MR ROBERTSON'S RECOLLECTIONS. 383 



of telling pamphlets on matters of interest to his town 

 and country and the region round. I had not pre- 

 viously heard his name, and only by degrees became 

 aware of the great pride his fellow-citizens took in him, 

 and in what he was expected to do. A day or two 

 after my arrival in Cromarty, I was walking past the 

 churchyard, and saw a man with his coat off, busily 

 chiselling a tombstone. Vaulting over the wall, I went 

 towards him. Hugh raised himself, and after a few 

 minutes' conversation, put on his coat of hodden grey, 

 and said he would show me the caves on the northern 

 shore of the southern Sutor. As we passed the disused 

 burying-ground of a ruinous old chapel, he told me the 

 story of the solitary grave outside the boundary wall, 

 where reposed the dust of a man who gave directions for 

 his sepulture in this spot, as it would give him the start 

 of his companions or accusers on the Day of Judgment, 

 to be held on a neighbouring elevation. Our path was 

 by a well, about which he told a legend. It was cele- 

 brated for the curing of some complaints. The caves 

 were rendered classical, also, by stories of daring smug- 

 glers, and of other wild doings. 



' During the eight or nine weeks I remained in Cro- 

 marty, Hugh and I walked over all the neighbourhood. 

 We tried each other's strength in many ways leaping, 

 vaulting, throwing heavy stones, climbing precipices, 

 &c. He took me to many of his haunts. He was very 

 successful in the search for geological specimens, and in 

 breaking nodules. We discussed all the questions* of 

 the day. He was very well acquainted with English 

 literature, and had carefully studied translations of 

 most of the celebrated foreign classics, ancient and 

 modern. He appeared to me to be more of a practical 

 philosopher, than either distinctively literary or ab- 



