as a frog, and as dead as a leg of mutton. I have given him such a pinch, that if he had a spark of life it must have made him jump." "Mr Lowther," said I, with great sincerity, "ye're a most extraordinary perplexity, to nip the man in that way. It's enough to cause his death-I am surprised ye have so little regard to humanity." "So with some converse of the same sort, we at last reached the inn door at Kendal, and when the waiter came with a candle to see who would light for supper, I said to him, "Let me quietly out, for there's a dead man in the coach beside me. The waiter uttered a cry of terrification, and let the candle fall in the dub, but in an instant twenty other lights came flaming, and a crowd gathered around us, while Mr Lowther jumped out of the carriage, like a creature by himself, and was like to faint with the thought of having travelled in the company of a corpse. And to be sure ly, it was not a very pleasant companion we had; however, it gave me a warning never to travel by night again; for I was needcessitated to bide till the coroner had made a questification of my testimony, and I got no sleep, neither that night, nor for three after, with the thought of sitting in a coach with a dead body, holding a veal pye and a brandy bottle in its hand-which every one must allow was a concurrence of a very alarming kind to a single woman. When the Englified Edinburgh lady had made an end of her story, the Doctor gave me a nodge on the elbow, and said with a winking, to let me ken he was but in jocularity, "Now, Tammy, ye'll see how I'll squabash them ;" and with that, he addressed himself aloud to the company of passengers assembled round us-saying how he was diverted by the stories he had heard, but that he had one of his own to tell, more extraordinary than them all, with other preliminary observes of the same sort, to waylay the attention. THE ODONTIST'S MONKEY. "I had a monkey once-it was just like a French wean-a' mouth and een. It came from Senegal, or Gibraltar, or the Ape-hill of Africa-whilk o' the three, gude kens. But it was nae ane of the common clanjamphrey that ye see at fairs-it was a douce monkey, wi' nane o' that devilry and chatter of the showman's tribe; it was as composed as a provost, and did all its orders and ends in a methodical manner. Lordsake, but it had amaist as muckle gumpshion as my friend Tammy here, and I took a pleasure in the education of the creature-I have long had a conceit that the auld way of education is no conducted in a proper manner, and therefore I tried a new device o' my ain with Puggy. Noo, attend to what am telling-for if ye dinna follow the thread o' my discourse, ye'll lose the end o't alltogether. Ae morning I was sitting writing a bit sang for Blackwood's-His Magazine couldna go on without mewhen I observed Puggy watching me wi' the e'e of philosopher or a professor-ye ken the ane's as wise as the other-I took a vizy at the beast, and I said till't," Puggy, come here," and it "Dost was on the table like a flea. thou think, Puggy," quo' I, "thou could'st learn to write?"-I was just confoundit to see the thing at the words take a pen and dip it into the ink bottle, and then look up in my face and gie a nod, as much as to say "I'll try, set me a copy.' " "So I set the sensible beast a copy in strokes, and it then began after me. It's strokes were better than mine-I was dumfoundered, and next tried it in the A. B. C.-no Chinese copiator could do half so well.-" I'll make a something as good as a printing-press or the lithography, o' thee, Puggy,' said I, patting it on the head.-The creature look'd up weel pleased wi' the compliment; and then I wrote in large text CAT, and pointing to pussy, that was lying on the rug afore the fire, said-CAT.' Puggy gave a nod, and immediately wrote cat, and pointing to baudrons, gave another nod, and said cat. "Are ye no the devil?" said I, starting back, and looking to see that it hadna a cloven foot. I then drew in my chair, and gave it another lesson, and for copy, set it' HAND,' repeat ing the word, and shewing my ownall which Puggy did in the same manner, with a humanity no to be described. In this way on the first morning I taught it to read and write, and speak the name of every thing in the room, and about me. "The second lesson was more curious than the first. I tried to gie't abstract ideas. There's no a professor o' the metaphysical nonsense, o' a' the colleges, can teach his whippersnapper students like me. "I laid a book on a chair, and going to my place at the table, I went back and brought the book to it, and laid it on the table, and then I wrote the word FETCH. Puggy was fash'd a wee at first, but by and by it suited the action to the word, as Will Shakespeare says, and I soon saw it understood me like another Solomon. Then I wrote ME, but without speaking it, mind that, and touched myself. Puggy likewise wrote ME, and, coming forward, touched me, and looking up in my face, shewed that it understood that I was me.