318

MACDONALD.-THE OPPOSITION EXHIBITION.

North. Macdonald' from Rome is a statuary, James, not only of promise, but of performance. Edinburgh is a considerable village now, and there is room in it for both him and Joseph. He is sure to succeed.

Shepherd. A mair innocent, mair kinder and bonnier lassie than her wi' the burdie in the tae haun, and the cup o' water -is't?-in the tither, wanting the cretur to tak a drink-I never saw; and the ither taller figur o' the virgin sendin aff the carrier pigeon wi' a love-letter to him ayont the hills, in answer to the ane she has hidden in her bosom, is a delicate conception, whether new or auld I neither ken nor care, and as far as I'm a judge o' sculpture and statutes, executed wi' a smoothness, and I had maist said warmth,—but then marble's a cauld thing in itself to the touch,-that exactly hits the right point o' loveableness in the figure and posture o' a virgin about to be married in a year or twa-but haply no to him she has sent the letter to, for hoo seldom is the soul's first celestial imagination o' rapture realised-hoo seldom in the auld warld, as in the new, did Hymen ever light his torch to consecrate the ecstasies of virgin bosoms meeting in the lifedeep passion of a first love!

North. Mary Morison !

Shepherd. Christopher, I never see marble but I think o' moonlicht-Hoo's that?

North. Some one of those fine, old, solemn associations, of which the poet's soul is full. In his thoughts and feelings all external things lie linked together in amities and sympathies, of which the worldling has no notion. Music, Marble, Melancholy, Moonlight, all begin with an M-but so do Macedon and Monmouth-the Four are a Four by fine affinities.

Shepherd. There you're going ayont my deepth-and you'll sune be oot o' your ain too—if ye plump into the pool o' metaphysics, and try "to pluck up drowned meaning by the locks" --but hae ye been at the Opposition Exhibition-they tell me it's capital-Can that be true? and what for did the painters cast out among themselves, and whence a' this cabawl?

North. It's a long story that, James, and might be tedious; nor is it an affair, I confess, in which I can take much interest; but the artists who were dissatisfied with the Directors of the Institution, if so it were that they were dissatisfied, did right

1 Lawrence Macdonald still resides in Rome.

to secede, and open an Opposition Exhibition. This is a free country, James; Tories like you and I love liberty, and we grant to others the same rights and privileges which we ourselves at all times exert and enjoy!

Shepherd. I clap my hauns to hear sic sentiments frae your mouth, for I heard some of your freens rinnin doun Nicholson, and Syme, and Joseph, and Hamilton, and the lave.

North. Very right, my dear James, very right in any of my friends to run down anybody they choose, at any time or place, and for any reason; but I, as you know, run people up, and run people down, of my own free will and pleasure, and never allow my friends-deservedly dear to me as many dozens of them are, of both sexes-to influence my opinion in the slightest degree, on any one single thing in this world, living or dead, rational or irrational, monoped, biped, or quadruped. The Opposition Exhibition, as you call it, James, is excellent; and a true lover of the arts will go from one to the other with pleasure, nor will his comparisons be odious.

Shepherd. Naebody ever did a better picture o' me than Nicholson, in my plaid, you ken, and wi' my celebrated dog, Hector, sittin sae wiselike by my side, "in a cleugh aneath a cliff,"-strong likenesses o' us baith, yet nane o' us ower sair flattered.1

North. Mr Nicholson is rather uncertain-no uncommon thing with artists of original minds; but some of his happiest performances are very happy. He has a picture of a Lady and Child in this Exhibition-that might be seen to advantage in any Exhibition in the island. In the dress of the mother—her arm and shoulder especially-there is something rather stiffish; but the child is nature itself-the colouring something in the style of the old masters.

Shepherd. I like that—especially in the heads o' bairns, and their shouthers.

North. Nicholson paints children better than he used to do, now that he's a married man.

Shepherd. A' painters should marry-it humaneezes their imaginations, and gies a tenderness to the ideal creations o' their genius that nae bachelor can ever infuse into his

canvass.

1 This picture is now in the possession of Mr John Wilson, Professor Wilson's eldest son.

320

HAMILTON.-A DAY OF THE MOUND.

North. Hamilton's architectural drawings are admirable specimens of wonder-working art. If you wish, James, to have a perfect knowledge of all the intended new Improvements, South and West Approach, &c., and indeed a bird'seye view of all Edinburgh, go and take it at the Exhibition. I always knew Hamilton to be an architect of first-rate genius and skill, quite equal to Playfair and Burn, but I had no notion that he was such an artist.

Shepherd. Ony gude landscapes?

North. Not a few. Young Kidd, a pupil of Mr Thomson's I believe, possesses much of the taste, feeling, and genius of his great master; and D. Mackenzie, also quite a youth, if he will take my advice and give up his blue imitations, will ere long be an excellent artist. Two or three of his landscapes, even now (of the colour of this earth), are very beautiful.

Shepherd. In short, you think the Exhibition a gude aneso nae mair about pictures for ae nicht, if you please, sir. North. Unless I am much mistaken indeed, James, you introduced the subject yourself.

Shepherd. I'll bet you anither jug I did nae sic thing.
North. Done.

