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occasion, without a shudder at the fearful
crime which deprived a gifted and noble
youth of life—whose misfortune, and not his
fault, it was to love and be loved of Mary
Queen of Scots!
Holyrood is so fraught with historic trea
sures and associations, that l trod its corridors
and moved within its gorgeous chambers with
feelings akin to reverence; and, putting a
douceur into the hands of our attentive and
talkative conductress, I reluctantly bade it
adieu.
Traversing, then, the entire length of High
Street, we went up the ridge, which is sur
mounted by the Castle, and which, beyond it,
terminates in a steep precipice. The houses
near the Castle have a very ancient look, and
the “wynds” and “ closes” latter
are only foot-ways down the slope to the ra
vine—are inhabited by very poor people, and
are exceedingly dirty withal. The Castle is
kept in perfect repair, and is even yet a place
of defence, and strongly garrisoned. An En
glish regiment of several hundred troops is
now quartered in it. In the midst of the ci
ty, on a rocky hill, it is truly a strong hold,
and seems to be a fit guardian of the place.
History gives us no certain date for the
foundations of this fine old Castle. The
daughters of the Pictish Kings were kept in it
until their marriage—a precaution due to that
barbarous age —and hence the fortress was
called Castrum Puellarum. Since that pe
riod, it has been the scene of strange vicissi
tudes in the history of Kings, and is rich in
historic associations. We had provided our
selves with tickets to admit us to the Crown
Room, where the old Regalia of Scotch royal
ty are preserved—for Republicans, as all of
o.ur party were, that was a sight we would
not willingly forego. It is an honorable ex
ception that I make, when I say that our tick
ets cost us nothing, being issued only to pro.
mote the comfort of visitors. A little book
that I bought on entering the Crown Room,
for about twenty-five cents, gave us a full
history of theseßßegaliaa —a history full of
romance.
For nearly one hundred and twenty years
did these Regalia lie in an enormous oak
chest, iron-bound and triple-locked. It was
deposited in a vaulted room, built entirely of
massive stone. In 1818, the chest was open
ed by a royal commission, and was an occa
sion of high ceremony and intense interest.
The Jewels, with their rich appendages of
gold, are still in the Crown Room, together
with the despoiled chest. A huge cage of
iron surrounds a table, on which lie the Re
galia, and we looked through the bars at the
glittering insignia of a departed race of Kings
The artificial light, which is thrown by ie-
Hectors from several gas-burners upon the
Jewels, greatly enhances their brilliancy, and
renders them dazzling, at least, to weak eyes!
These relies consist of the Crown, Sceptre,
Sword of State, and the Chancellor’s official
Rod. Os the other ‘ sights’ of the Castle I
must forbear to speak, and glance very hasti
ly at some other points of interest.
Among the Calton Hill monuments, to
which I have alluded, I admired most that of
Dugald Stewart, though a far less ambitious
one than that of Nelson. The monuments of
Edinburgh are very numerous—and I noticed
those of Hume, George IV, Pitt, the Duke of
York, Burns, Playfair the Geometrician, and
others. The new town is built chiefly of a
brown free-stone, such as is coming into fa
vor in New York. To me it appears to be
the handsomest of all material for general
building. Some of the streets and terraces
are exceedingly elegant, and none more so
than Moray Place and Athol Crescent.
Rambling along Prince street, this morn
ing, I saw a group of Highlanders in their
characteristic dress —the plaid and bonnet.
One of them was playing on the bag-pipes,
another on the flute, a third on a violin, and
a fourth on the tambourine! A singular
quartette of instruments, certainly, and not
Dd Q ‘ffßlß AIE ¥ ® ASSTfiF
wonderfully melodious. It was good enough,
however, to please numbers of Scotch lads
and lasses who surrounded the musicians. It
is such a luxury to an American to bestow
charity when it is solicited of him, that I sup
pose I give more than is common. Be that
as it may, my shilling to the man with the
tambourine drew forth a low bow and an ex
clamation in broad Scotch: “ Siller! noo may
God bless ye, frind!”
A visit to the University was well repaid.
I will mention only the elegant Library —
which word I employ in a two-fold sense, to
mean both the books, and the Hall which
contains them. The room is very spacious,
and I have seen no handsomer one for the
purpose. It contains more than a hundred
and twenty thousand volumes. Here, also,
is Flaxman’s exquisite statue of the Ayrshire
Poet. The simplicity of the design consti
tutes its chiefest beauty. Burns is represent
ed as he was —a genuine plow-boy; but the
marble is almost animate with the expression
of his noble genius.
I have already extolled the excellence of
our hotel on Prince street, where we “fared
sumptuously every day.” It ought to be re
marked, however, that the superior accommo
dations of the first class hoiels in her gracious
Majesty's dominions are not obtained without
ample cost, more than doubling the charges
at the Astor and similar houses in the Ameri
can cities. The traveler in Great Britain
learns, at every step, the value of money.
