This one gets a slice off the Kirk,

The t'other a lump from the Navy;
Young yelpers get rough bones to pick,
Old mumpers a sop in the gravy.

Gie the Whigs place, place, &c. JOHN OF THE GIRNEL (angrily.) It's a scandalous sang that o' yours, Mr. Blarney;— stop, sir!—No' that I'm vindicating the Whigs in all their measures, but.

COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

I am sorry I cannot hit your taste to-night, John, in any style. You wont to like me better-suppose we try the ancient ballad of

THE WEE, WEE MAN.

(Blarney sings drawlingly like a street singer.)

As I was daunderin' all alane

"Tween the College yetts and the Patterraw, O, it's there I met a wee, wee man,

Yet he was the biggest that e'er I saw. (Hems.)

"Owee, wee man, but you look fain,

Wad ye tell me why ye look sae gladlie;" Quoth he, "I'm Knight of the Just Ellwand, And a mighty man I trow I be.

"A diamond buckle shines in my shoe, And eke another at my breek-knee,

With a chain of gold about my neck,

Like some noble baron of high degree.

"There's Sir John Dalrymple, and Howick's lord,

And the gallant Earl of Roseberrie,

Shook me by this unworthy hand

Before all the people, right brotherlie.".

"O wee, wee man

"

Welcome to the glass, John Nay I insist upon making you a present of it: now that you are become a public character, it may be of use at large meetings, to see how the facial muscles work-who are down in the mouth, and who, like Brougham at this moment, peers through their fingers to see how things are looking. But

tiently.)

Now will ye have done with your havers, Counsellor. Sir John has finished his,-and we will have a good speech from Mr. Bannerman, perhaps. And in spite of a' your Tory gibes, and the Argus's sharp hits too, our Provost has fairly won his spurs this day. I hope to see him Sir James yet, graced with the banneret of knighthood, and a credit to the Neasy Dominies. (Listens.) I'm thinking Mr. Bannerman is gaun to palaver ower lang, like the rest, Mr. Blarney. It would, in my humble opinion, be an immense improvement in the gieing the toasts at public meetings of this kind, if the Managers would adopt the plan that that little sagacious loon, Benjie Franklin suggested to his father, wi' the beef stand; and just, once for a', bless the barrel. As it is morally impossible we can be heard below, and no ceevil to interrupt the speaker wi' a speech, I think I shall gie ye a harmless song mysel'. It's nane o' your stoopit college poetry, Mr. Blarney-which for my part, I never could thole-but the simple outpourings of a young heart, made musical by the same glad impulse which wakens the song of the grey lintie, twittering among the broom and brecken, and tunes the throstle's note in the merry May mornin's! I'm sure our next-door neebours in the gallery, the Countess and her bonny dochters, and Mrs. Opie, will like it. (Sings.)

O! the bonnie highland hills,
O! the bonnie highland hills,
The bonnie hills o' Scotland, O!
The bonnie highland hills.

There are lands on the earth where the vine ever blooms,
Where the air that is breathed the sweet orange perfumes,
But dearer's the blast the lone shepherd that chills,
As it wantons along o'er our ain highland hills.

Chorus-O! the bonnie highland hills, &c.
There are rich golden lands with their skies ever fair;
But riches or beauty we make not our care,—
Wherever we wander a vision aye fills
Our hearts to the burstin'-our ain highland hills.
O, the bonnie highland hills, &c.

nor Mr. Wallace, either :—they were clapped down in the lang leet for Stewards without their own consent, I am told, as a nest-egg-a lure to you Radical sinners. JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (with the opera-glass.) Sic an assemblage! and so many strange faces! COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

Not one Parliament House, Princes' Street, or North Bridge face in ten :-where have all the men come from to this National Convention ?

As wise-like your ain Dr, Ritchie, John, showed his legs here.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (with the glass at his eye.) Ay, in truth would it; but there's a lively sprinkling o' our ain folk here though, and a gey leavenin' o' the right speerit. Look yonder-yonder, Counsellor !—are ye blind?-yon's bauld Bailie Christie o' Dundee—as sound a Radical as is in Scotland. You may depend on it, sir, this is no' a Whig meeting.

Be it so. There's character in the face-mind, if not much sweet music. And the countenance has cleared immensely since the early part of the evening. Then, to those who could read it aright, it threatened some tremendous explosion. That burst of the elements has taken place—and cleared away the choke-damp of whiggery from the assembly. It now, I assure you, Mr. Campbell, wears a quite different aspect. We have frightened back the Whig bats, and owls, and crowers, to their dark corners, and their own dunghills.

COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

And all this is due to yonder yellow Yerl. Do you intend, John, to peruse that vellum venomous visage the whole night?