-Book it had learnt the day before, as I was telling you, so that when I laid the volume back again on the chair, and said, "Puggy, fetch me the book," it jumpit away and brought it as cleverly as a fairy. Here the Doctor made a full stop, for every body was listening in credulous admiration, and then he rose from the table, and, flourishing his switch, twirled round like a totum, and made all the echoes of the coast ring with his laughter at having so quizzed the natives. Thus passed the first afternoon of my retour by the Mountaineer, and the ́ next day being blasty and bleak, nobody was in a humour either to tell or to hear stories; but on the morning of the third, as we came in sight of the Bass, the sun came so brightly out of his bed ayont the sea, to run his race rejoicing, that we felt the strength of man renewed within us, and the Doctor, being as blithe as a bumbee in a summer morning, immediately after breakfast began, like that busy creature humming from flower to flower, to gather tales and pleasant stories from all around him. When we had arranged our stools after breakfast on the deck, and chosen the Odontist preses of the sitting, he looked around with his hawk's eye, and fixing on a young man of a deinure and clerical look, said to him, "Friend, let's see what ye hae gotten in your pack; open, and shew's your wares.' With that the austere lad answered that he would relate a story suitable to the place and the objects around us. THE COVENANTER. TALE, No. XVI. "I am sorry, sir," said he, with a grave voice," that there are some among us who consider the reverend gentleman's story as a derogatory picture of the Scottish clergy. I think those who do so, have allowed their understandings to be seduced into a reverence for forms and ceremonies, totally inconsistent with that familiar and domestic piety which is characteristic of the Presbyter, and enters into all he does and says. The new fangled formalities that are corrupting the simplicity of the Presbyterian worship-the papistical ringing of "the sacring bell" before the minister enters the pulpit, and the heartless trills of those hireling and prelatic choirs that have been substituted in some places for "the praises of the congregation," are abominations which our ancestors would have laughed down, or swept away with the besom of destruction, as they did the trumpery of the monks and prelates. I say this the more seriously, because of late a spirit seems to have gone abroad, at war with that reverence which Scottish hearts were once taught to cherish for the martyrs of their national religion. But, sir, when those perishable temples which vanity purposes to raise to the learned and the valiant, are crumbled into dust, yon monument, which the Divine Architect himself has raised, will stand sublime amidst the so "The sacring bell" is the small bell which is rung to announce the elevation of the Host, and before the curtain is drawn, in the mummery of the Mass. VOL. X. 40 litudes of the waters, a witness and a testimony to all true Scotchmen of the intrepid virtue of their pious forefathers. "The tale which I intend to tell you relates to the Bass Isle, towards which we are now steering; and it has been recalled to my remembrance by the sight of North Berwick Law, at the bottom of which, in the church-yard of the town, is the tomb of John Blackader, the martyr, a man whom power could not daunt, nor suffering subdue; nor the pains and infirmities of sickness impair the invincible firmness of his holy integrity. In this backsliding age, it is a proud thing for Scotland to have witnessed the late breaking forth of the good old spirit; for when the GREAT UNKNOWN, as some call him, put out his tale of Old Mortality, true Presbyterians conceived that he had laid an irreverent hand on the ark of our great national cause, the Covenant; and, animated by the spirit of ancient zeal, immediately began to repair the tombs of the martyrs in almost every place where they had fallen into decay. Mr Blackader's has been repaired ;* and it is with exultation I state, that, among the schoolboys of my native town, a little subscription has restored two similar monuments, that were, till the publication of "The Tales of My Landlord," "With nettles skirted, and with moss o'ergrown." "The martyr of whom I shall now give you some account, was by birth a gentleman, even a baronet, though he never took up the title. His greatgrandfather, Sir Robert Pont, by the mother's side, was minister of St Cuthbert's church, and also a Lord of Session. In 1595, he was Moderator of the General Assembly. This inheri tance of religion and honour gave elevation to the character and sentiments of young Blackader, who, in 1653, was ordained to the ministry, and presented to the parish of Troqueer, in Galloway. Here, for nine years, he proved himself an able and vigilant pastor, and was among the first who resisted the violation of the Presbyterian