HIS HOME. 375 



and that the best way of managing the matter will be 

 for her to receive first the kiss from you, for which you 

 are my proxy, and then to give you in turn the kiss for 

 which she is my proxy. 



' Write me, dearest, as long letters as you can with- 

 out tasking yourself, and I in turn will devote to you 

 every leisure hour, my walks, my visitings, and my 

 dinings out will leave at my disposal. To say that my 

 chief pleasure, in a ramble devoted to pleasure exclu- 

 sively, arises from my conversations with you, is not 

 saying too much. My heart is continually turning to 

 you and the two little persons at Arrochar. My home 

 is not a locality, it is not a dwelling ; it is you and 

 the little ones/ 



' Cromarty, 18th July, 1843, Tuesday. 



f 



' Mr Sage was preached out on Sunday last, and by 

 dint of superhuman exertion among all the lairds a 

 congregation of thirty were brought together to see that 

 he was. Cromarty, Rosemarkie, Avoch, all sent their 

 guests to swell the amount ; and of the thirty, two whole 

 individuals, a man and his wife, were stated hearers in 

 the parish church. There could be found no one to 

 ring the bell and no one to be precentor, though twenty 

 shillings were offered as remuneration, and a man and 

 gig had to be sent rattling to Cromarty an hour ere the 

 service began, to procure both out of McKenzie's con- 

 gregation. The story goes that, with the first tug the 

 bellman gave, a swarm of angry bees, disturbed by the 

 swing of the rope, came down about his ears with 

 wrathful fizz, and that to avoid their stings he had to 

 quit his hold and show them a clean pair of heels. 

 The Moderates are in a perilous state, when every 

 untoward incident that occurs is regarded as an omen, 

 and interpreted to their disadvantage. Their spirit in 



