pinia, believe me you hold a chief place, for I am, in all sincerity, your very affectionate "EMILY LORIMER." Miss Marian Macalpine, in answer to the foregoing: "My dear young leddy and friend-It was a heart's gladdening to me to see your hand o' writ, for I thought lang to hae tidings o' you and my honoured General. Praised be the Lord, that though ye 're under the cloud, there is no' that man, leeving nor dead, wha ever did or could, say aught against either o' ye, in truth:-Dook and let the jaw gie owr, and ye 'll rise the prouder frae the deep waters o' ill men's tongues; no' a bit but it gies me a heart's scadding when I think o' the gude and the great being dispossessed o' their ain lands and tenements, while the ill-doing and the newfangled ride it owr their heads: but ye hae the true Christian spirit, my dear Lady Emily; and thole the dule o' this warld wi' the meekness o' a weaned bairn. Doubtless ye 'll no' can miss ye're reward. 66 My Lady Frances's bridal must hae been a fine galantee show, and she 'll hae a gude tocher siller, and gin she conducts hersel' wise-like in the high station she has chosen, there's nathing to be said. Aim at a gown o' gowd, and ye 'll get the sleeve o't,' they say; she has done that same, and has gotten sleeves and tail and a'. He's a douce discreet lad, the Lord Bellamont, and seems on every haund likely to mak' her a gude husband; but Lady Frances was ever ta'en up wi' her ain beauty, and that's a thing winna bide, and afttimes lang ere it's awa, the flush and glamer o't is clean gane. Och hone! datie, the beauty o' youth is like the sough o' the simmer wind, so that for the wear and tear o' every-day use, it's o' little price. "Really, Lady Emily, your account o' Bentley farm was sae exact-like, that I could fancy mysel' sitting aside ye. Hech, sirs! gin I'd but the penny siller, I'd soon mak' out that same visit; but though, thanks to Lord Mowbray, I'm a rich woman, biding in my ain bounds, I should soon no' hae a sark to my back, if I gaed wandering up and down the countrie side; but why canna ye come owr the muir among the heather, to bonnie Heatherden? -O! for a sight o' the General's winsome countenance, and your ain canty smile! I'd wager ony thing the General would soon cease to be sae glum and melancholious-like, for there's no denying but changes are lightsome; and then there's no better cure for an ailing than to keep aye moving. The vera bustle and stramash o' a flitting, gars the bluid tingle again. "I had sair work whan I cam' first till this place; forby a' the thoughts o' lang syne which cam' owr me like spirits o' the departed. No' a bit but I thought I heard the auld Lady Mowbray's voice craick, craiking in my lug, ‘Marian, whaure's my pillow? Marian, whaure's my bag? Why are ye no' at the spinning o' the wearifu' booming-wheel?' Mony a saut tear has it gar'd me greet, whan I'd far rather been out and after the blackberries or the rowan berriesor seeking the lint white and the cushat doo's nest. And now, now that my time's my ain, what use do I mak' o't? Keep me but we 're pitifu' creturs at the vera best-girning at ae time for what we cama tell how to use at anither-shouldna this teach us to keep a calm seugh in our heads? Ye can weel conceive, my sweet Lady Emily, how sair a pang it cost me to part frae you and yours-and then it was an unco' tryal to come to thae parts. The days o' our youth! the days o' our youth! Had we a grip o' them back again, how different-like wad we use them; at least so we think :-but wha can hinder the wind to blaw ?-youth winna be guided. Yet this is no language for you:troth and it sets you ill, my bonnie birdie, wha hae taen tent in youthfu' prime; and whan years hence, gin ye be spared, ye 'll backward cast your ee, there'll be no girnings o' conscience to rive your heart. 66 Weel, aweel! here I am, wha hae outlived a' my ain kith and kin, and am my lain in this wearifu' warld! Yet still I hae mony blessings; and so lang as life's left, doubtless there a meaning in't. That's what we ought to luke to:-pat a stout heart till a stae brae-and is aye |