a German dialogue of Paisley manufacture; and on the E- S on pretence of buying his wool. But of all the introductions I ever had in my life, the most singular took place here last night, which, as you will see by the post-mark, (should I forget to date this,) was the celebrated 19th of July.

I came from Stirling to this place in the morning, in order to attend at the great public dinner; but being informed by chance, that a club of literary and social friends were to dine together at a celebrated tavern, at which they have been accustomed to meet for many years, I was seized with an indescribable longing to make one of the party, and immediately set all my wits to work in order to accomplish this. Accordingly, I went to the commercial correspondent that was deepest in arrears with our house, and besought his interest. He introduced me to another, and that one to another, who promised, if practicable, to procure me admission; and the manner of this admission being not the least singular part of my adventure, I must describe it to you the more particularly.

This last-mentioned gentleman, (who was a jeweller,) after writing a card of considerable length, gave it me, with a direction where to find his friend, who was a mercantile gentleman whose name I had often heard mentioned: therefore, when I threw my eye on the direction, I was greatly delighted. I soon found his shop, and, the door being open, popped in; where, behold, the first face I saw was that of an elderly reverend-looking divine, a man of the most benevolent aspect. Behind him was a tall dark squinting politician, at a hard argument with an artist whose picture I had seen at an exhibition or two, and knew him at first sight. I do not know his name; but he wears spectacles, has a round quizzical face, and a very little mouth, out at which the words come pouring in flights, like well-ground meal out of a mill. But that meal had some poignancy of taste about it; for it made the politician writhe and wince, and almost drove him beyond all patience. Beyond the counter, at the fire-place, stood two celebrated lawyers, with their fore-fingers laid across, arguing a lost process over again with great volubility. I could see no mercantile-looking person whatever to

whom to deliver my letter, save a young well-favoured lad with a Roman nose, busily engaged at one of the windows with his day-book, and to him I shewed the back of my card; but he only nodded his head, and pointed to an inclosed desk on the opposite side. To that I went; and, shoving aside eight or nine spacious subscription-boards for painters, poets, artificers, and all manner of rare and curious things, I set my nose through the spokes, and perceived the bald head of a man moving with a quick regular motion, from the one side to the other alternately, and soon saw, on gaining a little more room for my face among the subscription cards, that he was writing, and tracing the lines with no common celerity. I named him, and at the same time handed him my letter; on which he cocked up his eyes with a curiosity so intense, that I could scarcely retain my gravity, and thought to myself, as he perused the lines, "This must be an extraordinary fellow!"

When he had finished reading the note, he beckoned me to meet him at an opening in the counter, near the farthest corner of the shop. obeyed the signal; but as he passed the two lawyers, he could not help pricking up his ears to the attestations of one of them, who was urging the case with more fervency than the matter appeared to require. When he came to a pause, the Merchant of Venice, for so I always felt inclined to denominate him, only said to him, " Well, it may be all very true that you are saying, my dear sir; but, for God's sake, don't get into a passion about it. There can be no occasion at all for that." And having given him this sage advice, he passed on, shook me by the hand, and conducted me down stairs.

"So you are for this private dinner, in place of the great public one, with my Lord Provost, and all the nabbs in the country to preside?" said he.-" I' would prefer it a great deal,” said I, "and would take it as a particular favour, if you could procure me admission into a company made up of gentlemen, whose characters I hold in the highest admiration."- "Ay! God bless the mark!" said he, taking a hearty pinch of snuff with one nostril, and quite neglecting the other; so you admire them, do you? I should like, an it be your will, to know what it is for. I

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hope it is not for their detestable political principles? If so, I have done with you, friend; let me tell you that." "I suppose our principles are all much the same in the main," said I; " and I hope you intend to be of the party, for one."-" Me? not I—I love the fellows personally, and should certainly have been there; but then one hears such blarney; so much sycophantic stuff, it makes one sick, and affects one like an emetic after a good hot dinner. By the bye, I have no great objections to their mode of dining;" (at this part, he took another hearty snuff, still with the same nostril, and gave two or three dry smacks with his lips;) "but the truth is, I do not know if I can be admitted myself."-"I thought you and they had been all one," said I.-" Why, so we are, in some respects," replied he; "as I said, I love the blades personally, but as to their political creed, I say, God mend it. But so it is, that I am so often with them, that my own party have almost cut me; and the others, who know my sentiments well, view me with a jealous eye, and would as soon, I fear, want me as have me; so that, at present, I am an alien from both parties. But, I must say this for these luminaries whom you profess to admire, that badness of heart is none of their faults. There will be some more of the artists here immediately. I will speak to themyou shall be sure of a ticket of admission."- "Shall I likewise have the pleasure of meeting with the Edinburgh artists too?" said I." All of them who pretend to be literary men and tories," said he. But, heaven be praised, we have not many of them!"

