LEAVES HADDINGTON.

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simplicity, neither resenting it, nor quarrelling with those whom circumstances made temporarily his superiors. Either people did not ill-use him, or he had some secret power of endurance which turns ill-usage aside. At all events, it is certain that the agonies of the sensitive, not sufficiently respected tutor, or the commotions of the indignant one, have no place whatever in Irving's youthful life. When the Haddington corporation, not likely to be the most considerate masters in the world, afflicted their young schoolmaster, it is to be supposed that he blazed up at them manfully, and got done with it. At least he has no complaints to make, or old slights to remember; nor does it seem that he ever sulked at his humble position or close labours at any time in his life.

Irving remained two years at Haddington, during which time he began that singular grave pretence of theological education which is called "partial" study in the Divinity Hall. From the little Haddington school he was promoted, always with the good offices of Sir John Leslie, who seems to have had a sincere kindness for him, to the mastership of a newly established academy in Kirkcaldy; in which place he spent a number of years, and decided various important matters deeply concerning his future life.

CHAPTER IV.

KIRKCALDY.

"THE lang town of Kirkcaldy" extends along the northern side of the Firth of Forth, and is one of the most important of that long line of little towns-fishing, weaving, trading centres of local activity,-which gleam along the margin of Fife, and help to make an abrupt but important edge to the golden fertile fringe which, according to a pretty, antique description, adorns the "russet mantle" of that characteristic county. These little towns extend in a scattered, broken line, downward from Queensferry, till the coast rounds off into St. Andrew's Bay; and are full of a busy yet leisurely industry, sometimes quickened almost into the restless pulse of trade. Kirkcaldy earned its title of the "lang town" from the prolonged line of its single street, running parallel to the shore for rather more than a mile, and at that time had not widened into proportionate breadth, nor invested itself with tiny suburbs and the body of scattered population which now gives it importance. In the year 1812 there was no school in this flourishing and comfortable place, except the parish school, with its confusion of ranks and profound Republicanism of letters, where boys and girls of all classes were rudely drilled into the common elements of education, with

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such climaxes of Latin and mathematics as were practicable. The professional people of Kirkcaldy, headed by the minister, who had himself a large family of children to educate, and the well-to-do shopkeepers and householders of the place, determined, accordingly, upon the establishment of a new school, of higher pretensions, and Edward Irving was selected as its first master. Two rooms in a central "wynd," opening into each other, with a tiny class-room attached-now occupied by a humble schoolmaster, who points to his worm-eaten oaken desks as being those used by "the great Mr. Irving"-were simply fitted up into the new academy.

Without any accessories to command respect, in a humble locality, with a cobbler's hutch in the sunk story beneath, and common houses crowding round, the new institution, notwithstanding, impressed respect upon the town, and soon became important. Boys and girls, as was usual, sat together at those brown oaken desks without the least separation, and pursued their studies together with mutual rivalry. For some time Irving managed them alone, but afterwards had an assistant, and in this employment remained for seven years, and had the training of a generation in his hands. The recollection of him is still fresh in the town; his picturesque looks, his odd ways, his severities, his kindnesses, the distinct individuality of the man. Here that title which afterwards was to be the popular designation of a religious community came into playful use, long and innocently antedating its more permanent meaning, and the academy scholars distinguished each other as "Irving

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PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

ites," a special and affectionate bond of fraternity. He was now twenty, and had attained his full height, which some say was two, and some four inches over six feet; his appearance was noble and remarkable to a high degree, his features fine, his figure, in its great height, fully developed and vigorous; the only drawback to his good looks being the defect in his eye, which, with so many and great advantages to counterbalance it, seems rather to have given piquancy to his face than to have lessened its attraction. Such a figure attracted universal attention: he could not pass through a village without being remarked and gazed after; and some of his Kirkcaldy pupils remember the moment when they first saw him, with the clearness which marks, not an ordinary meeting, but an event. This recollection is perhaps assisted by the fact, that though a divinity student, already overshadowed by the needful gravity of the priesthood, and in present possession of all the importance of a "Dominie," he had no such solemn regard to dress as afterwards became one of his peculiarities, but made his appearance in Kirkcaldy in a morning coat made of some set of tartan in which red predominated, to the admiration of all beholders.

A young man of twenty, with the full charge of a large number of boys and girls, in a limited space, and undertaking all the items of a miscellaneous education, no doubt needed the assistance of a somewhat rigorous discipline, and it is evident that he used its help with much freedom. Sounds were heard now and then proceeding from the schoolroom which roused the pity and indignation of the audience of neighbours out of doors. One of these, a joiner, deacon of his trade, and

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a man of great strength, is reported to have appeared one day, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up to his elbows and an axe on his shoulder, at the door of the schoolroom, asking, “Do ye want a hand* the day, Mr. Irving?" with dreadful irony. Another ludicrous mistake testifies to the general notion that careless scholars occasionally got somewhat hard measure from the young master. Some good men loitering about their gardens, in the neighbourhood of the "academy," heard outcries which alarmed them; and, convinced that murder was being accomplished in the school, set off to save the victim; but discovered, to their great discomfiture, that the cries which had attracted their sympathy came from an unfortunate animal under the hands of a butcher, and not from a tortured schoolboy. These severe measures, however, by no means obliterate the pleasanter recollection with which Irving's pupils recall his reign at the academy. It was not in his nature to work among even a set of schoolboys without identifying himself with them, and carrying them with him into all the occupations and amusements which they could possibly be made to bear a share in. On the holidays the young teacher might be seen with both boys and girls in his train, issuing forth to the fields with such scientific instruments as he could command, giving them lessons in mensuration and surveying, which, half in sport and half in earnest, doubtless, were not without their use to the fortunate lads thus promoted to share his hours of leisure. The same lads went with him to the Firth, where he renewed those

* Anglicè assistance, a helper.