town-council, was persuaded, some eighteen months ago, to remove from Kippletringen, and to assume the management of the Tontine, or Crown Inn, at Lochmaben, assisted by, or, rather, as one may say, under the direction of, her favourite, and now, sleek and well-favoured menial, Jock Jabos. She has succeeded amazingly, for Widow MacCandlish's is the rendezvous on all public, and the Tryst, on numerous private meetings. Here our Bailies meet, to argue the impolicy, and to exemplify the necessity of burgh reform. Here the neighbouring lairds enjoy their tipple, their freedom, and their crack. Here the half-pay officers, the surgeon, and the school-master, talk politics, and read the Magazines. Here the burgesses of the good town enjoy an evening's respite from the clack of their wives, and the din of their children. Here the wealthy sheep-farmers of the Eastern district meet with their Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland wool-merchants, to settle last year's, and to contract a new score,-to hear of fallen markets in the south, to laugh loud, and to inangle the king's English most unblushingly. It is pretty generally surmised, that Jock Jabos, who has for several months past been raised to the title of "John," is at present of the widow's privycouncil, and may soon be advanced to the more honourable and confidential situation of prime minister, in the management of the widow's concerns. Certain, at least, it is, that Jock, alias John, from being, as at Kippletringen, groom of the stable and master of the horse, has slipt gradually into places of greater trust, having become, in succession, first elerk of the treasury, and sole lord of the bed-chamber. In short, the widow has been whispering to the Bailie's wife, some very sensible remarks respecting the infamy of evil speaking, and the propriety of an honest woman's being placed beyond the reach of "people's tongues." John has been so active and attentive in the widow's interest, has been up so early and down so late, that last New-year's-day, just fourteen years since the decease of worthy Mr MacCandlish, he was seen to sport a pair

of very handsome, little worse than new, plush breeches, the gala dress, as the Bailie well remembers, in former, and now seemingly forgotten years, of the widow's ever-to-be-lamented husband.

Dandy Dinmont, who is, in fact, a native of this parish, and who had been duly apprised by the Lochmabeners of the curling contest, having dug out from the stole of a two year's old peat stack, his "true blue whins," had graced them with new handles, and a fresh soleing, for the occasion. Having some business to transact with his Kendal wool-merchant, and being Scotchman enough to fell two dogs with one stone, Dandy had arrived on the night previous to the spiel, and had lodged, as was his custoin, with the widow, for whom, and for her favourite Jock, (for Dandy acknowledges him under no other name,) he still continues to entertain the most steady attachment. Many a stiff breeze has Dandy, of late years, weathered in the Tontine; but Dumple is still sure-footed, and Charlie's Hope is only about twelve Scotch miles up the country. The widow, too, has often been meditating a visit to Ailie; but the roads are so bad, and her time really so much occupied, that, though the thing has always been talked of, it has never been, nor is likely now, before the honey-moon jaunt, to be accomplished.

Dandy had conducted the opposition on the Rink furthest off from ours, and it was not till after the spiel was lost and won, that he found himself in company with his old crony and bosom-friend, the Ettrick Shepherd. In we poured into the Tontine, as the beasts did into the Ark, by twos and by sevens; laird, bailie, and cotter; poet, priest, and tailor; farmer, carter, and servant lad; with the same conteinpt of all rankprecedency which had accompanied our day's proceedings. I will say it, Mr Editor, and I will say it nowin case I should forget after dinner— that if you are too much of a dandy, I don't mean Dinmont,) or too much of an aristocrat-or too much, or too little, of any thing, to relish the company into which I am about to introduce you-may Constable fail in the payment of your

