Highlands, which he well knew to be affected, but nevertheless took the hint as a protest against his further proposals; and the two strolled on in rather awkward circumstances, till they met with Mrs Bell, which was a great relief to Gatty's oppressed and perturbed mind.

"That night, when she retired to her garret-room by herself, her mind was ill at ease. She repented her sore of having snubbed her lover's protestations in the very first opening of the desired bud, and in particular, of the ungenerous reflection cast upon his country, which looked like an intended affront. She could not but wonder at her own inconsistency, in checking the words that she longed most to hear, and determined with herself to make it all up in complacency the next time.

"Another opportunity soon arrived, for they were to be had every day; and though nothing save common-place observations passed between them, with some toying and tilting of words, yet it proved a happy and delightful afternoon to both parties. But, like the other, it passed over without any protestations of love. Twice or thrice did the tenor of their discourse seem approaching to it; but then, when it came to a certain point, each time it stood still, and silence prevailed till some common remark relieved them from the dilemma.

"There was now but one other time remaining, in which, if M'Ion did not declare himself, he was never to have another chance in the way that lovers like best. Long was it ere Gatty durst risk that sole remaining chance; for she hoped always to find matters in a better train; in a state that the declaration could not be eluded. Again she condescended to give him her hand in the dance at the gentlemen's evening parties, (for every farmer is a gentleman in that country.) Again she condescended to give him her arm to church, in the face of the assembling congregation, and even saluted old Elen, as she passed, as if proud of the situation she occupied. After these things, she accepted of an invitation to go and visit the Rowntree Lynn, where they had often been the year before. They admired the scenery, spoke in raptures of the wonderful works of nature, and the beauties of the creation. They even went so far as to mention the happiness of the little birds, and the delight they had in their young, and in each other, and then MIon fixed his manly eyes on the face of his youthful and blooming companion. It seemed overspread with a beam of pure and heavenly joy, a smile of benevolence

and love played upon it, and her liquid eye met his without shrinking; there was neither a blush on the cheek nor a shade of shame on the brow. Their eyes met and gazed into each other for a considerable space.-O M'Ion, where was thy better angel, that thou didst not avail thyself of this favourable moment, and divulge the true affections of thine heart? What delight it would have given to a tender and too loving breast, and how kindly it would have been received! But his evil destiny overcame the dear intent; and, instead of uttering the words of affection, he snatched up her hand and pressed it to his lips. Gatty turned away her face, and the tear blinded her eye. This was not what she expected, but the mere fumes of common gallantry; And is my heart to be made a wreck for this?* thought she; No, it never shall. I must know better on what stay I am leaning before I trust my happiness and my reputation in the hands of mortal man, far less in those of a young and deluding stranger, any more.

"During the rest of their walk, she kept silence, save by simply giving assent to some of his observations. She was busied in making up her mind to abide, without shrinking, by her former resolution. But as it was the last chance ever her lover was to have, she determined to hear all that he had to say. She stood still five or six times to listen to what he was saying, and after he was done, she was standing and listening still. When they came to her father's gate, she turned her back on it, to breathe a little before going in; and while in that position, she fixed on him a look so long, and so full of pathos, that he was abashed and confounded. It was a farewell look, of which he was little aware, for his constant aim had been to gain a hold in her youthful affections, and he flattered himself that he was succeeding to his heart's desire. But delays are dangerous; at that mo ment was she endeavouring to eraze his image from her heart; and the speaking look that she fixed on his face, was one of admiration, of reproach, and of regret, each in its turn. She laid her hand on the latch, and pressed it slowly down, keeping it for a good while on the spring.

Would he but speak yet,' thought she,

I would hear and forgive him.' He spake not; so the gate opened slowly, and closed again with a jerk behind them; and with that closing knell, was the door of her affections shut against the farther encroachments of a dangerous passion. So the maiden conceived, and made up her mind to abide by the consequences.

