HEATHER BURNING. 



R. P., the following is the rendering of the passage: 

 'Oh! my God, make them like unto a wheel, and as 

 the stubble before the wind; as the fire burneth the 

 forest, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, 

 so persecute them with Thy tempest, and make them 

 afraid of Thy Storm' : 



'My God ! make them to be 



Like rolling wheeles or as the stubble blowen 



Before the winde. 



As fire the wuds, we see, 



Doeth burne; and flame devoure on mountain hie, 



The hather croppe, 



So let Thy tempest chase them 



And the whirlwinde, 



With terror so deface them.' " 



The same writer adds: "The burning of Heather 

 is common in Scotland, although it is a question if 

 the Royal Psalmist could have such in view in refer- 

 ence to the hills of Judea, where, it is presumed, 

 Heather does not adorn the mountain sides. The 

 burning of Heather on the Scottish hills at night, for 

 the purpose of improving the growth of the pasture, 

 has a very picturesque effect, and no doubt was im- 

 pressed on the mind of the versifier." 



As the Scottish classic scholar gazes upon these 

 burning hills, they mirror to his mind the picture 

 drawn by ^Eschylus of those ancient telegraphic 

 beacon fires that flashed from afar to the wearied 

 waiting watchman at Argos "a voice from Troy and 

 tidings of a capture," as narrated by Clytsemnestra in 



