sphere of his peregrinations, and deter- 
mined him to content himself with an 
unexpensive and less perilous tourifica- 
tion in his own country. 
Notwithstanding this change of his 
plan, it was sometime before he could 
summon courage to disclose it to his fa- 
mily: Mr. Meldrum became reserved, 
and lost all his wonted hilarity. This 
state of restraint, so unnatural to him, 
however at length grew intolerable, and 
one Saturday evening after supper was 
the appointed period for the important 
disclosure : ‘‘ an unusual taciturnity bor- 
dering upon gloom, hung over the fire- 
side:” but Mr. Meldrum taking an ex- 
traordinary pullor two of Dorothy’s Oc- 
‘tober felt himself so stout, that after a 
conciliating glance of affection towards 
- his wife, the affair at last came out,.and 
met with less oppositien than might rea- 
_sonably have been anticipated. Indeed 
it must be acknowledged that he shewed 
a good deal of generalship in not suffer- 
ing the enemy to rally his forces after 
the shock of the first onset: an extra 
tankard of October, and the promise of 
bringing home for the girls a load of fine 
things, had considerable effect. Conver- 
sation was not suffered to flag, and Ma- 
Jachi, who has a remarkably sweet voice, 
and is exempt from that vice which is 
common to singers, of declining to gra- 
tify their friends, or requiring so much 
solicitation as to take away all the merit 
of assenting, proposed at the very first 
pause in conversation to sing his wife her 
old favourite song. 
-# My dear,” said T, lifting the tankard 
half way to my head, and replacing it sofily 
on my hee, as if something very important 
was pressing upon me; ‘ ny dear,” said I, 
* suppose I sing you your old favourite, the 
. Forsaken She Berd ; Tam much mistaken if 
it had not a little influence with somebody 
some years agone ; a siight leer accompanied 
this ; and I find my voice in fine pitch for 
the Yellow-hair'd Laddie to night. Doro- 
thy’s handkerchief was replaced in her pocket, 
and the corner of her apran was also care- 
‘lessly thrown aside. The song, to be sure, 
was main long; but that I had in view, as 
I was-sure my audience would be fast asleep 
before I fairly got through the half of it. 
She accepted the offer ts a compliment, with 
much: kindness and gratitude; and I pro- 
ceeded singing, and saying, as J saw best be- 
fitting my audience or nor-audicnce, 
"The Forsaken Shepherd. 
«¢ The sair-hearted Sandy aside the bare tree 
Sat sighing and sabbing, and the tear in his ee ; 
MISCELLANIES. 
And though chill blew the blast, and fast fet 
the snaw, 
He sang to the desart his lassie awa’. 
O, why are ye good, and why are yo fair? 
My red swoln ee will see you nae mair; 
Ye ha’e left me to weep, and ye ha’e left me 
to die; 
And the lads a’ around join in sorrow wi’ me. 
«¢ Nae mair on our hills will thy smiles chase 
awa’ 
The deep groan of grief, and the tears as 
they fa’ ; 
The pale furrow’d cheek in its want shall 
consume ; 
And the pipe shall be heard nae mair in’ the 
broom. 
The lasses may sing, and dance trim on the 
green, 
When ye, O nae langer amang them are seen : 
The best form o° beauty nae mair shall divide 
The bonny young lad and his bonny young 
bride. 
«¢ Buta’ things br. ~¢ sorrow and sadness to 
me: bf 
My life drew its spark from. the beam o° thy 
ec; 
Now it falls like the leaves strew’d alang the 
black burn, 
Since my lassie wi’ simmer nae mair will re- 
turn. 
But ay, be thou happy, and the best on the 
green, ; 
May thy bonny laddy ilk morning be seen ; 
‘hough I maun lament to the rain and the 
snaw,. , 
Thy charms and thy goodness for ever awa.”” 
On Monday morning, then, Malachi 
Meldrum upon Habby, duly caparisoned, 
and his man Shadrach, equipped with 
his master’s’ portmanteau ‘ujfon Black 
Tom, set off uporrhis tourification. It 
was a fine morning, and the scenery 
brought to his rememblance some Scot- 
tish stanzas, which many years before he 
had penned, for the amusement of Doro- 
thy and the bairns ; we cannot transcribe 
the whole, but there is so much accuracy 
and life in some of the descriptive pas- 
sages, that we are tempted to select a few 
stanzas. ; 
«¢ But O its cauld—nae chirping bird 
The snaw shaks frae its wing ; 
Wee sits thou quivering in the bush, 
And hears the tempest sing. 
«< Thy wee bit feathers stand on end 5 
Thy wings hing oer thy feet; 
Nae leaf’s to turn yon wintry wind, 
Or shade the frae the sleet. 
«« The lammy, frisky on the know, 
He waits a safer mor 3 , 
For heavy, heavy, hing the flakes, 
‘Iced on the bending thorn, 