The exactions upon his purse are so frequent
as to be proverbial. Gold is the ‘open sea
same’ which unlocks to him the treasure
houses of Art and Science, Antiquity and
Novelty, always honorably excepting the
British Museum,which isopen to all without
charge.
I have not said half I would like to say of (
this city—of my visit to the establishment of !
the Messrs. Chambers, authors and publish
ers of the celebrated Edinburgh Journal, and
many other meritorious works—of an inter
view with Prof. Wilson, the veritable Chris
topher North of the Nodes, one of the most
delightful, urbane and genuine men, I ever
met with—of the generous hospitality I and
my friends met with at the hands of several
families. Os all these I must say nothing, for
this letter is unreasonably long. To-morrow
we are off for the Lakes—and, in delightful
anticipation of their beauty, I feel half in
clined to sing,
“ My heart’s in the highlands,
My heart is not here.”
Perhaps I shall write to you next in the
shadow of Ben Nevis, or on the shores of
Loch Katrine. At all events, “I wunna for
git ye.” Good bye. E. F. G.
Newspaper Analects.
UNEXAMPLED GENEROSITY-
Mr. Warren, the author ot Ten Thousand
a Year , in the course of a recent lecture in
the hall of the London Law Society, recount
ed the following incident: “A short time
ago,” said Mr. Warren, “a gentleman of
large fortune, a man. in fact, worth his
£40,000, was indignant with hts only child,
a daughter, for marrying against his wishes.
He quarrelled with her, he disinherited her,
he left his whole property, of £40,000, to
his attorney, and to two other gentlemen, all
of whom were residing in Yorkshire. What
did the attorney do ? He went to his two
co-legatees, and got them to sign their respec
tive claims over to himself, and then made
over every sixpence of the £40.000 to the
daughter and her children! When I men
tioned this circumstance, this morning, to a
friend of mine, one of the most distinguished
men at the bar, he exclaimed, “God bless
that man !” The above gratifying circum
stance is literally true. The gentleman of
fortune was a manufacturer in a town cele
brated for its linen manufacturers, within the
West Riding, and the disinterested attorney is
one of the brightest ornaments of the profes
sion in the West Riding of Yorkshire, enjoy
ing the fruits of an ample fortune realized by
his own industry and talents.
IRELAND,
The last hope of the friends of the late
movement in Ireland, has now melted “into
thin air.” Meagher, the young and elo
quent, the Patrick Henry of the cause, has
allowed himself to be arrested, indignantly
refusing to surrender himself, or do aught
else that might be construed into an act of
submission. With his imprisonment ends
the last act in this drama of Irish rebellion.
We might call it a farce , but respect for the
brave and unfortunate men engaged in it, re
strains our pen.
The friends of Ireland have now nothing
else to do, than to fall back upon Concilia
tion Hall, and try again the slow but, per
haps, sure lever of moral power. For any
thing else, it is probable, the Irish people are
not ready. We do not blame them. It is no
slight matter to peril all that makes life dear,
domestic happiness, and the calm of every
day’s existence—to exchange these for the
uncertain fate and the stormy life of an in
surrectionist. It is a small matter for us,
sitting in our easy chairs, to talk lightly of
the perils of a rebellion; with them it is a
matter affecting business, daily bread, wives,
children, freedom and life. We therefore
have no words of censure tor the great mass
of the Irish people. They were the best
judges of the probability of success, and
whether the old pain was preferable to the
new peril. The consequences of that choice
is upon their heads and their children’s.
NEUTRAL PAPERS.
Now is the time, in the midst of an excit
ing political campaign, when neutral news
papers are particularly valuable and ought to
be welcome visitants to every family. They
attend to the things of the busy world gener
ally, and are free from the noise and clamor
of dispute. What a compound is a political
sheet during a presidential contest! Here
you have a column or two of speeches by
nobody knows whom, upon nobody knows
what; there a column or two of gas, baga
telle and bragadocia; then a column devoted
to the exposure of fibs by opponents; anoth
er to what seems to be the production of the
same articles; and a large balance of party
scraps, slops and dishwater. We fancy that
the public turn from these to a neutral paper
with a genuine relish, as they would of a hot
day into a shady avenue. It was of political
papers that Crabbe wrote, when he said,
“ Our journals o’er the land abound,
And spread their plagues and influenzas ’round.”
i —i
Sophocles, one of the first of the
Greek poets, who combined in himself the
excellencies of many others, thus paints the
character of a good wife :
Faithful —as the lone shepherd’s trusty pride ;
True —as the helm, the bark’s protecting guide ;
Firm —as the shaft that props the tow’ring dome ;
Swect-g as to the shipwreck’d seaman land and home;
Lovely —as a child, the parent’s sole delight;
Radiant —as morn that breaks a stormy night ;
Grateful —as streams that, in some deep recess,
With crystal rills the panting trav’ler bles3.
THE MARSEILLEISE HYMN.