quarter's allowance, and may all your airy speculations of fame and usefulness come just to nothing! For my own part, bred and educated as I have been among the peasantry of my native country, and full well acquainted, as even ab incunabulis I have been with their frank, and strongly-marked character, with that open unsuspiciousness of heart, and that shrewd quaintness of intellect, and with that astonishing powerfulness of language, and expressiveness of idiom, by which they are marked out, and separated from the higher classes, I will say it boldly, that I never feel myself more at home, more truly alive to the humanity of my nature, than when I come into close contact with their joys, their sorrows, their wishes, their wants, their all of little ambition or regret, of attainment or failure, of which their simple annals are composed. Of how many advantages are these men, in the higher paths of life, deprived, who are nursed, like the chrysalis, in the shell,-who step directly out of the leading-strings of their nurses into those of fashion and prejudice,-whose mental and moral food is as highseasoned and artificial as the pastry and sweetmeats with which their appetites are pampered,—and who are carefully instructed by our mamma" to consider nothing so contaminating and dangerous as the slightest intercourse with vulgar brats! Thank God! I was born in a cottage-ay, and came into early contact with poor, it is true, and humble, but kindand Christian beings, whose virtues are so deeply impressed upon my heart, that the glare and the flutter of a bishop's gown could never efface the impression. Thank God! I was not born to a fortune-though, by the bye, I should have no objection to one now, provided my "aunt Kate" would take the hint, and leave me her heir! The smiling, and seemingly-delighted widow, received us, at the door-way, in a close-plaited toy, with two full rows of lace edging, surmounted by a knot, or tuft, of black ribbon; and, in a tone somewhere betwixt a remonstrance and an apology, told us that our dinner, owing to our late hours at the ice, would be greatly, she feared, out of sea

son.

"Never mind that, my dawty," said a frank and a familiar voice, accompanied by an equally frank deposition of a broad and ponderous hand betwixt the widow's shoulders; 66 never mind that,—our stomachs are no ony way nice, and I question much if they will quarrel wi' ony thing that teeth can master. But preserve us a' !" added the gudeman of Charlie's Hope, "what have you got here?" casting his eye towards the kitchen fire, upon which some eels were frying on a brander. "Eels!-vile adder-looking, original-sin reptiles-and for hungry folk too!" "There shall nae eels," interposed, in unison, the voice of the Ettrick Shepherd, "there shall nae eels bed in my stomach, till there be mair cover to hide them," dashing, at the same time, the snow from his nail-studded shoes, and casting a significant glance towards the kitchen table, upon which the curlers' immemorial dinner, "beef and greens," was smoking most invitingly. "It's no for you," replied the widow, in a kind of under-tone, approaching to a whisper," Jamie, my man; nor for my friend Dandy, there, either, that the eels are now curling up their tails on the brander; it's just for Brandy-Burn,' poor man. The lady is unco fond o' them-an' the laird, wha maun just comply wi' a' her freaks, is obliged to be fond o' them too An' I whiles think, atweel, that since he was married to the heiress, he's turned no that unco unlike ane himsel'. He was ance-" but at this moment the laird's besom took up its stance in the passage, and the widow facing about, and adjusting her front gear, addressed him thus:-" Come away, laird; am unco glad to hear ye ha'e wun the spiel

I'm sure ye'll be tired and hungry baith. The lady has sent down some eels for your dinner, and I ha'e them birsling away yonder on the brander." "The lady," replied the laird, in a manner which indicated any thing but gratitude," is very good, and kind, and attentive, an' a' that,

The Lochs around the gude town of Lochmaben are famed for eels, and all good housewifes know to dress them, so that they become meat for the “laird himsel'."

but I had rather be excused on this occasion; and with, or without," added he, looking around, "HER leave, I will dine on beef to-day,-sae ye may make John, there, a present of the whole concern." John, who was bustling by, in waiter-like attitude, with a towel in his hand, and an expression of dispatch in his countenance, grumbled out something, rather indistinctly, in which, however, the words "serpents," and "better meat," were distinguishable.

It is not in the power of pen to individualize every arrival in all the peculiarities of each. Suppose, then, after a sufficiency of Jennying and Tibbying below, and of knife-andfork-work above: suppose the punchbowl introduced, under the immediate auspices of the laird, suitably flanked and supported; and that healths have been drunk, and that curling toasts have gone round; and that every face, from that of "Brandy" the preses, to that of the croupier Bailie, has begun to assume an expression of glee and merriment. But without a simile, I can do nothing:-now, then, for one in my very best style.

