The view we had from these heights, of the whole valley, or strath, or trough of the Clyde upwards, is by far the richest thing I have yet seen north of the Tweed. This is the Herefordshire of Scotland, and the whole of the banks of the river are covered with the most luxuriant orchards. Besides, there is a succession of very beautiful gentlemen's seats all the way along-so that the country has the appearance of one continued garden.

We dined quietly at Hamilton, and returned to Glasgow in the cool of the evening. There is absolutely no night here at present, for the red gleams of day are always to be seen over the east before the west has lost the yellow tinges of the preceding sunset. I sometimes laugh not a little when I reflect on the stories we used to be treated with long ago, about the chilness and sterility of the Land of Cakes, sojourning, as I now am, among some of the finest scenery, and under one of the most serene and lovely heavens, I ever saw in the whole course of my wanderings.

P. M.

LETTER LXXV.

TO THE SAME.

I SPENT the Friday of last week very pleasantly at Hill, the villa of one of my Glasgow acquaintances, situated a few miles to the north of that city. In the course of talk after dinner, when I had been enlarging on the pleasures I had received from hearing Dr. Chalmers preach, and, altogether from observing the religious state of the peasantry in this part of the world, a gentleman who was present asked me, If I had ever yet been present at the giving of the Sacrament in a country kirk in Scotland? and on my replying in the negative, expressed some wonder that my curiosity should not already have led me to witness, with my own eyes, that singular exhibition of the national modes of thinking and feeling in regard to such subjects. I allowed that it was strange I should not have thought of it sooner, and assured him, that it was a thing I had often had in my mind before I set out on my journey, to inquire what the true nature of that scene might be, and how far the description, given in the Holy Fair of Burns, might be a correct one. He told me, that without question, many occurrences of a somewhat ludicrous nature sometimes take place at these Sacraments; but that the vigorous, but

somewhat coarse pencil, of the Scottish bard, had even in regard to these, entirely overstepped the modesty of nature, while he bad altogether omitted to do any manner of justice to the far different elements which enter most largely into the general composition of the picture-adding, too, that this omission was the more remarkable, considering with what deep and fervent sympathy the poet had alluded, in "The Cotter's Saturday's Night," and many others of his compositions, to the very same elements, exerting their energies in a less conspicuous manner. While we were yet conversing on this subject, there arrived a young clergyman, a Mr. P, a very agreeable and modest person, who, on understanding what we were talking of, said, That the safest and shortest way for the stranger was to go and see the thing; he himself, be added, was so far on his way to assist at this very ceremony, at a parish some ten miles off, and nothing could give him greater pleasure than taking me with him. You may be sure I acceeded to his proposal with great good-will, and I offered to take him to the field of action in my shandrydan. He hesitated a little about the propriety of deferring his march till the Sunday morning, but soon allowed himself to be over persuaded by the kindness of our host, who also determined to make one of the party..

Accordingly, at an early hour on the Sunday morning, we mounted, and took the highway to the Church of, for it was there the Sacrament was to be given. As we went along, Mr. P prepared me for what I was about to witness, by telling me, that according to the practice observed in the Scottish kirk, the Eucharist is distributed, in general, only once and never more than twice, at any one place in the course of the year. In the country parishes, there is rarely more than one such festival; and the way in which the preparations for it are conducted, are sufficient to render it a very remarkable feature in the year of the rural parishioners. Before any young person is admitted to be a partaker in the Sacrament, it is necessary to undergo, in presence of the minister, a very strict examination touching all the doctrines of the Church; and, in particular, to be able to show a thorough acquaintance with the Bible in all its parts. Now, the custom of the country requires that at a certain age the Sacrament should be taken, otherwise, a very great loss of character must accrue to the delinquent; so that to prepare themselves by reading and attentive listening to what is said from the pulpit for undergoing this examination, forms universally a great point of ambition

among the young peasants of both sexes; and the first occa sion on which they are to be permitted to approach the Altar, is regarded by them with feelings somewhat akin to those with which the youth of Old Rome contemplated the laying aside of the Praetexta, and assumption of the Toga Virilis. Never, surely, can the vanity of our nature be taught to exert itself in a more useful manner; for the attainment of knowledge, and the preservation of moral purity, are alike necessary to the accomplishment of the young Scottish peasant's desire, and the object of his desire is, moreover, in itself the discharge of one of the most elevating and affecting of all the duties. which our holy religion has enjoined.