Shepherd. But wha'll decide? Let's drink the jug, though, in the first place. It's quite a nicht this for whusky toddy. Dinna you observe that a strong frost brings out the flavour o' the speerit in a maist surprising manner, and gies't a mair precious smell o'er the haill room? It's the chemical action, you understaun, o' the cauld and heat, the frost and fire, working on a' the materials o' the jug, and the verra jug itsel, frae nose to doup, sae that sma'-still becomes perfect nectar, on which Jupiter, or Juno either, micht hae got drunk, and Apollo, after a haill nicht's screed, risen up in the morning wi' his gowden hair, and not the least o' a headache, nor crap-sick as he druve his chariot along the Great Turnpike Road o' Heaven. North. Have you been to see the Wild Beasts, James? Shepherd. I took a day o' the Mound last week, sir. North. A day o' the Mound!

Shepherd. Ay, a day o' the Mound. I took the haill o' the Shows, ane after the ither, beginning wi' the Wild Beasts,

1

1 In those days the caravans of itinerant showmen used to congregate on "the Mound," an unreclaimed region now gorgeous with Athenian temples and clothed with glittering evergreens.

THE DWARFIE WOMAN AND HER FAMILY.

321

and ending with the Caravan containing the Fat Boy, and the Dwarfie Woman and her tall husband, and the Malacca man, the White-headed Girl-and

North. And what else?

Shepherd. Wull ye no let a body speak? What else? a bairn that never was born, in a bottle alang wi' twa creturs like lizzards—a stuffed serpent wi' a gapin mouth o' red worsted, to mak it look bluidy-like after devouring its preyforbye the body o' the shaven bear that was passed aff some seasons since for a dog-headed Indian frae America.

North. An interesting collection indeed, James.

Shepherd. Besides them, the man that aught the caravan, his wife and six children, sleept in't—he telt me sae himsel— a' nicht; and yet, I'm sure, I'm within boun's when I aver that the caravan was nae bigger in the inside than about twice or three times the inside o' ane o' the coaches that rins atween Embro' and Glasgow.

North. What did you admire most of the number?

Shepherd. The wee dwarfie woman, no three feet high, wi' a husband sax feet four: I never saw a happier couple. She loupt intil the pouch o' his shooting-jacket, and keekit1out like a maukin. But oh! she had a great ugly wide mouth, and her teeth were as sharp and yellow as prins. I wadna hae sleepit in the same bed wi' sic a vermin for the mines o' Peru, for gin she had fa'n upon a body in the middle o' the nicht, and fastened on their throat like a rotten, there wad hae been nae shakin her aff-the vampire. She was in the family way, sir.

North. The caravan ?

3

Shepherd. I'm thinkin, Mr North, that ye dinna gang to the kirk so regular as you micht do, for I never hear you talkin about ministers. Wha do ye sit under?

North. My pew is too near the stove, James But would you wish my talk to be of ministers? I have no objections to talk about the Theatre; but really, James, you must excuse me should I sport mum on church-going,—but, notwithstanding my aversion to all public appearance, I hobbled out and in to hear the Missionary Wolff.*

1 Keekit-peeped.

4 This celebrated traveller and indefatigable philanthropist is now (1855) the Rector of Isle Brewers, Somersetshire.

VOL. I.

X

322

THE SPIRITUAL-MINDED.

Shepherd. Ance a Jew, always a Jew, sir. But I wunner hoo the holy aye contrive to get married sae fast—it seems odd that the spiritual-minded should be sae fond o' the flesh. Catch ony o' them marrying an auld woman for the Christian graces o' her character; except, indeed, it be for the widow's mite-they generally prefer a sonsy lass, wi' a tocher o' her ain, and if, wi' a sickly only brither, far gane in a consumption, and wi' twa thousan' a-year, sae muckle the better,—for wi' sic a soum they may Christianise the heathen, and provide for a' the bairns besides;-and bairns they are sure to hae, aiblins twins the first never a week beyond the nine

months

North. Beyond, James!

Shepherd. In or ower, sir.

North. Better marry than burn, Shepherd.

Shepherd. But there's nae occasion for burnin. There's him they ca'd the Sultan Katty Gheray,' wha carried aff a Scotch wife to Mount Caucasus-You'll no tell me that the Sultan was likely to be burned on the frosty Caucasus. He micht hae wrapt himsel in a pair o' ice sheets and snaw blankets, and a sleet coverlid-and the deevil burn him if he wad hae taen fire and thawed the bed-claes.

North. James, you're libellous.

Shepherd. I'm nae mair libellous nor ither folk. But just answer me this. Didna the Missionary Wolff seem to be devoted soul and body to the conversion o' the Jews, and naething else in this wicked warld?

North. Don't bother me any more, James, with "Le Loup et l'Agneau." I'm sick of the whole gang. Shepherd. Gang ye never to the Theatre?

North. Occasionally behind the scenes.

Shepherd. Oh, sirs-oh, sirs! Hae ye come to that?—and can ye thole to see the pent on the faces o' them, the red on their cheeks, and the white on their chins, and the fause curls, and fauser eebrows-nae mair, they tell me, than a streak o' burned cork or coom-and the paste pearls on their gowns, and a' the rest o' the mak-believe frae tap to tae, where there's naething but delusion a'thegither; and the playactress that appears to the people in the pit a' fidgin fain to see her sparkling in spangles afore the lamps, gin she were taen and stripped 1 The Sultan Katty Gheray married a Scotch lady of the name of Nielson.