and to my mother, and to your father, and to my uncle John, and all friends who enquire for us. Give my love to my brother John. I am, dear Stepfather, your affectionate Stepson,

"WILLIAM MACLACHLAN.

"All our boys went away last week to London."

The above letter is interesting, chiefly as a specimen of William Maclachlan's capacity as a letter-writer. The penmanship is excellent, and the composition is very creditable when we consider the extraordinary fact that the writer had been over twenty years of age before he knew the English alphabet. William Henderson's aged daughter, to whom I have already referred, still remembers having seen William, on several occasions, visiting Donald Mackenzie's family after having come north from Old Aberdeen. She describes him to Mr Maclean as "a tall, slim-built, handsome young man, considerably over twenty years of age, as she thought, and dark featured, having every appearance of a gentleman." This testimony, taken in connection with the next letter in the correspondence, indubitably proves that William began his studies very late, and, such being the case, his letter is an evidence of great industry and progress.

I

The favourite way of going to Aberdeen at that time was by a sailing "packet." Another way was to go "by the coach." have heard of some students who walked all the way to Aberdeen, each carrying a little box on his back. When the " steamers began to ply between Inverness and Aberdeen, they made a great improvement in the means of locomotion, but how much more pleasant and expeditious is our modern railway system, which we have come to regard as a matter of course without reference to previous means of locomotion.

Donald evidently had a number of "skeps" at Culblair, and he probably wished to employ William, as a sort of middleman, to get his honey disposed of to the best advantage in Aberdeen. His stepson, having previously consulted his landlord on the subject, was not able to hold out very bright hopes as to high price for that commodity that year. It would probably fetch a shilling per pound.

Several interesting names of persons crop up in this letter. "Sally" was one of Ewen's sisters; "Uncle John" was John Robertson, his uncle and foster brother; and "your father" was old James Mackenzie, the third husband of "Fair Janet of Culblair." We are glad to learn that the worthy Patriarch was still alive when this letter was written. Ewen has now some measure of liberty, for all his "boy lodgers had gone away the week before to London."

The subject of "no remittances from Jamaica" again appears here, and constitutes the only sore point in the letter. Within five short months poor William set sail for that wonderful island, concerning which he and his uncle Ewen had spoken so often, and, alas he never came back again to tell the tale of his voyage!

LETTER IV.

"My Dear Donald,--With feelings of grief, that almost unfit me for guiding the pen, I reluctantly communicate the intelligence received from Jamaica, that poor William Maclachlan is no more! He arrived at Kingston in Jamaica on the 8th of November, and on the 9th fell into a fever which, nine days after its attack, ended his dear life! He was brought in a carriage out of Kingston to St Mary's. Hugh and Alexander got him the best medical assistance the island could afford, but the last three days it became a brain fever, so that human aid was unavailing. He died on Thursday, the 19th November, but Hugh does not specify the hour; only I will expect full information in his next, which I shall communicate to you accordingly. Of course he made no will, so that Alexander, his brother,1 falls heir to the whole property.

"It is extremely consoling to me, notwithstanding the poignancy of my present grief, that, so far as conscience informs me, I believe William found me all along a dutiful uncle. He told you how I received him on his first visit to Aberdeen. When I found myself in a condition, I brought him out again, and gave him the best education the place or time could afford. He was universally beloved and respected by his companions. He was taken into the genteelest companies, and, in fact, made such progress in learning and good breeding that a year more would qualify him for the situation of a planter in Jamaica. I wished him to wait here another year, but he could not feel easy in the idea of burdening me, as the people of Jamaica were so very backward in their remittances. I adduced against that idea all the arguments in my power, but, alas! no arguments could turn away the appointed hour! The turf was shaped, the grave was opening, and his earthly troubles were to be at an end! I rigged him out till I spent my last shilling, knowing well he would put me right at a future time, but see how the Sovereign Disposer of the Universe laughs at the folly of human schemes !

"William was a young man of uncommon decency and propriety in his external behaviour. His natural talents were not

1 What about Donald? Was he then dead? Was he killed by one of the "six arrows shot at our house from the bow of the fatal angel?" &c.

great, but this defect he surmounted by the most unwearied industry. When he came to me he was ignorant of the English alphabet, but, before he went to Jamaica, he talked English with the utmost fluency, could write a beautiful hand, and read English and Gaelic, and figured not contemptibly. His continual conversation with me astonishingly improved his mind, and made him learn ten times better than he could have done with any other master. In that state of improvement and preparation I sent him away. His uncle assures me, from what he has seen of him, that he would be an ornament to society, had it pleased God to spare him, but to the adorable decrees of Heaven we must submit! This is the sixth arrow shot at our house from the bow of the fatal angel since six years, but God gave and God hath taken ; adored be His ever blessed name! With friendly compliments to you and the poor disconsolate mother, believe me, dear Donald, yours very sincerely,

"Aberdeen, Jan. 24th, 1819."

"EWEN MACLACHLAN.

