When thy rebuke, O Jacob's God,
had forth against them past,
When horses and their chariots both,
were in a dead sleep cast.

Resolving to abide together in arms till we should see what was to come out of the mercy wherewith God had crowned our cause, we left the field of battle, and marched on Hamilton, where in suitable exercises we spent the evening of that eventful day.

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CHAPTER XIV.

I RETURN TO EDINBURGH, WHERE QUENTIN
ROWALLAN DIES.

ON Monday, the day after the victory at Drumclog, we marched upon Glasgow, the headquarters of the Royal army. Hamilton kept the command he had received at Drumclog, and which his conduct there justified us in conferring upon him. On this day, however, his conduct was unworthy both of his office and his reputation. On reaching the Gallowgate port, which we did about ten of the clock, we learned that Claverhouse, Lord Ross, and Major White, had erected strong defences at the Cross, behind which they had entrenched the main body of their troops-that they had lined the houses with the rest, so that any attempt to take the town was not only certain to fail, but to be attended with great loss of life. In these circumstances, it would have been our wisdom to have returned, or to have blockaded the town at the different ports. Instead, however, of doing either, Hamilton issued the order for us to advance to the cross. We did so, and were defeated with the loss of several of our men, whose dead bodies were left on the streets. On returning to the Gallowgate port, we drew up there in order of battle: but no soldiers appearing, we returned to our quarters at Hamilton Park.

The effect of this rash and ill-concerted at

tempt, was to dishearten our men not a little. The numbers, however, that had begun already to flock to us from all parts of the country whither the news of our victory at Drumclog, and of our being in arms at Hamilton, had been carried, soon made it forgotten.

Having had a company of our small army placed under my command, it was Thursday ere I could complete my arrangements for resuming my journey to Edinburgh, which, having disguised myself as a countryman, I reached on the evening of that day in safety. Threading my way through lanes and wynds, I proceeded to Rowallan Place.

"You are come," said Mrs. Rowallan, "but it is to see Quentin die."

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Is there no hope," I inquired.

"None," Mrs. Rowallan replied, "none; he is fast dying."

Isobel and Beatrice now entered the room. They were much altered since I had last seen them. They were thin and pale, and bore on their faces the seal of deep and seated sorrow. Never do we gaze, however, with more interest on the faces of those we love, than when they bear the traces of affliction-never do they appear to us so beautiful. If we have given them pain, never are our hearts more likely to upbraid us; if our love has grown cold, never is it more likely to rekindle. While grief had thinned and paled the faces of these two lovely sisters, it seemed to have beautified, and, if I may so speak, spiritualised them. Mrs. Rowallan having left the room to apprise Quentin of my return, she entered shortly, when I followed her into his sick chamber. He was lying on a couch almost level with the floor. At his re

quest he had been raised up, and was supported with pillows. He was wasted to a shadow. The moment my eye met his, I saw that he was indeed dying. The warning of death was on his countenance-his large dark eye shone with more than even its former lustre, but it had that peculiar look which cannot be described, but which can as little be mistaken-the look of the dying. On my entering, he smiled, and, stretching out his hand, said—

"Patrick, I have long looked for you-I am so glad you have come at last.”

"Dear Quentin," I replied, "I expected to have been here long before this, but have been prevented by events of which you have no doubt heard; but did not expect to find you thus—

you are very ill."

"Yes," he replied, "I am ill, but the worse I become, I shall be the sooner well. It is night with me, as you see; but the night is already far spent, and the day is at hand; I shall soon be where the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." "You think then," I said, that you are dying."

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"I have thought so," he replied "from the first, nor have I any desire to live. Since I was laid here, I have indeed had such desires. Often have I made the prayer of the Psalmist mineLet my soul live and it shall praise thee, and let thy judgments help me.' This prayer I have often made in relation to temporal life; now, I use it only in relation to the life that is to come. God knows what is best; the potter knows best what the vessel he has moulded can stand. He has I think no need for me here. Patrick, you were made to redress evils, I could only bewail them. I have loved the truth-I would

have bought it at any price-I could have died for it but I fear I was not made to contend for it. I was early made to feel that life was a fight, in the strife and struggle of which I was also made to feel that I was not fitted to mingle. In the society of some, whose names I need not name, I was reconciled to life and mankind; I felt and said, it is good to be here; but when I was thrown into the society of others, and when I saw what manner of spirit they were of,-when, instead of finding them moving in the element of charity, the vital air of christianity, I found them living and moving in the element of selfishness, of self-loving, self-seeking, and self-lauding, my heart has sunk within me, and I have said, 'Oh! that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest.' God has heard my prayer, He has granted me my request. I am weary of the strife and the violence of this world, and in mercy He is calling me away-He is hiding me in the grave, where the prisoners rest together, and I shall no more hear the voice of the oppressor. In my admiration, indeed, of the model of Christian virtue, I may have expected too much from the copy. If I have erred in this, if I have murmured at my post,-if I have expected too much from others, and done too little myself, if I have satisfied myself with sitting down to suffer, when I should have stood up to serve God will forgive me for Christ's sake, to the foot of whose cross I am now bringing all my sins, and this among the rest."

When his mother spake of his dying young, and said that she did not expect to be called upon to close his eyes, and to see him carried to the grave, he said,

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Mother, you remember what I have read to.