loved the innocent scrutiny of youth ful eyes; so I allowed them to descant at freedom on my southland garb, and wonder what could make me choose my seat by the martyr's tombstone, a place seldom visited, save by men in a devotional frame of mind. A venerable old dame, with a straggling tress or two of grey hair flowing from beneath her mutch or coif, laid aside her distaff, and advanced to free me from the intrusion of a dozen or more of her curly-headed descendants. The admonishing tone in which she said, "bairns, bairns," with the rebuke of her eye, accomplished her wishes; the children vanished from my side, and retired to a little round green knowe or knoll, which rose on the rivulet bank in the middle of the village, and seemed appropriated for rustic games, pitching the bar, casting the stone, for leaping and for wrestling. "A bonnie har vest afternoon, sir," said the Galwegian matron," but ye would be wiser to come and rest ye in a comfortable house than sit on the cauld stane, though it lies aboon the dust of ane of the godly auld folk of the saintly days of Galloway, or maybe ye might like the change-house better to birl yere sixpence and be behadden to none, and I cannot say that I can advise ye."

I was prevented from replying by another of the village dames who thus broke in on our parley. "Birl his silver in the change-house! wherefore should he? what can hinder him from slipping cannilie away up the brae to the gudeman of Warlsworm? he's either dead or as good as dead; and if he's no departed, so much the better; he will leave the world with a perturbed spirit, for sore, sore, has he stuck to the earth, and loth will he be to leave his gowd and his gains, and his bonnie broad lairdships; and who kens but the sight of a stranger breaking his bread and drinking his milk may make him die through downright vexation for the unwonted waste? Andrew, my bonnie lad, take this strange man up to auld Warlsworm's hall door; I would gang myself, but I vowed never to cross his threshold or enter his land, since he cheated my ain cousin out of the green holms of Dee; black be his cast, and bitter his doom!" A

little boy came to my side and put his hand in mine; and, willing to know more of a man of whom I had heard. so much, away I walked with my barefooted guide, and soon came within sight of the mansion of Warlsworm.

It was a rough old house built of undressed granite, and covered with. a slating of coarse sandstone. The smoke, despairing to find its way. through the windings of a chimney almost choaked with sides of bacon and soot, sought its passage in many a curl and turn along the roof, and, finally descending, streamed out into the pure air through window and door. Groups of black cattle, after browzing on every green thing which the garden contained, and trying to digest the withered thatch which de-. pended from the sides of the barn and stable, stood lowing knee-deep: in a pool of muddy water before the mansion, and looking wistfully on the green hills and the golden harvest around them. The fowls, undismayed by foumart or fox, plundered the corn which hung drop-ripe and unreaped in the field; while a multitude of swine, breaking, in the desperation of hunger, from their pens, ran grunting through the standing grain, crushed the growing potatoes in unwieldy joy; and finally cooled their sides, and fulfilled the scripture proverb, by wallowing in the mire. which encompassed as with a fosse this miserly mansion.

The door stood open. In summer, in the pastoral districts, few doors are closed; and with the privilege which a stranger claims in a hospitable land I entered the house. Wheeled towards the fire, and bedded thick with sheepskins and soft cushions, stood the lang settle or rustic sofa; and on it lay a man bald and feeble with age; and kneeling by his side I saw a fair-haired girl, her hands clasped, and her large blue eyes fixed with a moist and motionless gaze on his face. This was the owner of the mansion, the farfamed laird of Warlsworm; and the maid was his niece, as remarkable for her gentleness and beauty, as her relative for his grasping and incessant greed. As my shadow darkened the floor, she looked up, and motioned me to silence and a seat. I accordingly sat down, and looked with an

eye of deep interest on the touching scene before me. There lay Age, his face gross and covetous, his mind seeking communion with the riches of the earth, while his body was fast hasting to dust, and his soul to its final account; and there knelt Youth, glowing in health and ripe in beauty, her tresses bright, and flowing over her neck, like sunshine visiting a bank of lilies; her hands, white and shapely, and small, clasped over a white and a perturbed bosom; while from her long dark eye-lashes the tears of sorrow descended drop by drop. On both, a young man in a homely garb, but with a face comely and interesting, sat and looked, and looked too with a brow on which might be read more of love for the maid than of sorrow for the man.