This most remarkable production, known
throughout the civilized world as the Nation
al war-song of France, was written by Joseph
Ilouget de L’lsle, an officer of the French
revolution. The words and the music were
composed in a single night, an incident beau
tifully described by Dr. O. W. Holmes, in the
following lines:
The city slept beneath the moonbeam's glance,
Her white walls gleaming through the viuesof France
And all was hushed, save where the footsteps fell,
On some high tower, of midnight sentinel.
But one still w,itched, no self encircled woes
Chased f.oni his lids the angel of repose ;
He watched, he wept, for thoughts of bitter years,
Bowed his dark lashes, wet with burning tears,
Ilis country’s sufferings and his children's shame
Stream’d o’er his memory like a forest’s tiame.
Each treasured insult, each remembered wrong,
Rolled through his heart, and kind ed into song,
His taper faded, and the morning gales
Swept through the world the War-song of Marseilles !
The Rich Poor and the Poor Rich.—
Ihe bird of Paradise, which has a plumage
the most gorgeous of all the winged tribes,
and floats away on spicy breezes, from grove
to grove of tropical luxuriance, has a most
harsh and repulsive voice. The Lark, which
holds the ear in willing bondage by its morn
ing songs, has no feathered beauties, and
humbly builds its nest upon the ground.
Such are the rich without education; and the
educated without riches. The former, in their
costliest attire, make nought but discord, even
in the gardens of “Araby the blest”; the lat
ter, in their lowly garb, soar upwards from
their ground-built nests, and carol at the very
gate of Heaven.
CX Column iTu'dri) to JTun.
AN EPIGRAM.
Will Wag went to see Charles Quirk,
More fam’d for his books than his knowledge
In order to borrow a work ° ’
Which he’d sought for in vain over college.
But Charley replied, “ My dear friend,
You must know 1 have sworn and agreed
My books from my room not to lend--
But you may sit by my lire and read.”
Now it happened by ohance on the morrow
That Quirk, with a cold, quivering air
Came, his neighbor’s bellows to borrow,
For his own were out of repair.
But Willy replied: “ My dear friend,
1 have sworn and agreed, you must know,
That my bellows I never will lend—
Bui you may sit bp mp fire and blow /”
CHINESE SENTIMENT.
O. daughter of the great Ching Chum.
Whose eyes like Kasdan diamonds glow
And wilt thou love thy Fo-Fe-Fum,
My sweet, my lovely 110-ang-110 l
The swans their downy plumage lave,
Where Lano's wandering waters flow ;
But can the swans of Lano’s wave,
Compare with thee, my 110-ang-IIo!
0 . #
Six moons have travell’d through the skic3,gM
And softly gleamed on Ki-ang-O,
Since first thy beauty met my eyes,
Light of my soul, my Ho-ang-110.
Oh ! when I clasp thee to my breast,
Chang-fu, to whom the nations bow,
Shall not be half so truly blest,
As Fo-Fe- Fum and Ho-ang-Ho.
Affectionate. —At a church meeting in
the town where the President of one of our
New England Colleges resides, it became ne
cessary to ascertain the number of widows in
the parish. After some time had been spent
in the premises, a certain officious in-season
and-out-of-season member, named S ,
from the east part of the town, jumped up
and said, “we have embraced them all, have
we not, President L ?”—Boston Ram
bler.
On Hand. —A witness spoke several times
during his testimony, of occurrences about
the time of his birth, when a surly judge in
terrupted him—
“l)o you mean to say that you can relate
occurrences at. the time of your birth, from
your own recollection ?”
The laugh which began against the wit
ness, turned upon the judge, as the former
replied—
“ Why, sir, I cannot exactly say that I re
member every particular, but I can assure
your honor that I teas there ! n
Pat,” says a Yankee to an Irish
man, as they passed a tree near Harlem, with
a rope hanging from one of its branches,
•‘where do you suppose you would be now,
if that rope had its deserts?”
“Faith, and I’d be a walking here all alone
to New York !”
A Clergyman told an Indian he should
love his enemies.
“ Me do love ’em,” replied the latter.
“ What enemies do you love most ?”
“Rum and Cider.”
4&*“Do you suppose that a person can
see better by the aid of glasses?” said a man
in a company.
“I know he can,” said a toper, “fori
have taken a dozen glasses, and I can see
double.” •
An amateur naturalist offers a reward
to the man who will furnish him a live spe
cimen of the “brick-6oL”
Punch says that “ the milk of human
kindness is not to be found in the pail of so
ciety.” If so, we think it is time for all
“ hands,” as Pat would say, to “ kick the
bucket .”
Lord B. being asked by a lord in
waiting, what difference there was between a
clock and a woman, instantly replied, “A
clock serves to point out the hours, and a wo
man makes us forget them.”
Why are fowls the most economical
things farmers keep ?
Because for every grain of corn they g' ve
a peck ?
An ignorant fellow was boasting that
in his travels he had been caressed every
where, and that he had seen all the great in
Europe. “Have you seen the Dardanelles ■
asked one of the company. “Yes,” replied
he, “I dined with them at Gibraltar, and
found them excellent company 1”