worship. Supported by other manly champions of the testimony,t he bravely *It is uncertain by whom the tombs of the martyrs were raised; but it deserves to be particularly recorded, to the honour of the inhabitants of North Berwick, that Mr Blackader's was repaired and the epitaph renewed by subscription. The epitaph deserves a place in our work, not merely on account of the feeling by which it was dicta ted, but as a fine specimen of that grave and venerable simplicity which is one of the historical characteristics of that time, ЕРІТАРН. Blest John, for Jesus' sake, in Patmos bound, Blest soul, thy warfare's done, praise, live, enjoy. Even so, blest Jesus, come-come, Lord-Amen. Among these were Mr Francis Irvine of Kirkmahoe, afterwards a fellow-prisoner in the Bass; John Campbell of Torthorwald; William Hay of Holywood; Robert Archibald of Dunscore; John Welch of Irongray, and Gabriel Semple of Kirkpatrick threatened, in the Synod of Dumfries, to depose as enemies to the national religion, whoever among them should dare to comply with the new ceremo nies, or to take that oath of supremacy which an unprincipled court was then attempting to force upon the people.* For this he incurred the penalties proclaimed in the order for the persecution, issued at Glasgow in October, 1662, and a party of the Guards were sent from Dumfries to seize him. He, however, escaped; but his wife and young children were rudely treated by the soldiery, and driven from the Manse, without knowing where to find shelter or protection, save only in the goodness of Providence. "The conduct of the people, during those outrages, was singularly exemplary. They often in bands met the clergymen, whom laxer notions of the Presbyterian forms induced to accept of livings so coercively made vacant, and implored them with tears, not to profane the worship of God by entering where they were forbid den guests. And when they be held their faithful pastors dragged away like felons by the blasphemous gangs of Claverhouse and Lauderdale, they cheered them with blessings as they passed, and prayed often on their knees for that retribution on the Per secutor, that has since been showered down upon his line, till not one of the race has been spared any longer to defile the face of the earth. "After the expulsion from his parish, Mr Blackader took up his abode in Craigdarroch, where, being without the bounds of his own presbytery, he was suffered for about three years to remain unmolested. "It was a practice among the ejected ministers to preach and baptize in the neighbourhood where chance had fixed their uncertain abode, and this was done, not in contempt of authority, but in commiseration of the necessities of the people, who turned with aversion from the prelatic plague, that, like the frogs of Egypt, afflicted the land. Many of the intruders were no doubt weak persons, of a respectable moral character, but they were "mostly young men from the northern shires, raw, and without any stock of reading or gifts, who, having passed a year or two of philosophy at the College, came southward, greedily gaping after the vacant benefices." The trades men assailed their logic with stubborn arguments, while "the laxer of the gentry" staggered their faith with strong drink. To serve as an excuse for not attending "the dreigh work of sic feckless tykes," the church-bell was, in some places, deprived of its tongue. Its weekly admonition was commonly considered as the voice of the oppres sor bragging of his power. The consequence of all which was, a neglect of holy ordinances, and a growth of irreligion, that duty and feeling alike commanded the true ministers to oppose, for the people prepared at all hazards to attend them. Military force was, in consequence, let loose, and the sin cere worship of God was proclaimed traitorous rebellion against the King. "At the instance of the Bishop of Galloway, information was lodged against Mr Blackader, as a person guilty Durham, two staunch Conventiclers; William M'George of Carlaverock; Hugh Henderson, and George Campbell, both of Dumfries. Mr Campbell survived the Revolution, became Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, and founder of the Theological Library. He was contemporary with Principal Gilbert Rule. An anecdote is told of the indefatigable application and intimate friendship of these two great luminaries. Their lodgings were at a little distance from each other, with windows opposite. Dr Rule used to sit late at his studies, and Professor Campbell to rise early; so that his candle was often lighted before the Doctor's lucubrations were ended. The one went commonly by the name of the Evening Star, and the other of the Morning Star. When the news of the Principal's death was brought to Mr Campbell, he observed, with much emotion, that "since the evening star had gone down, the morning star would soon disappear!" The first opposition to the settlement of Curates was at Irongray, in Dumfries Presbytery. The