The old man uttered a groan, turned on his couch, half opened his eyes, and said, "Bessie, my bairn, let me have hold of thy hand; my sight is not so good as it ought to be; and I think I see queer things, that should not be seen by a man when he lies down to die. But I have wronged no man; I took but what the law gave me; and if the law grips with an iron hand, it's the worse for them that made it. I thought I heard the footstep of the young portioner of Glaiketha; he'll be come to borrow gold and to wadset land. But Bessie, my lass, gold's scarce and land abundant; no that I refuse the minted money when the interest will do thee good, and when the security's sicker; sae gang thy ways, my wean, to the old pose ahint the cathud, or hear ye me; there's a sad dle-bag of good red gold riding on the rannel-tree that has nae seen sun or wind these seven-and-twenty summers." "Oh! forget the cares of the world," said the maiden, with a voice smothering with sorrow," and think of your health. This is not the young portioner of Glaiketha seeking for gold to cast away in eating, and drinking, and dancing, or in more evil pursuits; but a stranger youth come to repose him all night as strangers do, and recommence his journey in the morning." "Repose him," re-echoed the old man, his voice deepening, and his faded eyes brightening, as he spoke. "Have I wranged any of his kin, that he comes hither to riot on my substance? have I ever

darkened his father's door, that he should presume to darken mine? Alas! alas! the bonnie haughs of Orr, and the fair holms of Dee, will be wasted on loons and limmers, and I shall no find repose where all men find rest. Aye! aye! my hall will soon be a changed place; there will be fizzenless tea instead of weel but tered breakfast brose; a pudding with spices and raisins, for a gallant haggis dropping with fatness and full of marrowy strength; and for the pleasant din of the spinning wheel there will be the sounding of fiddlestrings and the leaping of wanton feet. Strangers will feast at my sup per-board, where strangers never feasted before; and auld men will shake their heads and say, ' Away fly the riches of honest Warls worm." And putting his hands over his eyes, as if to hide the hideous picture of extravagance which his imagina tion had painted, and uttering groan succeeding groan, he stretched him self at full length on the lang settle.

His niece turned pale as she be held him writhing under the inflic tion of the spirit which she mistook for a deadlier pang, and thus she addressed the young man, who seemed to remain there that he might gaze without intermission on her beauty. "Oh, Willie lad, if ye wish for wealth in this world and weal in the ane to come-rise up and run." The youth leaped to his feet, stood with his lips apart, his left foot forward, and his whole face beaming with joy at being commanded by so sweet a tongue. "Oh run, William, run; fly over moor and moss, and seek and bring auld Haudthegrup, a man gift ed in prayer and conversant with godly things; he will cheer my uncle's spirit. For oh, they're gladsome when they get thegither. I have seen them sit in the howe heart of winter, laying schemes for gripping and guiding wealth, when the snow was on the hill, and the icicle on the house-side, with less fire to thowe them than would warm a bairn's breakfast. Oh, run, William, run, tell him to hasten; for the sands of life are nearly out; and that my uncle talks of the gathered gold of faith and the set siller of redemption; and that's nae symptom of health with him." The youth looked at her for a moment, then away he darted from

the door, climbed the hill with the swiftness of a fowl in its flight, tarried for a second on its summit to look back on the dwelling, nor were his glances unrewarded; he then vanished along the moor to seek the home of auld Haudthegrup.

This devotional auxiliary soon made his appearance; he seemed a personification of penance and famine. He was tall and lean, with a frame of iron, a forehead villanous low, and eyes small, restless, and glimmering about in quest of gain, like those of a cat seeking prey in the twilight. His nose was sharp and thin, like the style of a sun-dial; while his lips, though very broad, were too scanty to cover a seam of teeth as rusty as the jaws of an unused fox-trap, and wholly unacquainted with the luxury of the pastoral district, the flesh of lambs or ewes, unless when a friend's house had the scourge of his company. He carried under his arm a mighty Bible, garnished with massy clasps of iron, and entered the abode of his dying friend with the satisfied look of a man proud of his gifts, and conscious of the extensive influence of his intercessions. "Peace be among you," said the goodman of Haudthegrup," and may God claim his ain in his blessed time and way; when the grain's ready let it go to the threshing floor, and when the grapes are ripe, take them to the wine-press." So saying he made a stride or two, and, looking in the face of his ancient friend, thus proceeded to comfort him. "Bless me, laird of Warlsworm, ye're no going to leave us; leaving us, too, when golden days are at hand? Never was there such an appearance of a harvest of gold, and the precious things of the earth, all ripening and getting ready for thy sickle and mine. Cheer up man, ye'll hear the chink of gold in yere left lug for mony a bonnie year yet. Would ye lie there, and let the breath sough away frae atween your lips, like a cow strangled with her tether in a field knee-deep of clover? Look me in the face I say; bankers are breaking, and the credit of cattle-dealers is cracked-gold will be gold soon, and the rate of interest will rise in Galloway. The crouse and ringing frosts of winter will soon come to purify the air, and

make yere auld blood course boldly in yere veins. Then the grass will grow green, the bushes will bud, and the primroses will blow on the bonnie burn bank, and ye'll get yere feet among the braw blooming gowans, that lie scattered o'er the face of the earth, like as mony pieces of a spendthrift's gold. Sae cheer up man, ye would do wrong to die and so many blessings awaiting ye.'