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Well, to make a long tale short, to the meeting we both went, where nineand-twenty of us sat down together to dinner; and as I was merely introduced by name to two of the stewards as the friend of this Merchant of Venice, little farther notice was taken of me, so that I had time to note down a few things that passed, which I subjoin for your amusement, and that of Tod and Finlayson, should they meet you at Dugald's to-morrow evening. In the meantime, I shall describe two or three of the leading members of this literary club, that you may have a guess who they are; for I forgot to tell you, that the obliging Merchant bound me by a promise, before undertaking

to introduce me, that whatever I said, wrote, or published, I was to give no names, that having become oflate a most dangerous experiment. I gave him my word, which I will not break, though it will cramp me very much in my letters; but the ample field of description is left free and open to me, and to that will I resort, as a general that feels himself cramped in the plain makes his retreat to the mountains.

We shall begin with the president, who was an old man with long grey locks, prominent features, and a great deal of vivacity in his eye; a little lame of both feet, and tottered as he walked, so that I instantly recognized him as one who, of late years, has been, like the cuckoo, often heard of but seldom seen. You will understand well enough who I mean. The gentleman next to the president, on the right hand, was young, sprightly, and whimsical; with hawk's eyes, and dark curled hair. He spoke so quick, and with so short a clipped tongue, that I, who sat at a distance from him, scarcely ever could distinguish a word that he said. He on the president's left hand was a country-looking man, well advanced in life, with red whiskers, strong lightcoloured hair that stood upon his crown like quills upon the fretful porcupine, and a black-silk handkerchief about his neck tied over a white one. These two appeared to be intimate acquaintances, and were constantly conversing across the table. The countryman appeared to be often jealous of the other, and at a great loss to understand the ground of his jokes, but he would not let him have a minute's peace. I shall give you one single instance of the sort of conversation that was passing between them, so much to the amusement of the president, and the friends next to them. The young gentleman had been telling the other some literary anecdote about the author of a book called Marriage, (which I once saw advertised) but I could not hear distinctly what he said. The other raised his eyes as if in great astonishment, and I heard perfectly what he said, which was as follows: Weel, man, that's extraordinar! I never heard ought like it a' my days afore. Hech, but it wad be a queer job, if ane but kend that it was true!"-" What!" said the president," sure you don't accuse your friend of telling you falsehood, or indeed suppose that he would tell

you aught that is not strictly true?”. Whisht, callant. It as a' that ye ken about the matter," said the countryman. "I am only speaking for mysel'. Let every man ride the ford as he finds it. He may have always told the truth to you, and every body else. I'll never dispute that. But let me think; as far as I min', he never in a' his life tauld me the truth but ance, and that was by mere chance, and no in the least intentional." I was petrified, but those who knew the two only laughed, and the accused party laughed the most heartily of any.

The croupier was likewise a young gentleman, tall, fair, and athletic; and had a particular mode of always turning up his face like a cock drinking out of a well when he began to speak. Though rather fluent after he began talking, he seemed always to commence either with pain or difficulty, and often in the middle of a dispute between others, when he disapproved of a sentiment on either side, then he held up his face, and made his mouth like a round hole, without engaging any farther in the debate. I could not help obser→ ving, however, that one very ingenious gentleman, with whom I was peculiarly happy to meet, but who is now so publicly known, that I dare not even describe him, kept his eye ever and anon upon the croupier's motions; and though he sometimes laughed at them, if ever the said croupier turned up his face, he held it as good as if he had sworn that the speaker was wrong. And this celebrated character restrained himself, or rose into double energy exactly in proportion to the attitude of the croupier's nose, which he failed not to consult as minutely as a farmer does the state of his barometer.

There were also two, who, by way of precedency, sat opposite to each other in armed chairs at the middle of the table; the one a facetious little gentleman, with an Irish accent; the drollest being, without effort or premeditation, that I ever heard open a mouth. Indeed one would have thought that he often opened his, and let it say what it liked. I was a grieved man when he got so drunk at an early hour that he fell under the table. His fellow was nothing behind him in either good humour or fun, but I thought they were sometimes trying who could speak the greatest nonsense.

This last I do not know, for some called him by one name, and some another. He is a stout boardly gentleman, with a large round whitish face, -a great deal of white round the pupil of the eye, and thin curled hair. A most choice spirit; and you must either have known or heard of him when you were in Campbell's house here. I took him at first for a well educated substantial merchant; afterwards for a sea-captain; but I now suspect that he may move in a higher circle than either of these would do.