"From that day forth her deportment towards her lover underwent a thorough change. He lost her countenance, and no blandishment of his could recover it; but for all that, love, in either heart, continued his silent ravages, and M'Ion retired from Bellsburnfoot that second year, under grievous astonishment how he had offended his beloved mistress, but resolved, nevertheless, to continue his assiduities, until he could, in the full assurance of her affections, ask and obtain her as his own.

"Gatty's mind continued in torment. In the bosom of that maid there was a constant struggle carried on for the superiority, by duty and prudence on the one part, and love on the other. The former, indeed, swayed the outward demeanour; but the latter continued to keep the soul in thrall. She spent not a thought on the conqueror of which she did not disapprove, yet she continued to think and languish on. 'I fear I am in love still,' said Gatty; and what a business I am like to have of it!' And thus, by a retrograde motion round a small but complete circle, am I come again to the very beginning of my story."

Quarrels misconceptions- Flirtations on the sly-beatings about the bush-and various arts of self-tormenting, follow each other for several months, all very knowingly and amusingly described, in the Shepherd's best manner. Gatty begins to get jealous of cousin Cherry, and M'Ion, like an ass between two bundles of hay, knows not towards which to direct his jaws. Gatty takes a fever and blabs in her delirium-but by judicious medical attendance her pulse is brought down to 70 in a few days.

"Mrs Johnson and Cherry both acquiesced in the dame's certification, that Miss Bell looked charming; and the consciousness of beauty lent that never-failing charm, that improves it more than all the borrowed roses and ornaments that the world produces. What a pity that M'Ion would not come in while that lovely bloom continued! It is little that most men know either what is said or what is thought of them, and it is sometimes a mercy that it is so. But O, what a grievous circumstance it was, that one should be sitting fretting and pining in one room, from an idea that he is forbid admission into the one next him; and that another dear object should be sitting in this latter, like a transplanted flower blighted in the bud, fretting, and pining even worse, because he will not enter! One would have thought that an eclairVOL. XIV.

eissement might easily have been brought about in such a case; but it seems that etiquette had withstood that, for it was never effected."

We cannot follow the progress of this most affecting story step by step; suffice it to say, that Gatty's misery gathers head and is ripe for bursting.

"Did he ever proffer you marriage?" said Mrs Johnson.

"There you have struck upon the chord from which all the discordance in our love has flowed,' said Gatty;-' he never did. And after giving him opportunity after opportunity, I took a resolution of standing on my guard, lest all his professions might have no farther meaning than common gallantry warranted; and of all things, I dreaded being made the butt of ridicule by his boasting of my favours. But I now believe in my heart, that I have wronged him, and that he meant honourably and kindly toward me, but mistook my reserve for scorn; whereas I meant only to bring him to the test. I now regret every step I have taken; every disdainful look and word I have bestowed on him.'

"Hold, hold, my beloved Gatty!" said the affectionate nurse, interrupting her rhapsody: You have acted with the most perfect propriety. When once a man has declared himself, reserve may be partly laid aside, but not till then; and it ought to be a lover's care to set his mistress's heart at ease on that score. Far be it from me to suspect M'Ion's honour. On the contrary, I think him all that is becoming and honourable among his contemporaries. Still, I say that you have acted properly in checking his advances, till such time as his object be avowed. Had you checked them at an earlier period, the sequel might have been fraught with less danger to your peace. But better late than never; for oh, my dear Gatty! you little know of the perils and disappointments of youthful love, of which I stand this day a blighted and forsaken beacon, never more to enjoy hope or happiness, except in what relates to your welfare. Like you, I loved early, and but too well; but then I was beloved again with an affection that I deemed sincere. I was privately married to my lover, a young soldier, entirely dependant on his rich relatives, and lived several months with him in this city in the most perfect felicity. By what means his relations wrought upon him I never knew, but I was abandoned, and never more acknowledged, either as a wife or a mother, to this day, although I was both. They bereaved me of my child ere ever I 3 I

