682 
not despair of living to see the day when the 
shuttle would be the only fixed part in the 
loom, and all the other machinery whirled 
‘sound it by water or by steam. The 
weaver never hesitated at the possibility or 
impossibility of my scheme ; but it immedi- 
acl occurred to him, that if the thing ac- 
tually took place, the whole race of weavers 
would be starved, nay extirpated; where- 
‘upon he laid his shuttle softly upon the web, 
mended a broken thread, imposed silence 
upon his heels, and commenced a most ve- 
hement philippic against his brethren of man- 
Lind, "whose ingenuity, he said, was only 
exercised in abominable contrivances to de- 
grade, and to lessen the numbers of man- 
kind, thereby rendering them the more ma- 
nageable : and in the heat of his indignation 
he swore most furiously, that all the wars 
of modern times were carried on for this very 
purpose. (a : 
«© The loom thus got out of sight again, 
and so far too, that I concluded it im- 
possible to bring her again into action; 
and as I have a mortal aversion to anger, 
and all profane swearing, I quietly wished 
my weaver, with all his souls, a good morn- 
ing. 
«« I directly crossed over the strect to 
where I saw a tailgr on his shop-board, en- 
livened by the morning. sun, and seemingly 
at peace with all the world, chanting an old 
Scots song, his work seemingly going on all 
the better for it: to be sure | had little to ex- 
pect here from my merry taylor, for the pur- 
pose ofa tourificator, and as little to give, 
where a pair of scissars, a thimble, and a nee- 
dle, constituted the principal apparatus of the 
artist. I was therefore a good deal at a loss 
how to proceed; but a good song being 
always a good thing, and also transferable 
to Meldrum-hall; and as Talso stood in no 
little need of something to adjust my nervous 
system after the weaver's analysis of modern 
solitics ; so with as little ceremony as pos- 
sible, I leaned myseif on the shop-board, 
and begged the taylor not to be interrupted 
in his song, which, beside being very beau- 
tiful, Tsaid, was quite new. The lad, not 
at all disconcerted, took his pinch of snuff, 
and set. his arm vigorously a-going again, 
saving ‘it was a new thing he had somehow 
picked up, written, he understood, by a 
gentleman in the neighbourhood;’ and, 
added he, ‘all pecple did nothing bat 
talk good of that lady before she left this 
country; a curse upon that England, it 
takes away all our best folks.’ Little did my 
taylor know he was making hig best eulo- 
ium on one cf my best friends, and who, 
if she mixed more with the world, with her 
incomparable talents and elegance, would 
catry the world before her; but that seems 
not much to be bragged of, and I dare say 
she has chosen the better part. While L 
was apostrophising thus, the taylor was 
going on—‘ As you seem to like the song, 
ot will begin it again. My bow, and 
MISCELLANIES, 
my thanks, and a new threaded needle, set 
him a going. 
« L. M.S.'s Farewell to the Highlands.” 
«Ye mountains sae grey, which hide the 
blue heav'ns ; 
Ye hills green wi’ birk, and spangled wi’ dew ; 
Ye rivers which mix your wild voice wi’ the 
morning ; 
O must I, sweet highlands! must I bid you 
adieu ! 
And then, in thy forest's sae hraid-mantling 
bosom, 
Sweet cottage, where pleasure and happiness 
dwell? 
Must J, wet wi ‘tears, my bonny Kinrara ! 
O mustI for ever—can I bid thee farewell! 
«« Farewell then, dear highlands—O farewell, 
Kinrara ; 
Ye sons of the hills, along, long adieu! 
How long vour Comala O will ye remember, 
Far parted I'll sigh on Kinrara and you. 
Bleat on, then, ye lammies; and proud in 
your foresis 
Be thy steps, thou gay roe, and thine, bound- 
ing deer! 
Sweet Spey, on thy banks, and thy far-ga- 
z thering waters, 
May happiness shine, and be mine the last 
tear. , 
‘« Here a most inviting opportunity offers, 
were J to adhere to the footsteps of my bre- 
thren of the staff, to thrust in a disquisition 
concerning the Scottish music, and to fol- 
low it up with ample eulogium ; but resery- 
ing this ull a season when [ have more ma- 
terials about me, and when I have not a 
musi€al taylor at my elbow, FE shall only ob- 
serve what surely has, ar ought to have been 
observed long before I was born, that every 
singer, public as well as private, ought to be 
bodily employed during their performance. 
J am certain my little taylor would not have 
sung half so well had he been sitting prim 
and erect in his chair, with all his needies 
sticking idle in his sleeve; and what is it 
but this which makes the lass’s melody at 
her wheel, and the young lady's with her 
netting by the parlour fire so pleasing.” 
The knight of the thimble tipt him 
another ditty, and no one knows how 
long this pastoral contest might have 
lasted---for Mr. Meldrum was tuning 
his pipe to the taylor, if an unlucky acci- 
dent had not spoiled all their singing. 
Snip’s brother was a great chemister, 
and could talk of nothing but the Priest- 
lands and the Lavoshys, of oxheads, and 
carbunns, and fluggistone; he was at 
this very time trying some unlucky ex. 
periment, and it so happened, that with 
the inflammability of his gas, and the 
combustibility of his apparatus, he had 
set fire to his laboratory: the fire ex. 