The next most remarkable man of the party in my eyes was a little fat Gibbon-faced scholar, with a treble voice, and little grey eyes. He is indeed a fellow of infinite wit and humour, but of what profession I could not devise. He may be a doctor of physic, a dominie, a divine, a comedian, or something more extraordinary than any of these; but I am sure his is an artless and a good heart, and that he is not aware of the powers of his own mind in the delineation of human characters, perhaps (and it is a pity) too careless of what he says, and too much addicted to the ludi

crous.

There was also a tall elegant old gentleman, from whom I expected something highly original. There were two or three attitudes of body, and expressions of countenance, that he assumed in confuting a young impertinent advocate, that were quite inimitable; but he was placed by some individuals that he seemed not to like, and in a short time drew himself up. I hope I shall have an opportunity of describing some more of them by and by; in the mean time I must proceed with regularity, which leads me at present to something by no means unsubstantial, namely the dinner, a thing which I have always accounted an excellent contrivance wherewith to begin the commemoration of any great event.

The dishes were exclusively Scottish. There was the balmy Scots kail, and the hodge-podge, at the two ends of the table to begin with; and both of these backed by a luxurious healthylooking haggies, somewhat like a rolled up hedgehog. Then there were two pairs of singed sheep heads, smiling on one another at the sides, all of them surrounded by well scraped trotters, laid at right angles, in the same

way that a carpenter lays up his wood to dry; and each of these dishes was backed by jolly black and white puddings, lying in the folds of each other, beautiful, fresh, and smooth; and resembling tiers of Circassian and Ethiopian young maidens in loving embraces. After these came immense rows of wild ducks, teals, and geese of various descriptions; with many other mountain birds that must be exceedingly rare, for though I have been bred in Scotland all my life, I never heard any of their names before. Among them were some called whaups, or tilliwhillies, witherty weeps, and bristlecocks.

As soon as the dinner was over, our worthy president rose and made a most splendid speech, but as you know I do not write the short-hand, I cannot do justice to it by any report. He concluded thus:-"Gentlemen, let us dedicate this bumper to our beloved Sovereign, GEORGE THE FOURTHMay he long be spared to wear the crown this day set upon his head, and sway the sceptre put into his hand over a free, a loyal, and a happy people. With all the honours, ten times redoubled."

Here the applause, clapping of hands, waving of handkerchiefs, and shouting, was prodigious, so that I was afraid the people, in the extremity of their loyalty, had been going mad. But after they had sung the King's Anthem in full chorus, they again took their seats quietly, all save the countryman beforementioned, who was placed at the president's left hand, and who had all the time been sitting with open mouth staring in the speaker's face. When the rest sat down, he heaved his fist firm clenched above his head, and vociferated, in a loud and broad dialect, "Faith, callants, ye may say what ye like; but I can tell you, that this auld chap at the end o' the board speaks weel, and hauds a confoundit grip o' good sense too." And with that he came down on the table with such a rap, that he made all the glasses jingle. This set the circle in a roar of laughter, but he held up

his hand again as a sign for them to be silent, and seemed disposed to harangue them. Some called to order; others, Hear, hear; and, finally, all voices united in the cry of, Chair,chair. The orator finding himself thus interrupted in what he intended to have said, looked good-naturedly about, and said, "I fancy I'm maybe like the tail that grew out o' the tup's nose, a sma’ bit out o' my place here, and a wee blink farther forret than I should hae been. I was gaun to mak a speech, an' tack a toast to the tail o't; but a' in gude time. Auld cronie, gi'e me your hand in the meanwhile; I hae aye kend you for a leel man and a true, and I think mair o' ye the night than ever!" With that he shook the old president unmercifully by the hand, and added, "Ay, my hearty auld cock, we are a' ane, and there's muckle gude blood i' the land that's a' ane wi' us; and as lang as that is the case, we'll sing the Whigs Leyden's bit auld sang

My name it is doughty Jock Elliot,
And wha dare meddle wi' me ?'"

After this, a number of loyal and national toasts followed from the chair, the same that are given at every social meeting. When these were exhausted, the croupier being called on for a toast, he rose, and after turning his face three times straight upward, he delivered a very striking speech, and concluded by giving as a toast, "A pleasant journey, and a hearty welcome to our King to Scotland."

This toast was drank with all the honours; and, before the president took his seat, he begged that some gentleman would favour the company with a song corresponding with the toast. "That I'll do wi' a' my heart," said the countryman, " an ye'll excuse me my speech. I'm never at a loss for a sang; and gin I ha'e nae new ane that suits, I can brag a' the country at patching up an auld ane." He then sung the following song with great glee, and every time he pronounced the term Carle, he came with a slap on the president's shoulder.

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