knew him-ere ever I had kissed his tender lips, or pressed him to my bosom, and all manner of explanation or acknowledgment has been denied me. Take warning by my fate, and shun that flowery and be witching path; for in its labyrinths the good, the gentle, the kind-hearted, and the benevolent, are too often lost; while the sordid and the selfish scarcely so much as run a hazard. Fly from the danger with your father. If your lover loves as he ought to do, and as you deserve to be loved, he will follow you into your retreats where he first found you. If he do not, he is unworthy of being remembered, and you will soon forget him. Little did I ween from your behaviour that your heart was so wholly engaged, else how I should have trembled for you! and even yet my heart is ill at ease; but, if I can, I will manage all things right. In the meantime, fly with your father, and leave the matter to me, for there is one great concern ;-as yet, none of us knows who or what he is. He is said to spend his money freely, and to be named by a property that he possesses in fee. But we never so much as heard him name his father; and such a house or clan is entirely unknown. You may conceive such a supposition to be ungenerous; but it is quite possible that he may be an impostor, and spending the money of others. After what you have told me, I need not ask how you affect this new match that your parents have provided for you in your rich and hopeful cousin?"

"Oh, how my soul sickens at the great boisterous ragamuffin!' exclaimed Miss Bell. I would not bear his company for one natural day, for all the wealth he possesses.'

"Do not say so much, my dear Gatty. I have noted, from experience, that no mortal fancy can conceive what a woman will do in cases of marriage. Believe me, I have seen things that I deemed more unlikely, come to pass.'

"The very thought of such an event being possible, is enough to kill me,' replied Gatty. I would rather suffer the pangs of dissolution every day, than continue to live three days the wife of such a man. Compare him with M'Ion-the amiable, the accomplished, the high-spi

rited M'Ion!'

What right

the more,' returned she. had such a savage as he to lift his hand against a real gentleman? The boor! The ruffian! Would that M'Ion had shot him through the body!"'"

At last M'Ion conceiving that Gatty hates him, resolves out of spite to marry cousin Cherry. And, upon our souls, had we been offered our choice, some thirty years ago, Cherry should have been the girl for our money. Mr Hogg describes with great power the delighted gratitude of this warmhearted creature towards M'Ion for condescending to love her; and although some may think her prattle to be tedious, it is really very innocent and piquante. But no sooner does Gatty, who had gone home to Bellsburnfoot, hear of the intended nuptials, than she takes a pain in her stomach, and goes to bed. What is to be done now? Why, Mrs Bell, a cunning old fox of a mother, contrives, along with Mrs Johnson, the nurse, to cheat Cherry out of the Celt by their united machinations. M'Ion confesses to Cherry that he longs for other fruit; she magnanimously gives him up to Gatty; and after standing out the light of the honey-moon, which ought to have been her own, she dies, poor thing, of a broken heart. This catastrophe is described with very considerable pathos; although the description now and then is disfigured by such utterly absurd and unmeaning words, and also by expressions, so totally the very reverse of what the honest Shepherd intended to use, that it is more than enough to cause laughter in a field of four-year-olds.

Cherry being now out of the way, M'Ion and his Gatty might be happy. No such thing. Gatty becomes mopish and pious, and is seized with a belief that at a certain hour of a certain morning, she shall surely die. All her fears, and all the anxieties of her husband and parents, are described with great prolixity, but with little effect. At last it would seem her foreboding. This is an old story, that she is dead, at the very hour of ill told; and could be made impressive only by high imagination. In the Shepherd's verses there are occasional touches of good superstition; but his prose is good only on subjects of a very homely or vulgar nature.

Gatty, however, is not dead. We extract a long passage, not without

force, but sadly exaggerated, and too palpable an imitation of the style of Frankenstein.

