fresh breeze, which I did not like at all; and while it continued, the female party on deck began to relate all the accidents they could remember, of boats upset in squalls of wind, of shipwrecks and disasters at sea, which made some of us feel exceedingly uncomfortable. The breeze, however, lasted only a short time, carrying us as far as the light-house of Towart, after which we were again becalmed, and did not reach the place of our destination till long past sunset and moonset. The evening star, "if haply it belong not to the morn," lighted us to the village inn, which we preferred to sleeping on board, and the music of the oars as we went on shore was our only, and most sweet serenade.

But do not think, dear Harriet, that I intend to make you circumnavigate all the isles of this beautiful Polynesia, or mean to make you pronounce unpronouncable gaelic names, or tire you with endless description. Though your fine picturesque eye would have been delighted occasionally to have seen the opening of a loch, the site of a pharos with its revolving light, the rising of the crescent moon above those magnificent mountain tops, those mountains which reminded us of the cynic's phrase," Elemental masses undisturbed since they were thrown together at the creation of the world," sometimes covered with shadows as with a veil, again bright with the most glowing light. Sometimes we sailed so near the land as to hear the bleating of the sheep, and the voices of the children upon the shore, to see the herds of cattle lying on the sand; patches of vegetation, so green and so small, that a field of barley looked not much larger than your handkerchief, the whole contents of which, if threshed out, might easily have been poured into the veil of the Moabitish gleaner. But oh, there was much that was beautiful to behold; the sky, the clouds, the water, the different hours of the day, the varying atmosphere, the birds that occasionally crossed our pathless way, the sea-gull as he rose on his wing of snow from the bosom of the deep, the eagle as he soared aloft from his nest in the rock, far up into the blue sky,-"the deep unfathomable blue"-above all the sun-rise in that world of waters, how beautiful! I thought of Margarita's words in the Martyr of Antioch, and said,

"Thou mightiest work of Him

That launched thee forth, a golden-crowned bridegroom
To hang thy everlasting nuptial lamp

In the exulting heavens. In thee the light,
Creation's eldest born, was tabernacled.

Enduring splendour,

Giant refreshed! that ever more renew'st

Thy flaming strength; nor ever shalt thou cease,
With time coeval, even till time itself

Hath perished in eternity!"

Often while it was sunshine with us, we saw the summer storm toiling behind, masses of thunder-clouds rolling away upon the tops of the hills, or pouring out their torrents on the waves, while with us the sky was calm, and bright, and fair as heaven. The vessels at a distance, or the boats of the fishermen, were seen struggling in the breeze, or coming up after us with a wet sail, or embayed among rocks and shallows, while we were safe on the bosom of the "fathomless profound." "Does not this scene," said mamma to a dear christian friend, who stood near her on deck, "resemble the world beneath, as viewed by the eye of the glorified saint from the heights of heaven? All there is still, peaceful, serene; they are safe in the desired haven! Their's is perpetual sunshine, a cloudless sky that knows no storm, while the world below is like a man in a feeble bark in the open sea, without chart or compass, the sport of raging waves, and roaring winds." "Yes," replied her friend, "and those vessels drifting in shore among the rocks, remind me of a beautiful passage in an old divine, where he speaks of the different experience of God's people in his day, equally applicable in our own. It is the wreck of the comfort of christians in our day,' says he that they continue poring upon their graces, frames, &c., without going forth to the fulness of a Redeemer for relief; and while we do so, we are just like mariners at sea: while they sail among shallow waters near the shore, they are always afraid of striking upon rocks, or running upon sands, because they want deepness of water; but when they launch forth into the main ocean, they are delivered from these fears, being carried far above rocks and sands. So while the believer continues among the shallow waters of his graces, duties, experiences,

and attainments, he is sure to be harassed with continual fears; because the waters of grace are but ebb while we stay there, but when by faith we launch out into that full ocean of grace that is in Christ, the soul is carried up above all those fears and doubts, and is strong in the uncreated grace of Him in whom all fulness dwells.' O for a strong faith my dear friend! that faith, whose sole satisfaction is in the Christ it possesses, and not in the act of believing: this is the faith that carries us above the rocks, and out of the shallows."

I thought this similitude very pretty, dear Harriet, though I did not quite understand it. Oh! what delight these christian friends have as they speak one to another of their beloved Saviour! I listened while they continued to talk of the kindness and paternal care of our heavenly Father, of the protection he constantly affords to those that trust in him, and as they said this, they repeated the words of the 125th Psalm, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever." And again, as they looked at the fitful element beneath us, and the everlasting hills on every side, I heard them saying, "He made the dry land, he also made the sea, he covered it with the deep as with a garment. O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all."

