1 S3 2 -37- HOLIDAY PLEASURES. 31 



I laid myself back, in imagination beholding this great 

 curtain of green and silver light waved to and - fro in the 

 heavens by the hands of archangels, the drop-scene as it 

 were of heaven, which, rolled back as a scroll, would show 

 the cherubim and seraphim hymning to their lyres ; and 

 often last winter when walking out late in the evening, 

 when the aurora was flickering in the sky, I have watched 

 with delight a dark mass of cloud seemingly rent asunder 

 to show a scene of dazzling unearthly brilliancy, from which 

 I have hoped with a fond credulity to see an angel's face 

 look down ; but why need I have recounted the ideas given 

 rise to by the stories of other men and other days 1 have 

 I not with mine own eyes seen enough to delight and 

 amuse without at all referring to extrinsic things 1 " 



" Irvine, Tuesday, September, 1836. 



" MY DEAR MOTHER, Time hath brought the changes 

 of place which I anticipated, and you will see from the 

 date of this epistle I have arrived at Irvine. The three 

 last days of the week before this were so miserably bad 

 that they were utterly useless in the country the whole 

 land and sea overspread with mist ; not a point of land, 

 not a lighthouse to be seen ; nothing but the sea lashed 

 by the angry wind, and the gale not sufficiently strong 

 to give sublimity to the scene. I sat within doors, talking, 

 laughing, joking with Mr. Campbell and his sister, and a 

 fortunate discovery of the ' Essay on Taste,' by the Rev. 

 Mr. Alison, father of the professor, was hailed with great 

 delight, and served to amuse me for a long time. 



" On Saturday evening, at six o'clock, Mr. Campbell and 

 I set off in the steamboat for Arran. It rained, till within 

 a very short time of our embarking, very furiously, and 

 under most dispiriting weather we set off. The evening 