Reader, hast thou ever seen an old woman making candles? I speak of times when every one was permitted to make, as well as to burn their own candles. A chair turned over upon its front, and a convenient assortment of candle spits laid across the seatbars-a large broth pot, nearly filled with warm water, over which the melted tallow has been poured, placed before her, a spit, with a dozen radical-looking, ragged, half-made and dangling spunkies, strung through the eyes, in her hand. Now she immerses them, with a side-long sweep, up to the neck in the reservoir; and again, after a suitable pause, shakes off the last slowly-descending drop into the abyss beneath. The same process is gone through with the next, and the next; and this being frequently repeated, the whole concern begins, at length, to assume a more civilized aspect. The knobs, and other rather unseemly inequalities, are smoothed over. The wick, like the inward, in the outer man of the Bailie, is totally concealed in the coating. The lower extremities descend apace. They continue to shoot

downwards, like icicles from the easing of a thatched roof. This is not to be tolerated; a pair of large shears, the inseparable companions of a suitable pocket, are applied to the unreasonable excrescence. Amputation is effected, and plump after plump, the detached delinquents descend into the parent flood. A while they swim around, seemingly untouched by the heat. But at last they begin to yield. Now one, then another disappears, till at last there is not a vestige of individuality left.

And thus, for you remember I am not narrating a fact, but adducing a comparison, and thus it fared with our company, under the softening, melting influence of the punch-bowl. At first, every individual preserved a certain degree of individuality. He swam, indeed, but he swam perceptibly distinct; but anon, the whole party assumed a unity of heart, of soul, of object, of meaning. Then were the floodgates of mirth let loose, and the waters abounded; from the coarse but pithy jest of the Sutor, over whom even clerical presence had ceased to operate, down to the still coarser but less-amusing anecdote of the Bailie, all was freedom and sheer fun. Again and again were the achievements of the day revised, and many and most interesting were the experiences of all on the subject. Parish spiels underwent a most particular review, and the ancient prowess of Closeburn and Lochmaben were warmly contested. But alas for the absent! for Tynron, for Morton, for Sanquhar, for Dumfriesfor the mere drivellers of Kirkmahoe, and the thrice-sutored lairds of Dunscore. The plain narrative began to assume, at length, not a little of poetical embellishment, and the marvellous succeeded to the wonderful, and the downright incredible to the marvellous. The spirit of Enthusiasm was awakened, and that of Credulity hung upon her lips. We were just upon the very verge of absurdity, when Hogg, being called upon by the president for a song, very opportunely gave us one which he had evidently composed for the occasion, and in the chorus of which we all most vigorously joined.

I've been at bridals, unco glad,
Wi' courting lasses wondrous fain;
But what is a' the fun I've had-
Compare it wi' the Channel-stane.
Oh for, &c.

I've play'd at quoiting in my day-
And maybe I may do't again-
But still unto mysel' I'd say,
This is no the Channel-stane.
Oh for, &c.

Were I a sprite in yonder sky,
Never to come back again,

I'd sweep the moon and starlets by-
And beat them at the Channel-stane.
Oh for, &c.

We'd boom across the Milky Way-
One Tee should be the Northern Wain;
Another, bright Orion's ray,
A comet for a Channel-stane.
Oh for, &c.

Scarcely had our bard finished his glee, when the honest, though manifestly hen-pecked laird-a description of character not at all confined to Annandale-having now begun to feel a little inspired himself, burst out into the following oratorical flourish-" Od, man, yere a queer fallow deel ha'e me if I care twa skips of a greyhound whether ye be Whig or Tory; I wad be glad to see ye at Brandy-Burn, an' it war na for the mistress; but she's a queer body, and no that ill a body either, if ane wad eat naething but eels, and gi'e her a' her ain will." "The mistress!" echoed Dandy, who, though sitting at some distance, had thrust forward his bullet-head, and well-spread ears, into the conversation;" indeed, laird, ye ha'e yoursel' to blame, wha didna had a hank in yere hand at the outset, but

moon than ye will ever be able to tak' in, if ye wer' to live to the age of Methuselah-ye remember, laird, what the aul' sang says,

Had I sic wife, upon my life,
I'd duck her in a bogie ;'

and a bogie ye need na want, nor a loch neither, about Brandy-Burn, but ye want the spirit to use't, man.'