Curate not finding peaceable access at first, returned with an armed force. None ventured to appear openly save women, and those of the lower sort. A troop of these, headed by one Margaret Smith, opposed a party of soldiers that were guarding the Curate, and fairly beat them off with stones. Margaret was apprehended, brought to Edinburgh, and sentenced to be banished to Barbadoes. But, when before the Council, she told her tale with so much simplicity that they commuted the sentence. of" leavening the people with disaffection, and alienating the hearts of the lieges from his Majesty's Government"-and by proclamation of Council, he, with others of his late co-presbyters, was accused of unlawfully convocating the subjects in fields and private houses every Sabbath, where they were in the custom of baptizing the children of disloyal persons-Romance is beggared when history records the follies of statesmen. "Sir James Turner, who commanded the forces, at that time in Dumfriesshire-a ferocious drunkard, and worthy compeer of "the bloody Claverhouse"- on receiving information against Blackader, sent a detachment to arrest him; but he had previously departed with his wife to Edinburgh. In searching the house for him, the soldiers behaved with a brutality grateful to the demon whom their superiors served. They compelled one of the children to hold the candle while they stabbed the beds in which they sup posed his parents were concealed. Another, a mere infant, was so horror struck by their violence, that he ran naked into the darkness of the night, and was found afterwards at a great distance, in a state of distraction. "From this period the martyr led a wandering and homeless life; his children were dispersed, and forced to implore shelter wherever charity was brave enough to hazard the penalties of the act against Reset and Converse with the ejected ministers. But oppression only hardened the courageous spirit of the conscientious. Mr Blackader resolutely waged the holy war, and the hill of Beath, in the parish of Dunfermline, was often his pulpit. "On one occasion when, together with other undaunted antagonists of misgovernment, the martyr was preaching there, a lieutenant of militia, stationed in the neighbourhood, came riding to the spot, and endeavoured with threats and furious gestures to disperse the Covenanters. It was customary for the men who attended those meetings to come armed. One of them having remonstrated in vain with the officer, took his horse coolly by the bridle, and pulling out his pistol, told him if he did not desist from his turbulence, he would blow out his brains, and held him in that state till the sermon was finished. But it is not for me in this hasty sketch to enter into all the particulars of the sufferings of those who have made yonder rock that hallowed monument of Scottish zeal and piety, which it ought ever to be considered. "Some time after the incident at the hill of Beath, Mr Blackader was seized and sent a prisoner to the Bass, where the hardships he suffered soon destroyed his health. Some minds are so constituted and local, that the privations of confinement are scarcely felt as an evil; but to a man of such an animated temperament as this zealous martyr, the mere imagination of being fastened to a spot, and denied the exercise of his faculties and communion with his kind, was of itself more afflicting than the damp dungeon or the loathsome meal, and the bitter water. It is indeed difficult to picture a more impressive spectacle of solitary misery than that of a venerable old man, sitting alone for hours on the bleak seabeat rocks, like Prometheus in his chains, gnawed by grief for the woes and sorrows that were laying waste his native land, and the horror and poverty that pursued his own defenceless family. 4 "After being detained some time on the Bass, his health became so infirm, that upon a representation to the conclave of persecutors, he was allowed, on giving security, to be removed to Haddington, where he soon escaped from all the tyranny of this world— and in ascending to heaven, left the mantle of his zeal a retributive legacy with his family, making them instruments to avenge the sufferings of their country, by essentially contributing to the expulsion of the heartless and licentious Stewarts. His eldest son, William, was employed as a confidential agent by some of the deposed clergy, in secret embassies to their exiled brethren in Holland, who were then engaged in promoting the Revolution, and on these dangerous expeditions he frequently went between the two countries. In one of them he was seized on his landing at Leith, and carriedbefore the Duke of York, who was then in Scotland. His sister was among the crowd who followed him to the examination before his Royal Highness, but she was not permitted to approach her brother near enough to speak to him. She observed him, however, looking at her with an expressive stedfastness, and holding up his hat as |