The laird of Warlsworm sat erect for a moment; the prospect of life, and the hopes of future gain, passed by him like a bright pageant; his eyes sparkled with that unholy light by which Mammon sums his treasure, and he stretched forth his hand to clutch the visionary gold, which deceitful fancy heaped up before him. But nature could not sustain the effort; the light faded in his eyes, his hand sank, and his head declined, and, sinking on the cushions, he muttered, "Na, na, it winna do; it winna do; I maun away to the worms, and my bits of bonnie gold will get a fearful scattering:" and, fixing his looks on the old bag of coin, which was suspended in the chimney, he lay for a while in woeful rumination, and thus proceeded:"Aye, aye, ye'll no hang lang in that cozie place now; the hand of the spoiler will come, and thy braw broad pieces which I gathered with care and with sorrow, and regarded as gods, will gang to the silk shop and the maker of golden gimcracks glancing with polished stones for woman's neck and bosom." And, shutting his eyes in despair, and clutching his hands in agony of spirit, he resigned himself to his fate.

Meanwhile the devout twin-brother of Mammon seated himself in an old chair, laid his Bible on his knees, uncovered his head, placed his long iron fingers on the clasps, and, with a prolonged preliminary cough, which hypocrisy had taught to imitate the listless and weary end of a dull sectarian sermon, he opened the volume. He glanced his eye around, to see if his auditors were composed, and commenced his search for a chapter befitting the perilous state of his friend. I was seated beside him, and thus I heard him converse with himself, as he turned over the leaves. "A chapter fit for a sinner's state !-I mauna read about

repentance, nor speak of the benefits of redemption. He'll never forgive me for directing his thoughts to such strange objects." The laird uttered a low groan, and the devout man proceeded with his mutterings.He's going gear; he's going gear; he winna shoot over the coming midnight; he'll be a stretched-out corse, and Bessie Lamond, his niece there, a braw rich heiress before the morning light. She'll be a weel tochered lass, when auld Gripagain travels. Let me see, there's Hurleyhawkie, a rich land and well watered; there's Auchenling, a dreary domain it's true, but there's gallant shooting on't, though it bears little but craneberries; then there's Wyliehole, and the sixteen acre parks of Warlsworm; forbye bails and bonds, and gathered gold; -my sooth Bessie, my lass, many a gallant will cast his cap at thee." And he glanced his sharp considerate eyes on the young maiden, to whose mind her uncle's danger seemed alone present. "Aye, aye," he resumed, "she's a welfavoured lass, and I'll warrant has a gift of knowing on't; deil a doubt of that; but I am not so very auld, and have been single for seven year, and, bating a sad cough, which I can mend when I like for sixpence, and sundry grey hairs, the lass may have sillier woosters than me. When I cock my bonnet, and put on my crousest coat, and give my horse a tasting of corn, and then a tasting of the spur, I think the quean will no be a draps-blood to her uncle if she say me nay. And the lassie, too, is modest of demeanour; she wears nae silver in her shoon, nor frights the fowls with the feathers of her oap; and weel I mind it was her thrifty mother's boast, that she should never sit on a sark till she could spin ane. I'll warrant her a gallant lassie, and a good guider of gear. I should like to lead her to a brankan bridal." And, resuming his search of a suitable chapter, he withdrew his looks from the maid, who, with brimful eyes, a troubled brow, and quivering hands, ministered to the sick

bonnie links of Orr, and the gowany braesides of Dee. Many a tug, and many a toiled brow, has it cost him to get them; but the strength of man cannot endure like the hills, nor his spirit flow for ever like a running stream. And talking of running streams, that reminds me that Miller Macmillan owes me a year's rent, past on Tuesday; gar Jack Candlish gang and fetch it: the miller's a sicker ane; he thinks my dam is nearly run, and that my wheel of existence lacks the water of life, and sae he'll keep up the rent till my head's happit, and then wheedle or swear thee out on't. So that's settled, and my spirit's all the calmer for it. And now for thee, lass, ye'll be a rich quean, Bessie, and the lads will like ye nae the waur because he who lived before ye had a gathering eye, and a sicker grip. But ye maun never wear a towering bonnet with a long feather; for that is an abomination in devout eyes, and a sad drain for the pocket; and sair I slighted bonnie Jenny Duff for the pride of her apparel: wear the snood of maiden singleness as lang as ye can, lassie; and, if ye inaun be a wife, wear a douce hood or a devout mutch; ye'll find ane of yere grand-mother's, treasured by among my bonds; for I loved my ain mother better than ever I loved gold; ye'll hardly credit that, Bessie; and I love thee too, my ain sweet sister's wean." He laid his arm around her neck, looked full in her face, with a kind and a glistening eye, and the demon of lucre spread his wings to forsake the mansion where he had lived so long. But it was otherwise ordered. The poor weeping girl knelt over him, and wiped away from his face the tears which flowed from her own eyes, for tears never flowed from his, and hid her face in his bosom with many a bitter sob.

