences, of which these profound young judges do not even know the names. You recollect the soliloquy of the philosopher and young lady in Q. Q.” ? "O, yes. Do you think that a satirical spirit is ever a mark of a superior understanding, Mamma ?" "Never a mark of it, my dear. It is often the resort of lively ignorance, as it is much more easy to ridicule than to confute an argument. If it ever in any considerable degree accompany superior intellect, there must be a defect of much more importance than a weak head; there must be something wrong in the heart, as in this case we cannot suppose it to arise from inconsideration. What would you think, if a biographer, after summing up many great qualities in a person, should add, And he greatly indulged a spirit of satire!' Think of Sir Isaac Newton, for instance, and observe how it --would assimilate with the other parts of his great character.” "I plainly see it would not do at all, Mamma.—It seems at once to rob him of his greatness," "Try the same experiment, my dear, on the character of a lovely woman, and after a list of the most endearing feminine virtues, give that addition, And she was greatly addicted to satire.'" "I see, Mamma, that this would as effectually rob her of her loveliness, as it would Sir Isaac of his greatness. It appears quite out of its place in a list of virtues. But is it not then strange that many persons are proud of being thought satirical ?" 66 This, my love, arises from the very same causes as the |
