you had better wind up all your concerns together, and we will go off to America, and try if the books sell any better there!" and he even goes on to encourage me to such a step, by the communication of some recent information he had received from that quarter, from a correspondent, "on whose word," he says, "I could rely."-But, alas! friend Peter, I had too many ties to bind me to, and too many acts of justice to perform on, this side of the Atlantic; and I was then as busy in winding up my concerns as I could well be, and in the best manner I could.

Two things, I think, must have done a good deal, at that time, towards keeping my mind from sinking, if not to elate my spirits, during that season of severe depression. In the first place, my mind was so completely taken up, by having so many things to distract and divert my attention, that I had little time to brood over matters, further than what was necessary to keep them moving to the best advantage possible, in the hopes of a better result; and, secondly, the exhilarating prospects still held out from my LAND OF PROMISE, in the north, from whence the most encouraging orders continued to be poured in weekly, and where, notwithstanding the smallness of the amount of remittances received, up to that date, I see I had, by the end of December, £2,471 worth of books subscribed for,-which, calculating at the rate of one third, or even one fourth profit, must give a tolerable idea of what my expectations must have been from that quarter, at the time.

Notwithstanding my shortcomings from auctions—some other disagreeables that I met with-and other up-hill work I had to perform, in course of my other circuits,-it is, therefore, the less to be wondered at, that I should still, in some degree, possess my soul in patience, and be able to display sufficient energy in my operations, in the face of so many discouragements, on this side the great world of waters, in preference to taking my good friend's advice, (for I still believe that the advice was given with a friendly intention,) especially as I was so well supported, and continued to meet with so much flattering encouragement, in my other department, the retail part of my business, which, I must say, in gratitude to those

kind friends, who, at the time, continued to patronize me, instead of falling off, or suffering any diminution, seemed rather to have increased with my difficulties ;-and such was the state of affairs, with me, at the close of 1816—a year THAT I CAN NEVER FORGET.

CHAPTER XIX.-1817.

Terrible TIMES how brought to remembrance.-Notched trees in the wilderness described. An ancient practice.-One still more ancient.-NEW YEAR'S DAY WALK by the sea side, its nature and purposes described.-Reason why, it did not extend far this season.-Church hill levelling-Charity on the stretch, to devise the means of employment for the industrious classes -Public works at the time going on at Edinburgh-General subscriptions for similar purposes, “in almost every town in Scotland".-Dreadful aspect of affairs in the South.-No money then to spare, by my formerly most numerous class of customers, for the purpose of buying books.—Significant expression of a friend. The bad complexion the times were assuming, no small concern to me.-My conduct on the occasion.-Sayings of ancient sages, and of an Apostle, quoted.-New routes pointed out to my former auctioneers.—A new one put in commission.-An African prince supposed to have been among the number of my customers.-Pity that there had not been more such scattered over the districts, in which, my auctioneers were operating.-Low run of our prices in general -Combination of circumstances, that contributed, to alarm

me

-Resolution in consequence.-Meets with the approval, and recommen. dation of the person principally concerned-The complete success of the measure.-Am indisposed-Little sympathy from the former solitary exception. -Another comfort, in addition to the arrangement I had so happily got effected First hint in regard to extending my publication business, farther to the northward.-Come to no immediate decision upon the subject -Set out on my journey to the north.

THESE were TERRIBLE TIMES to be obliged to keep the wheels of the auctioning machinery perpetually in motion in,—and that, they were indeed unprecedented in the annals of the country, as well as in no seeming progress of improvement, when the NEW YEAR began to dawn upon us, I am forcibly reminded, by one of those notched trees in the wilderness of life, which, although insignificant, and scarcely worth noticing of themselves, are rendered more worthy of attention and observa

tion, in consequence of the associations with which they are connected.

I noticed, on a former occasion, that it had long been my practice to devote an hour or two, after the commencement of a new year, to what I used to call my Annual Retrospect. But I had been in the habit, for a period longer still, (for I may trace it back to the days of my apprenticeship) to indulge myself with a kind of holiday ramble, in the shape of a solitary walk, along the sea shore, to the eastward of Dunbar, on new year's day; and, indeed, of all the days of the year, this was the only one I could claim for the purpose, as being on that day least entangled and engaged in the vortex of business; for it was generally a play day among my working people of all descriptions-independently of its suitableness for the purpose to which I usually applied it; for this walk, this annual walk, as I may then have denominated it, was not undertaken with gun in hand, like some of my contemporaries, for the purpose of shooting sea fowl, with which our coasts abounded at that season of the year, or, for the more exhilarating purpose of wending my way, and throwing myself into the domicile of some of my acquaintances in that direction, in order to partake of their new-year's hospitality -No, but for the purpose of indulging myself in solitary and undisturbed meditation, on not only the beautiful natural scenery that surrounded me in my progress, but on those busy scenes, and incidents, with their several consequences, that I had recently been a partaker in, or had witnessed, in course of the by-past year; as well as on those which were yet in prospect, or in anticipation, with what might be their probable results. So that my SEA SIDE WALK ON NEWYEAR'S DAY, had something in it, not only referring to present objects and occurrences, but of a retrospective, as well as of an anticipatory and prospective nature.