The preliminary examinations of the young communicants being over, the first part of the more public preparations commences on the Thursday preceding the Sunday on which the sacrament is to be given. That day is denominated the day of fasting and humiliation, and is still, as Mr. P said, observed in the way which the letter of that designation would imply, by not a few of the more elderly and strict of the good people. By all it is observed with a measure of solemnity, at least equal to that which usually characterises a Scottish Sabbath, and two sermons are preached, the tone of which, from immemorial custom, is pitched in such a way as to favour all humility and prostration of spirit on the part of those who hear it. The Friday is allowed to intervene without any public worship, but on Saturday again the church doors are. thrown open, and two more sermons are addressed to the people, the strain of which, in compliance with custom equally ancient and venerable, is of a more cheering and consolatory nature. These sermons are preached by different friends of the clergyman in whose church the sacrament is to take place, a considerable number of whom are in use to be congregated in his Manse on this occasion, ready to assist him in every way with their advice and support in the conduct of the important scene over which it is his business to preside. The presence of these clergymen at the place in question, renders it necessary in most cases that their own churches should be left without service for that day: and this, taken together with the rarity of the spectacle, and the high interest which the Scottish peasantry take in all manner of religious services and institutions, is enough to account for the enormous conflux of people which pours from every parish of the surrounding disricts to the church where the sacrament is to be dispensed, on the morning of the Sunday. It is not to be denied, however,

said my friend, that the very circumstance of the greatness of this religious conflux is sufficient to draw into its vortex an abundant mixture of persons, whose motives are any thing rather than motives of a devotional character. The idle lads and lasses all over the country think it a fine occasion of meeting together, and come to every sacrament in their vicinity as regularly as the most pious of their seniors. Nay, to such a pitch of regularity has this been carried, that it is no uncommon thing for servants when they are being hired, to stipulate for permission to attend at so many sacraments-or, as they style them in their way-occasions: exactly as is elsewhere customary in regard to fairs and wakes; and from this circumstance, perhaps, as much as from any thing that ordinarily occurs at these sacraments, the Poet of Ayrshire took the hint of his malicious nick-name.*

When we came within a few miles of the greatness of the conflux, of whose composition I had been receiving some account, was abundantly apparent. The road along which we passed was absolutely swarming with country people, all bound for the same place, whatever differences there might be in their errands thither. Some of them cast inquiring glances at my worthy friend in black, as if desirous to know why he came among them in so unusual a kind of vehicle, and still more, if I mistook not their faces, what might be the character and purpose of his unknown companion. For my part, I was busy-contemplating the different groupes, sometimes as a painter, sometimes as a metaphysician. The modes of progression exemplified around me were threefold, viz.-1mo. in carts; 2do. on horseback; 3tio. by the expedient which a certain profound lawyer has denominated natural travelling (peregratio simplex,) being that which the wisdom of Nature (in order to check the exorbitant avarice of inn-keepers and hostlers) has made common to the whole human species. The carts were in general crowded with females, wrapt in large cloaks of duffle grey, or bright scarlet, which last might, perhaps, on this occasion, be considered as emblematical of their sins. In itself, however, it is without question not only a comfortable, but a very picturesque, and even graceful integument; and I thought I could perceive, by the style in which its folds were arranged, that some of the younger matrons were not quite careless of its capacities for fascination.

I have heard that the bargain sometimes is, "one sacrament or two fairs," which shows where the predilection lies.

As for the unwedded damsels who sat by their sides, they were arrayed in their gayest attire of ribbands and top-knots, and retained still more visibly a certain air of coquetry, which showed that the idea of flirtation had not been entirely expelled from 'their fancies by the solemn character of the day, and their destination. The elder ones exbibited a more demure fashion of countenance, and nodded their heads very solemnly in unison, as the cart-wheels jolted over the rough stones of their path. A bottle or two, and a basket of provisions, generally occupied the space at their feet; and the driver of the vehicle was most commonly some lint-haired boy, full of rosy life and vigour, but evidently a loather of the Shorter Catechism, and all manner of spiritual cross-questioning-one, no doubt, extremely desirous of liberty of conscience. I observed one little fellow in particular, who, although he stared us in the face, seemed little inclined to recognize, by any gesture of reverence, the sacred function of my friend in the shandrydan. But this omission could not escape the notice of his grim wrinkled grandmother in the corner of the cart, who forthwith admonished the youngster to be more courteous in his demeanour, by a hearty thump over the elbow with her ponderous psalm-book-a suggestion, however, to which the urchin replied only by pulling his bonnet down more sulkily than ever over his freckled brows. This cart style of travelling seemed to be adopted chiefly by large families, a whole mighty household being sometimes crammed together in a way that must have precluded all possibility of sober reflection during their journey. On the other hand, some of those unfortunate couples whose union had not been blessed with any progeny, might be seen riding double on horseback, and thus making their way through the crowd with more eclat than any other person, the affectionate housewife keeping her arm firm locked around the waist of her faithful John. A jolly, young, new-married farmer, might be found here and there, capering lightly along in like fashion, with his blooming bride behind him. But the class of pedestrian pilgrims was by far the most numerous, comprehending every variety of persons, from the blue-bonneted Patriarch, trudging slowly with his tall staff in his hand, and never for a moment lifting his solemn eyes from the dust which his feet set in motion, to the careless shepherdboy, peeling a twig from the hedge, and in jeopardy every now and then, of drawing some heavier wand about his ears by breaking forth into a whistle,-a sound, than which, when heard on a Sabbath-day, there can be no greater abomination