But to continue our route, after sailing about in this manner for two days, we arrived at the head of a loch, where we took leave of our kind commander, and his polite and attentive messmates; and getting into one of the rough-set carriages of this half-refined, not to say half-civilized country, a party of us, with a servant, and basket of provisions, proceeded to cross the mountains to a place called St. Catherine's. Here we arrived towards evening, not without many "hair breadth escapes" from the restiveness and obstinacy of Archy Mac Nab's untamed cavalry, which had probably never been in harness before; and embarking in a ferry boat without any seats, save what was furnished by the fresh green boughs of the birch tree, with which the bottom of the boat was strewed, we crossed over amid a drizzling shower to the other side of loch Long. The scenery here, though still mountainous, was softer and richer, and more finely wooded than any we had yet seen;

and as we landed at Inverary, the beauty of the grounds around the castle, the imposing appearance of the castle itself, and the magnificent trees with which the park abound, all were fitted to enchant. But we were somewhat tired with our journey, a little frightened with our horses, and the shower we had while in the boat, had rendered us rather uncomfortable; the difficulty, also, of procuring accommodation in the village, the inn being full of company, all unfitted us for receiving much enjoyment at the time. At length, however, we found very good apartments in a private lodging, and having talked over the events of the day, and had the refreshment of tea, we prepared to retire early to rest, that we might be soon abroad the next morning. Before doing so, however, we had some profitable reading in the Scriptures, our friend selecting passages suited to the scenes by which we were surrounded, and applicable to the circumstances of the day. The last chapter of John was read, that sweet scene on the shore of the lake of Tiberias; the thirty-fourth Psalm, as expressive of our gratitude for the deliverances we had met with,-" He keepeth all thy bones, not one of them is broken;" the fortysixth, "God is a refuge for us;" and the hundred and thirtysixth, with its beautiful, and often reiterated thanksgiving— "His mercy endureth for ever."

Next morning we walked out and viewed the town; the weather was enchanting; the park with its magnificent lime trees, walnut trees, and beeches, was superb. But I will not attempt a new description of what has so often been described already, The castle was not much to our taste, though its turrets looked noble, seen against the hills, but its foundation and first floor, on which are all the state apartments, are half buried in a sunk area, as wide as the walls of Nineveh; a profusion of evergreens, without one deciduous leaf, and consisting of no variety in themselves, in the front of the house, gave it too much the appearance of nursery grounds in some city's suburb, and spoiled, if any thing could spoil, the fine natural beauties of the scene. We frittered away our time, waiting for admission to the great man's house. Being requested to walk about for half an hour, and having exceeded it by ten minutes, in pursuit of a red deer, which we had

hoped to have a peep at, we had again to wait till the party then viewing the lions should make their exit, before we could make our entrance; and Malcolm MacMarcus,butler to my lord duke, being "dressed in a little brief authority," and having also a little of the "insolence of office," becoming so high a dignitary, begged we would prolong our promenade for a few minutes, so that when we were admitted, some of us felt a little cross at losing the sunshine of so fine a day. But the beauty of the park repaid us for all. A number of men were mowing the meadows, which for extent reminded me of the king's meadows mentioned in the Bible. The mowers were many in number, tall, picturesque in their attire and appearance, and they bowed together to the sweep of the scythe, like men in some royally appointed barge bending to the stroke of the oar. The air was scented with the fragrance of the dewy and glittering swathe, while the deer familiar and unafraid, stood gazing occasionally as they passed, as if they were inhaling, well pleased, the freshness of the pasture.

After going through the castle, in which there are some noble apartments, some beautiful tapestry, a few family portraits of some interest, and a hall hung with armour, and in which Mr. Malcolm Mac Marcus redeemed entirely his former want of civility by his polite attentions, we returned to discharge our debt of kind and hospitable cares, to our landlady in the village, and then embarked in the Margaret, of Inverary, a little boat in which we were to sail up the loch to the inn of Cairndow.

It being ebb in the loch, which, as you know, is not really a lake, but an arm of the sea, the highlandmen carried us through the shallow water in their arms, and popped us into the boat like so many baskets of fish. Janet Campbell, a young lady of our party, steered our little bark all the way, for all are navigators here, and on account of the fitful and sudden breezes which came down from the mountains in opposite squalls, we could make no use of our sail, so the poor fellows had to row the whole distance, and after a hard pull in so hot a day, we arrived about four o'clock, I suppose, at Cairndow, a hostelry, in the midst of one scene of untenanted wilds, in which no habitation is to be seen, save the manse and