tistic, yet as I know it will gratify you, I cannot help mentioning, that a few days ago, Mr. Walker, who has all along been politely kind and attentive, was pleased privately to congratulate me on the appearance I had made; assuring me, that the sentiments the Principal had expressed on the subject, were in perfect accordance with his own. DURING this session, he indulged a little in poetic composition. He presented to Mr. Walker many-and some of them spiritedtranslations of Horace; to these he refers in several of his letters. He began, but, in consequence of many other pressing engagements, he left unfinished, a prize Carmen elegiacum ad mortem Reginæ. In addition to the first prize at the Black Stone examination, he gained another by translating De Senectute into English, and re-translating it, abridged, into his own Latin. To this, he added copious notes, in English and in Latin, "ON THE OPI NIONS ON THE ANCIENTS CONCERNING THE STATE AFTER DEATH. I have read it; and it certainly displays, for a boy of sixteen, uncommon research and acumen. This additional part was a perfect Voluntary,* and his kind professor announced in the class that it was a * A college word, not, perhaps, strictly classical. A VOLUNTARY is a musical term; but the reader will instantly perceive that it is used in these memoirs to denote an essay given in by the sudent voluntarily; and not as an enjoined exercise. manly attempt. He gained also the first prize, among those of his standing, for "eminent talents, industry, and exemplary behaviour during the session," in the Latin; and a very respectable one for the same excellencies in the Greek class. I find, among his papers of that Winter, an ingenious but unfinished piece in prose, attempting "to unfold the principle of Lord Byron's poetry,"-poetry, with which every person of taste must be enrapturedover which every person of humanity, whether he considers the noble author or the public, must weep-and much of which every christian moralist must execrate. While at College, he read Buchanan's beautiful and classical translation of the psalms; which, upon the whole, he preferred to every thing, whether ancient or modern, in the Roman language. The THEME OF DAVID gave an elevated character to his poetry, which the exquisite taste of the Scottish bard transfused into his almost native tongue. At this time, he wrote one little piece, in reference to his beloved mother, in the style of Burns's "Land o' the Leal," which I shall here present. THE LAND OF THE BLESSED. Wo and wailing shall be o'er then, " Weeping shall be heard no more then, Let us quickly, sweetly soar, then No eye shall ever shed a tear there, They, whose wounded, bleeding heart here, They have met where zephyrs blow, where Those they lost, they'll love and know where Is the land of the Blessed. Finest radiance smiling round them, Wo and wailing shall be o'er then, A parent's decision may naturally be suspected of partiality. The extracts, however, already given, and especially those hereafter to be offered, from William's voluminous papers, will, it is confidently hoped, relieve me, in the opinion of candid and competent judges, from the charge of an extravagant estimate of his powers and attainments. Anxious, however, to stand fair with that public, before whom I have-perhaps, too minutely-exposed my child and myself, I wished for an opportunity of publicly recording the opinions which I know were entertained concerning him by those eminent men who conducted his education at Glasgow; and through Dr. Wardlaw, the application was made to them. Willing to soothe the anguish of a bereaved father's heart, they have, there can be no doubt, said ALL that truth permitted them to say. But their characters vouch for the PERFECT TRUTH of their testimony. I am happy that Professor Walker has enabled me, at this stage of the Memoir, to give his sentiments. To that accomplished scholar, the letters of this session often refer, in terms of warm |