298 



MORS NOBIS 



JANUA VIT^ 



H^ SUNT CAR^ TU^ 



MEJEQUE SEDES 



H^C CEETA DOMUS 



HMO COLENDA NOBIS 



H^C EST QUAM MIHI 



DESTINAVI VIVD3 



To this another hand has added : — 



HCJUS LOCI OAMEKTON 



ALIAS CAMELERTON 



OLIM CAMALOD. 



RECTOR. 



OB. ANN. DOM. MDCCCXXXIX. 



iET. SU^ LXVIII. 



Alas ! men do not shape their ends. In the reasonable hope 

 there expressed, as in others, poor Mr. Skinner was disappointed. 

 A feeling of deep awe must sink into a man's heart who reads these 

 pathetic aspirations by the light of the future. It was no vulgar 

 sorrow, though it was a sorrow from a vulgar cause, which drove 

 poetry and scholarship from Mr. Skinner's mind. The study of 

 antiquity was but the amusement of his leisure, his duty was that 

 of a parish priest, and it was in that character that he was to 

 suffer in the cause of enlightenment and religion. After another 

 visit to Camerton during which Mr. Skinner seems to have opened 

 his heart to him about his troubles, Mr. Hunter writes as follows : 

 — " Looking upon this beautiful residence, seeing the owner a 

 gentleman of refined taste, of extensive acquirements, with various 

 objects of interesting pursuit, withall of a very amiable disposition, 

 ■with a good fortune, promising children, and many friends and 

 acquaintance, one would be apt to say, surely this man if any is 

 happy ! The last inscription, even when all allowance is made for 

 the melancholy which should attend the sepulchre, shows a sorrow 

 of another kind, which indeed is sometimes apparent in his con- 

 versation. He has all the wilder species of methodism around 

 him, ignorant preachers among the colliers of his parish, so that 

 his church is almost deserted. Hinc illae lachrymse !" 



Mr. Hunter poi-sues the subject with observations upon the 

 good, and the alleged evil of placing persons of learning, taste and 

 sentiment in the office which Mr. Skinner held. His argument is 