This letter is so wonderfully beautiful and pathetic, both as an expression of Ewen's own great grief at the loss of his favourite nephew, and as an attempt to administer some consolation to the "disconsolate" mother and other sorrowing relatives of the deceased, that, it seems to me, any enlarged commentary on it would here be entirely out of place. I regard it simply as a gem that would form a very respectable addition to any collection of consolatory letters, ancient or modern.

When the intelligence of William's death arrived, great was the consternation and sorrow which it produced at Culblair and Ardnagrask. Donald was very much affected, and it is said that, when his wife heard the fatal tidings she sworned away. John, then a boy of twelve, wept bitterly, and there is reason to believe that he had a vivid recollection of that fireside scene until the day of his death. As to "Uncle John" at Ardnagrask, it has already been stated that, when he received the sad news, his hair turned grey in one night, so great was his grief.

After the lapse of some time, the folks of Culblair and Ardnsgrask, naturally astonished that they were not hearing a word of intelligence from Jamaica regarding the disposal of William's estate willed to him by his father, resolved to write Ewen on the subject. Accordingly, Donald, on the 25th of August, wrote him to the effect that, whatever property was left by William Maclachlan in the West Indies should now be given to his friends, more especially his mother; and that, at all events, Culblair and

Ardnagrask had a strong claim on his effects in compensation of what had been laid out in his late stepson's upbringing. This letter elicited the following reply from Ewen :

LETTER V.

"Old Aberdeen, Monday, Oct. 18th, 1819.

"Dear Donald,-I have before me your letter of the 25th August, and would have duly answered it, but I was at that time in Dundonald, near Kilmarnock, in Airshire, for the recovery of my health, having been so poorly since February that I sometimes apprehended death, and was for six months that I had not any sound sleep, not for an hour. My disease was a nervous complaint contracted by too much labour and confinement; but now, thank God, by help of a proper course of medicines, exercise, diet, and amusement, I feel as active and healthy as ever I was in my life, only I cannot as yet venture on hard study.

"To my utter astonishment, I have not heard a word from Jamaica since I wrote you. I rather believe my brother and nephew have gone someway wrong in their health or circumstances, if they have not taken offence at some of the letters I have written. My nephews, I assure you, have been dear relations to me, in more senses than one. They owe me in all £350 sterling ; but for this expense I have not received so much as thanks. In reality they pay my letters no kind of attention.

"In the way of money, you are well aware that I have no business whatever with any one of William's friends; even if I should inherit his whole property. For what I laid out on him I have not received a farthing, so that after this no niece or nephew shall ever have it in their power to gull me out of my property again. At the same time, if you think proper, you may write Alexander, his brother, and state to him what you have stated to me; but remember that, in every transaction of the kind, my name must be left out for ever. With compliments to Mrs Mackenzie, I remain, dear Donald, yours truly,

"EWEN MACLACHLAN."

In this letter we have indications that poor Ewen's system was breaking down under the strain of hard work and perpetual worry and monetary embarrassment. Doubtless, while residing in the land of Burns, one source of pleasure would have been to hold converse with the companions and memorials of the great departed national poet of Scotland.

Ewen writes with severity regarding the conduct of his brother and nephew in Jamaica, as to the dealings of the latter

towards both the Culblair people and himself in the matter of meum and tuum. He had spent his "last shilling" in rigging out poor William, and now he could not get a "single sixpence" from those West Indies people, although they owed him £350 sterling. Evidently his nephew Donald had also died, because we find now only the names of his brother Hugh and nephew Alexander.

Meanwhile dark and probably uncharitable surmises and suspicions were beginning to creep over the minds of the Culblair and Ardnagrask folks, as to the sudden death of William, based on the circumstance that his property was so promptly "grabbed" by the surviving relatives in Jamaica. They, however, did not give immediate expression to those feelings beyond the range of their own little circle. Donald wrote Ewen again on the 5th Dec., 1820, and this brings out Ewen's last letter in this series, written about 15 months or so before his death.

LETTER VI.

"Old Aberdeen, Dec. 11th, 1820.

"Dear Donald,--Yours of the 5th instant is now before me. I do not wonder at your surprise in not hearing from Jamaica since I wrote you. For I have received only one letter from my only brother, and that, too, telling me he would, in three or four years from that time, be able to settle our account. Hugh barely tells me that Alexander, my nephew, is in good health, but he says nothing else about him.

"While Sandy was my pupil, he, as well as Donald and William, said that they would shed their blood for me, should occasion require it. I do not doubt but that may have been their idea. But while they were with me, they were the receivers, not the contributors, of favour. To me they owed almost their very life. But once they got a cable's length from me, I could then find out their real sentiments. As the result of the whole, you will be astonished that I am out of pocket nearly 500 pounds sterling with these people of Jamaica, all in a mass; and God knows when the fancy may strike them to put me right. But of one thing I am certain, that not one of them, from first to last, ever sent in my way the value of a single sixpence (I do not except my very brother) though they all contrived, as much as in them lay, to make me their stepping stone. They could not, however, affect my character, and in that I rest perfectly satisfied.

"As Sandy has totally rejected me, it is no wonder if he should not write you, as with you he has no connection whatever, except being William's natural brother, he is nothing in your debt.