GLENCORSE. 13 



burgh, and others, to fish here ; but, alas ! when 

 we got there, I could only see some small trouts, 

 which fled from us, as Rodger said of Jenny, as 

 from a 'shelly-coated cow.' We visited the 

 Crawley springs, at that time only bubbling out 

 of the ground in two or three places, not yet 

 having been taken care of by the Water Com- 

 pany ; nor were there as yet any Compensa- 

 tion Ponds in this neighbourhood. The day 

 turning wet, and our habits being social, we all 

 went to an honest ale-house for cakes and 

 ale. The youths of Edinburgh at that time 

 never met together but they discussed some- 

 thing. There was little conversation then in 

 Scotland at table, but plenty of discussion, 

 and in Edinburgh, society to this day, as I 

 find it, they are tarred tvi' the same stick. Our 

 subject got soon as obscure as Milton's devils 

 did on the Lake of Fire when they discussed 

 theology. Brunton was very eloquent ; and, 

 when we got up to go, he was nowhere to be 

 found, and we had to take the road without 

 him. He soon after came up with us. He 

 had stepped into the churchyard, which was 

 adjacent, and had written the following lines 

 on the tombstone of his grandfather, which he 



