1825.] 
a female; and this appeared to us in 
such “good taste,”’ that we felt no incli- 
nation to commence the Gaelic under 
our self-elected tator. The difficulty 
was to convince him of this, as neither 
understood the language of the other. 
We were at last obliged, like able states- 
‘men, to buy him off, when we found 
‘that we could not subdue him. We 
were afterwards told, that he was an 
idiot, who conceives that he has a right 
to demand toli from all persons entering 
the Highlands: his idiotcy, like Hamlet’s 
madness, seems to have some method 
in it. < 
We reached Stewart’s inn in safety, 
and proceeded immediately to Loch 
Katrine, the description of which has 
been so well-executed in the Beauties of 
Scotland, as to leave me no hopes of 
rivalling it. I have only, like an unskil- 
‘ful speaker, who follows an eloquent 
harangue, to subscribe to what has been 
> said. 
After taking a farewell of my friend, 
whose time permitted a more extensive 
excursion than mine, I retraced my 
route to Edinburgh, and discovered by 
-the loss of my companion, how great a 
portion of my previous pleasure had 
been derived from him. 
At Edinburgh, I had the favour of an 
introduction to an accomplished musical 
family. Of all introductions, these are 
the most valuable to an indolent volup- 
tuary. All other pleasures demand 
‘exertion. If you are introduced among 
wits, you must couch your lance, al- 
though you should be unhorsed at the 
‘first encounter ;—in a circle of beauties, 
‘you must “rain sacrificial whisperings 
in their ear,” and “be all eye, all intel- 
lect, all sense ;”—and dancing, that 
tarantula of madness,* demands exertion 
that would subdue Hercules. Music, 
-and music alone, suspends you in her 
invisible web, and lulls you into forget- 
fulness of the ills of life. Wonderful 
power! that mollifies the present and 
the pact, and brightens the anticipations 
_ * We need not wonder that people should 
“* Compound for sins th i 
By Seong hose theg have uo mind t 3” 
‘when ‘our froliesome correspondent, in all 
‘the free indulgence of his giddy wit, can 
libel thus a delightful amusement, which is 
not to his taste. If, however, he be, as he 
‘says, “declining in the yale of years,” we 
not only excuse him for not joining in the 
dance, but congratulate him on his still 
‘youthful spirits, and thank him for making 
‘our pages the medium through which they 
‘are to sparkle.—Ep. : 
Montuty Mae. No. 405. 
A Tour to Leith, 
33 
of the future. The lyre of Orpheus 
arrests the flowing tide of time, or causes 
its oiled waves to reflow towards their 
source. 
I left Edinburgh in one of the smacks. 
In the fore-part of the vessel. was 4 
-large party of soldiers, with the corporal 
of whom I occasionally conversed. I 
could not avoid noticing, in talking with 
him, how generally nature seems to have 
implanted in man the desire to conceal 
the wretchedness which belongs to his , 
peculiar station, He will allow the ex- 
istence of misery, but does not like to 
have too large a share appropriated to 
him; and thus, nature enables us to 
“turn his own arms against the  tortu- 
rer;’”” and pride, the source of so many 
of our evils, empowers us to subdue 
others, by inducing us to conceal them. 
A gentleman holding an official situation 
at Edinburgh, had taken the principal 
part of the vessel for himself and family ; 
and he, by his gentlemanly deportinent, 
corrected a tendency on the part of 
others, to be coarse and vulgar. The 
smack contained a party of artists, two 
mates, a surgeon, a lieutenant of foot, 
and others having no outward or visible 
sign of their occupation. The lieute- 
nant, I thought at first, would have put 
the whole vessel under martial law: he 
seemed inclined to be a sturdy dispu- 
tant ; and, aided by a dark-bronze coun- 
tenance, and a clear eye, he appeared 
to create, among the lesser part of his 
auditory, some sensations of deference. 
But all power, to be permanent, must 
be supported by ability: a diadem may 
be snatched by imbecility, but genius 
only can retain it. He had but one 
stratagem, and that discovered he was 
lost; it consisted in a repetition of the 
latter part of any assertion that was 
made, in a tone of interrogation: as, 
A.B. would assert that the French 
Revolution had been productive of more 
good than evil._— The Lieut. Of more 
good than evil? This would have left 
the whole burden of explanation on his 
opponent; but he, “a cool old sworder,” 
dropped out the monosyllable, “ Yes.” 
The artists seemed to consider him as 
one of nature’s daubs; they used him as 
a pallet to mix their ideas upon, One 
‘of them appeared to possess consider- 
able conversational ability; but, from an 
excess of young blood in his veins, he 
dealt his wit and sarcasms among the 
unlettered crew that surrounded him so 
freely, as to excite pain in a feeling 
mind; it was an eagle in a dove-cote. 
One of the persons on board, a-thin, 
quiet, 