"Ah, ye waster hussey!" exclaimed the laird, in a tone above his strength, "wherefore wipe ye my face with a damask napkin, when a cloth three threads to the pound is too good for a wadset about to be redeemed like me. And see, as I hope to be saved, if ye are not consuming the good dry wood which I kept for the cozie winter night; ground-elding (dried turf) is good enough to warm such an old sapless

bough as me, which the feller's axe is fast lopping away from the green tree of existence." This appearance of unwonted profusion smote sore on the heart of the parsimonious old man, and in a tone of rebuke and bitterness he continued his discourse. "I may waste my breath-and I ought to leave some for a scrap of prayer, it may help me where I am going; I may waste my breath, Bess, I say, in counselling ye how to chuse a husband. When a woman's eye is bright her ear is deaf. Take not a man, Bess, who counts kindred four generations back, he'll call his ancestor a gentleman, and spill the brimming cup of thy fortune in justifying his descent. Nor yet marry a man who scorns his ancestors; the man who mocks his forefathers tramples on their dust. I hold a father's fair name equal with hoarded siller. Above all things wed not a lawyer, lass; ye should aye strive to mend your fortune, and better your fame. Think not of a sailor, for he thinks there is no Sunday in five fathoms of water, and finds a love in every land. Shun, too, the soldier, for shining scarlet, golden shoulder-knots, and a hat filled with fowls' feathers, will consume thy gold and fly away with thy happiness; and, oh, what a gowk he maun be, who stands up to be shot at for saxpence a day, Sunday in cluded. But marry, lass, for all women love to be married, were it only for the sake of having somebody to scold at, and to bear the fault for their folly,--wed, I say, a strong handed chield, who can keep the crown of the causeway, and make himself be obeyed at his own fire-side. A cannie homely lad, who can clip seven score of sheep while another clips six; kens the buttered frae the bare side of the bread; loves nought so well as his own wife, but the knotting of his own purse-strings; and who fears the Lord, and can back five bushels of barley."

This grave and worldly counsellor fairly exhausted himself, and, laying his head on the cushion, and fixing his eye on his bag of gold, which common fame calculated at a thousand pieces, remained silent while that devout person, Haudthegrup, commenced family devotion. He had examined the New Testa

ment for a fitting and seemly text; but the divine meekness, and charity, and self-denial, and scorn of all terrestrial grandeur, which inspire its pages, rejected all community of feeling, and obliged him to seek consolation under the splendid and ostentatious dispensations of the Mosaic law. "Spoiling the Egyptians," I heard him mutter, as he hastened along," the heathen Egyptians of their jewels of silver and jewels of gold, a meritorious deed;-making the molten calf, a piece of dark idolatry and a waste of precious metal:spoiling the Amalekite, a rich and a pagan people, a pleasant act and an acceptable. The temple, aye, aye, the temple of Solomon, the roof thereof was of fine cedar, the pillars of ivory, the floor of pure silver, and the walls of beaten gold,- this has often consoled me, and, doubtless, will console him. It would be pleasant to die with a vision of this golden palace before him." Here he raised his head and said audibly: "Let us begin the worship of Him on High, by reading in his praise first Kings, chapter the sixth." And, elevating his voice, he chaunted forth the history of the building of Solomon's temple, adorning it with the prolonged tone and quavering grace-notes of an ancient Cameronian professor. Nor did he fail to express his own admiration at the profusion of precious metal, by dwelling, with a delight that seemed unwilling to depart, on the passages recording the overlayings of the wall with gold, and the altar, and the floor. As he proceeded, the eye of old Warlsworm looked on his own sooty rafters, and on his coarse unhewn floor, and on the ark which contained his meal; yet what were they, covered, as his imagination made them, with beaten gold, compared to the immeasurable riches of the Jewish temple. Devotion fell prostrate before the divinity of wealth, and the man who had not five hours to live leaped to his feet, smote his hands together, and exclaimed, "Oh Lord, what o'gowd? what o'gowd?"-"Aye lad, and pure gowd too," responded Haudthegrup, casting the Bible from him as he spoke, and pacing round the room with a proud look, and an augmented stride.

At this lamentable conclusion to