"M'Ion again laid his hand on the breast of the deceased, (if that term be proper,) and still there was a slight muscular motion, though at that time hardly perceptible. Daniel, however, felt it, and lifting up his hands and eyes, he cried out in ecstacy, 'Yes, yes! Blessed be his name, there are certainly some remains of life! O let us pray to God! Let us pray to God! for no other hand can now do any thing for us but his.'

"With that he prostrated himself on the bed, with his brow leaning on his dear child's peaceful bosom, and cried to the Almighty to restore her, with so much fervency and bitterness of spirit, that even the hearers trembled, and durst hardly say Amen in their hearts. Poor man! He neither knew for what he asked, nor in what manner his prayer was to be answered. Let the issue be a warning to all the human race, cautioning them to bow with humble submission to the awards of the Most High. While in the midst of his vehement and unrestrained supplication, behold the corpse sat up in the bed in one moment! The body sprung up with a power resembling that produced by electricity. It did not rise up like one wakening out of a sleep, but with a jerk so violent that it struck the old man on the cheek, almost stupifying him; and there sat the corpse, dressed as it was in its dead-clothes, a most appalling sight as man ever beheld. The whole frame appeared to be convulsed, and as it were struggling to get free of its bandages. It continued, moreover, a sort of hobbling motion, as if it moved on springs. The women shrieked and hid their faces, and both the men retreated a few steps, and stood like fixed statues, gazing in terror at seeing the accomplishment of their frantic petitions. At length M'Ion had the presence of mind to unbind the napkin from the face. But what a face was there exhibited! It was a face of death still; but that was not all. The most extraordinary circumstance was, that there was not, in one feature, the slightest resemblance to the same face only a few hours before, when the apparent change took place from life into death. It was now like the dead countenance of an idiot, the eyes were large and rolled in their sockets, but it was apparent that they saw nothing, nor threw any reflection inward on an existing mind. There was also a voice, and a tongue, but between them they uttered no intelligible word,

only a few indistinct sounds like the babble of a running brook. No human heart could stand this; for though the body seemed to have life, it was altogether an unnatural life; or rather, the frame seemed as if agitated by some demon that knew not how to exercise or act upon any one of the human powers or faculties. The women shrieked, and both of them fell into fits on the floor. M'Ion stood leaning against a bed-post, shading his face with his hand, and uttering groans so prolonged, and in a voice so hollow and tremulous, that it was frightful to hear him; in all that terrible scene there was nothing so truly awful as these cries of the distracted husband, for cries they certainly were, rather than groans, though modulated in the same manner. To have heard these cries alone from an adjoining apartment, would almost have been enough to have put any ordinary person out of their right mind. Daniel, when her face was first exposed to view, staggered backward like one stunned, until he came to a seat beside the entrance door, on which he sunk down, still keeping his eyes fixed on the animated corpse. He was the first to utter words, which were these:-'Oh! sirs, it's no her! It's no her! It's no her! They hae looten my bairn be changed. Oh God, forgie us! What's to come o' us a' now wi' that being?'

"Death would now have been a welcome visitor indeed, and would have relieved the family from a horror not to be described; but now there was no remedy; there the creature sat struggling and writhing, using contortions both in body and feature that were truly terrific. No one knew what to do or say; but as they were all together in the same room, so they clung together, and neither sent for divine nor physician, unwilling that the deplorable condition of the family, and the nakedness of their resources, should be exposed to the blare of the public voice.

"Mrs Bell was the first to resume as much courage as again to lay hands on this ghastly automaton, which her pride and dignity of spirit moved her to, although in a half-stupified state. You see what you have brought us to by your unsanctified rhapsodies,' said she. This is the just hand of Heaven. There is no doubt, however, that it is the body of my child, although it appears that the soul is wanting.'