Hereupon, Hogg, who had sung last, declared this poetical quotation of Dandy's a forfeit," and after fining him in a bumper, insisted upon the Borderer's song. Dandy scratched his head, and said, "though he was nae great hand in the tune way, yet he wa'd gi'e them a sort of a loyal thing, the school-master had composed for him, to sing at a farmertryst in Lockerby, last market-day. Dandy Dinmont's Song.

And what wad a man ha'e mair?

Then fill up the bowl, &c.

still ha'e a blow, for a friend or a foe; My word is as guid as a law;

The Captain is hail, and the devil fra hell,

Has claught Gibby Glossin awa'.

Then fill up the bowl, &c.

"The Father," God bless him! aul' Scotland will miss him,

Her favour wha early could win ;
But there is not a heart took the old Fa-
ther's part,

But will bleed in defence of the Son.
Then fill up the bowl, &c.
The Sutor's song was next de-

A stone taken out of the channel of

bounded under many a heavy nieve

stone.

not sing; it was against his con

mauna

Watty Tweedy-I'm sure there's mony a ane here kent Watty, for he was weel acquaint, a' down Nith, and up Annandale, forbye among the herds o' Etterick. Indeed, I was told he came originally frae somewhere thereabouts. There's a hantil o' Tweedies, and Hoggs, and Laidlaws amang the hills, I wat na, if they just flock together, and breed like muirfowl." Here the master of the strap was admonished by the poet to proceed with his story; but Dandy rubbed his elbow, and seemed quite delighted. Na, ye interrupt me at ony rate," resumed the hero of the last; "there's na guid comes o' that; ye wad na like to be used that way yoursel', Hogg, wer' ye stringing out ony o' your langwinded blethers, about witches and warlocks, and greyhounds, and queer muir-hens; Guid guide us! yon's awfu' trash, man." The poet raised his hand in the attitude of scratching his occiput, threw himself suddenly back, and was upon the point of setting off in one of his highest bravura guffaas, when, missing stays, or, in plain language, missing a chair back, having been seated upon a bench, over he drifted full swing, and like the seven-crowned, ten-horned dragon of apostolie vision, he fell, but "fell not alone!" The whole bench, in fact, from the clinging of one individual to another, was suddenly denuded, and the potentates of Pandy never lay more supine, nor, for a few seconds, more helpless than they.

Reader, hast thou ever seen that most amusing of all sights, a hen with a clecking of ducklings? She approaches inadvertently to the brink

of a pond; this instant she walks, and chucks, and rejoices in her brood; the next, they are in the midst of the flood.

"A stupid moment-motionless she stands,"

then flutters and screams, round and round the pool, in utter inefficiency. So looked our preses, the laird o' Brandy-Burn, as he started to his feet, upon the first discovery of the vacant seats, gazing as if he suspected the earth had opened and swallowed up his companions. The noise which accompanied this disaster brought up John, who, after having viewed the field, and read in many disconcerted countenances the nature of the accident, clapped one hand upon his mouth, and with the other pulling the door after him, he still lingered, as if willing to protract his merriment. To fall is nothing; the most pusillanimous do it every day, and with a good grace too; but none but a fool, a downright merryman, whose office it is, can rise again unembarrassed, and grin with the grinning spectators. "Ye may gang your ways at least," said the enraged Borderer, advancing towards the retreating menial, for if ye stan' muckle langer, chuckling and snivelling there, like a heather bleat, there's a foot at the end o' that leg (thrusting, at the same time, his right leg forward) which will converse in pretty braid Scotch wi' thae plush breeks o' yours." John withdrew like the gouk of a cuckoo clock, closing right nimbly the door after him; and the company once more resumed their seats; but to resume the Sutor's story, after this interruption, was altogether impossible. The fact was, that, owing to a large wooden serpent-handled punch-ladle, with which the Bailie officiated most sedulously at the bowl, we were all a little, or, perhaps, not a little beyond the story-telling point; and, as I have often observed, when once songs are introduced into a convivial meeting, nothing else will go down; so nothing would please us now but the laird's song. He had but one, it seemed, and it was consequently well known everywhere, except in his own dining-room at "Brandy-House."