:

*Notched trees, I see, I have been accustomed to designate, any little memorandum, or letter, in writing; or reminiscence, or recollection in the storehouse of my memory, by which, notwithstanding the apparent insignificance, or unimportance of the thing itself, taken separately, my attention has been drawn to some striking circumstance, or remarkable occurrence, which happening at the same time, or place, has become in my recollection, associated with it.

Well, on this NEW-YEAR'S DAY, it is time that I should mention, that, in consequence of my sore leg, which yet continued in a bandaged state, by reason of the injury it had sustained, in being exposed to a severe frost, during my expedition to Glasgow, I was not able to extend my walk much beyond the Kirkhill toll-bar, at the end of the town; but, in that short excursion, I saw enough, in the kind of operations where the labourers had been proceeding on the day before, or were indeed then at work, in the business of levelling the Church hill, &c., to remind me of the TIMES I then lived in—or, rather of the increasing gloom of the prospect before me, in the task I had undertaken, at such an unpropitious period, when, as I had occasion to mention soon afterwards, in submitting certain reasons for having my time lengthened out, to my friends, “Charity is upon the stretch in every direction, in order to devise the means of subsistence for those very classes, upon whom I principally depended as purchasers, at my country sales ;"* and when, my advertisements for those sales, were soon to be met with, as it unfortunately turned out, contra advertisements, reminding the industrious classes, that, instead of having money any longer to spare for the purchase of books, they had,—dreadful thought! become themselves the objects of charity, and were called to engage in such public or private works, as could be devised, to eke out their scanty means of existence.

These were, indeed, "TIMES," as a friend writing to me took occasion to observe, "to try men's souls." But, it would appear, that so far as I was concerned, and my concern, it

This not only applies to what was then in progress, in the way of levelling, the protuberances of our own kirk-hill, a thing certainly unprecedented on such an occasion, in this neighbourhood,-and to the works of charity going on, at Burntsfield Links-in the North Loch-and on the Calton Hill in Edinburgh, -but to, the "general subscription, in behalf of workmen, suffering from the general depression of trade and commerce," which had followed, the adoption of such measures in Edinburgh, "in," as we are told in the January number of the Scots Magazine, for 1817,"almost every town in Scotland."

Indeed, matters do not seem to have been much better in the south, for I see by the provincial intelligence, in the January number, of the Monthly Magazine, that public and other meetings had been held in different places, all over Eng land, to consider the condition of the industrious classes, and the manner, or best means of employing them, than which, nothing can give a more true, and at the same time more affecting, and, to me, peculiarly distressing picture of the times.

must be admitted, from the recent engagements I had come under, was not small, I did not allow myself to sink under the consideration; for, whether I was in any manner actuated by the doctrine of Epicurmor, that "The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it," and that "Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests ;”— by that of Plutarch, wherein he says, "Where there is no conflict, there can be no conquest; where there is no conquest, there is no crown ;"-by the saying of Seneca, that "Afflictions are but the exercise of virtue," and " Calamity is the occasion of virtue, and a spur to a great mind ;”—or borne up by the admonition of the apostle, "Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not,"-one thing is certain, that, instead of thinking of quitting the helm in despair, it will be found that I rather increased my exertions to keep the vessel's head to the sea, and if the produce of my former labourers was beginning to wax rather scanty for my now approaching demand, I lost no time in giving a fresh stimulus to their industry, and in adding to their number.

Hence, it will be seen, that I not only commissioned my west-country agent, so soon as he had fulfilled the time for which we had taken our dear CHEAP WAREHOUSE in Glasgow, (which I see took place by the 18th January,) to take in new ground, and continue operating in the auctioneering way, as he could be occasionally spared from the canvassing deliveries, which I observe he did, by his sales in Paisley, from the 11th to the 26th of the month of February, and in other places of the west, up to the 21st of June ;*—and set another a-going in the person of our old acquaintance, the Edinburgh Peter, in that city, on the 13th of January, where he acted on my account till the 25th-then, had a series of sales in Dalkeith, in February and March, and in Edinburgh again

These New Sales, or rather continuation of that series, I see took place,at the Bridge of Johnston, to a very trifling amount on the 1st March,-at Kilsyth, on the 7th and 8th,-St Ninians, 10th to the 15th,-Falkirk, 17th to 22d, Denny, 27th to 31st,-Stirling, April 21st and 22d,-Alloa, 28th to May 1st,-Dunblane, 2d and 3d,-Kirkintulloch, 21st,-Port-Glasgow, June 11th, Greenock, the 16th, and concluding at Renton the occasional intervals, being occupied by his publication, or, as we may now call it, delivering

concern.