"Na, na, na!' exclaimed Daniel, 'that's no my bairn! The spirits hae brought an uncouth form an' changed it on yc, an' the body of my dear bairn's ta'en away. Ye hae neither had the Bible aneath the head, nor the saut an' the candle aboon the

"For three days and three nights did this incomprehensible being lie in that drowsy and abstracted state, without tasting meat or drink, nor did she seem affected by any external object, save by M'Ion's entrance into the room. On such occasions, she always started, and uttered a loud and unintelligible noise, like something between laughing and anger; but the sound soon subsided, and generally died away with a feeble laugh, or sometimes with an articulation that sounded like 'No-no-no!'

breast. Never tell me that that's the face o' my Gatty. Dead or alive, hers was a bonny face. But what's that like?' "Mrs Bell loosed the bandages from the hands and the feet, though not without great perturbation; but she suffered the dead-clothes to remain on the body, in the hopes that it might still die away. She tried also to lay it backward, and compose it decently on the bed, but felt as if it were endowed with unnatural force, for it resisted her pressure, and rebounded upwards. It also lifted its hand as if with intent to put away her arm, but could not come in contact with it. It was like the motion of one trying to lay hold of something in a dream. It was not long, however, till the body fell backward of itself, and with apparent ease turned itself half over in the bed with its face away from the light. This was a sensible relief to the distracted group; they spread the sheets again decently over the frame, remained all together in attendance, and by the time that the sun rose they heard distinct and well-regulated respirations issuing from the bed.

"It is impossible to give anything like a fair description of the hopes, the terrors, and the transitions from one to another of these, that agitated the individuals of that family during this period of hideous suspense. These were no doubt proportioned to their various capacities and feelings; but there is as little doubt that they were felt to a degree seldom experienced in human nature. There lay the body of their darling-of that there could be no doubt, for they had never been from its side one moment-but the judgment of God seemed to be upon them; for they all felt an inward impression admonishing them that the soul had departed to the bosom of its Creator at the very moment foretold by its sweet and heaven. ly-minded possessor, and that the Almighty had, in derision of their unhallowed earnestness for the prolongation of a natural life, so little worthy of being put in competition with a heavenly one, either suffered the body to retain a mere animal existence, or given the possession of it to some spirit altogether unqualified to exercise the organs so lately occupied by the heaven-born mind. Yet, when they saw the bed-clothes move, and heard the regular breathings, they experienced many a thrilling ray of hope that all they had witnessed might have been the effect of some strong convulsion, and that she might yet be restored to mental light, to life, and to all their loves. Every time, however, that they stole a look of the features, their hopes were blasted anew.

"All this time no servant or stranger had been suffered to enter that chamber; and, on the third day, they agreed to raise up this helpless creature, and endeavour to supply nature with some nourishment. They did so; and now, inured to an intensity of feeling that almost rendered them desperate, they were enabled to inspect the features, and all the bodily organs, with the most minute exactness. The countenance had settled into something like the appearance of human life,

that is, it was not so thoroughly the face of a dead person as when it was at first reanimated; the lips had resumed a faint dye of red, and there were some slight veins on the cheeks, where the roses had before blossomed in such beauty and such perfection. Still it was a face without the least gleam of mind—a face of mere idiotism, in the very lowest state of debasement; and not in one lineament could they find out the smallest resemblance between that face, and hers that had so lately been the intelligent and the lovely Agatha Bell. M'Ion studied both the contour and profile with the most particular care, thinking that these must have remained the same; but in neither could the slightest likeness be found out. They combed her beautiful exuberance of hair, changed her grave-clothes for others more seemly, and asked her many kind questions, all of which were either unheard or disregarded. She swallowed the meat and drink with which they fed her with great eagerness, but yet she made no motion for any more than was proffered to her. The entrance of M'Ion into the room continued to affect her violently, and nothing else besides; and the longer his absence had been, the more powerful his impression on her frame, as well as on her voice and tongue,—for that incident alone moved her to utterance.

"It would be oppressive and disgusting farther to continue the description of such a degradation of our nature,-all the more benign faculties of the soul revolt from the contemplation of such an ob