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

Be ceevil now, Counsellor, or even the presence o' the Countess and the leddies shall na' protect ye.-Venomous! It's all your base Tory slanders, for the truth is not in ye, you, that propagate that Lord Brougham is a drunkard, and Durham ill-tempered and self-willed. But even if he were, I like a man with a will of his ain. I have a great opinion of what are called ill-natured men ;-a gude thumping spleen is just as necessary as a big stout heart, for the main that would fearlessly do his duty in this world, and stick staunch to his party. There is Althorp, now, so mim, and so mild, that ye would think that butter would not melt in his mouth, though

cheese

COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

Ay, last year's Suffolk

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

-Would not choke him.

OPIUM EATER.

Which adage, I believe, may originate in the ordeal by cheese, an ordeal, which, if not so common as that by fire or by water,-nevertheless

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (interrupting.) -Nevertheless, I hate and abhor your good-natured skim-milk, slip-go-down men. I never yet knew one of them worth a Brummag em button, to any cause he espoused; and indeed the y never do heartily espouse any

COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

One of the Cabinet Radicals-Mr Ellice.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

Ellice-I'm glad and proud to see him-him who was against the damnable clauses of the Coercion Bill; which, and not the Chancellor's intrigues, caused Lord Grey's "descent" and most justly. I cannot say that I see much harm in Brougham writing privately to old Foozle, in mitigation of the peremptory nonsense of old Grizzle. Ye are corrupting my morals among ye, gentleman, and teaching me a reckless way of speaking. COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

Ha! ha ha! Is it come to that? Is the Grey idol to be pulled from his pedestal already? O, fickle Radicals!

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (stealing the glass to the Chancellor, and looking lovingly at him.

Ye ken little about the delicate part the Chancellor has to play, to serve the people. It's no' just for any thing he has done, but for what he'll no' do, I have a craw to pluck with him.

SYDNEY TUCKER.

Sir! Sir! JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (still gazing affectionately on Brougham.)

I maun hae a last lingering look o' him-He is to huz auld Scotch reformers, with all his faults, a kind of a first love-an affection which it takes a hantle to sever frae the heart-strings, sirs, round which it has been spinning, and winding, and twining, till they have all grown to be part and portion of one deep and tender nature. COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

One and indivisible, like the French Republic which lasted three months.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

It is nine years and upwards since I saw him last,— and high, high stood he then with his proud and grate ful countrymen; though neither clothed with the attri butes of office, nor graced with the favour of the King ;— and when he said he prized office only because it gave him the more power to serve the people, he seemed to stand higher then than ever,-yea as Henry Brougham, -as that admirable poem, the "Village Work-house, by a Country Curate," says " First in talent, first in station, and first in the hearts and esteem of his countrymen :"and is that all gone! I'm an aged man, and though his vigour is unimpaired, even his sands are fast ebbing. It is not to be thought we can ever again meet face to face in the flesh. Oh, that there where he stands he would bethink himself!-bethink himself, ere it be too late, of what he owes to his still trusting and still affectionate country what to mankind-what to the cause of truth and of human improvement,-or even to that object said to be so selfishly dear to him-his own fame. Brougham, sirs, is not a man of cold nature,-nor one who can live in comfort, alienated from those sympathies which have nourished all that is great and most generous in his nature:-no, no. (Girnel covers his face with his hands.) COUNSELLOR BLARNEY (thrusting his tongue into his cheek.)

Really, John, thou gett'st too pathetic,-use my ban dana;—your discourse has dirled the very heart-strings of the double-bass, cracked the drum, and drowned the lutes and soft recorders in their players' tears.

SYDNEY TUCKER.

I am astonished and provoked to see a sensible Radical like you, Mr. Campbell, still so conglomerated. Were you to tell him all this to his face now, if he gave you an answer at all, it would be, to drink home-brewed beer and read the Penny Magazine

COUNSELLOR BLARNEY.

The blessing conferred by Brougham upon mankind, which I see the worshipful Provost of Aberdeen declares equal to the invention of the art of printing!-and one that will be as memorable as any era in the progress of the human race. "The watchword of the age" is Penny Magazine !-ha! ha! ha!—I like a thumper now.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL (gruffly, and raising his head.) The Chancellor said things about the press at Aberdeen your sort like ill to hear of, though :—and that's about taking off the newspaper tax. The Scotsman would consent to one penny,-sixpence being a neat small coin, circulating chiefly among the respectable class of society, who wear good hats :-that penny was liberal in the Scotsman! But what said the Chancellor? I have the print in my pouch; read ye it, Mr. Sydney, as my sight is no sae sharp.-(Mr. Sydney reads.)

"We have no overweening confidence in ourselves. We feel, certainly, not much disturbed in our spirits at the attacks made on us. The people are getting knowledge cheap, and the booksellers have attacked Lord Althorp and me; and by making books cheap, we have brought all the booksellers on our backs. They abuse us as much as they can for making books cheap; they make them dear and choice. They quarrel with us; we don't quarrel with them. There is a storm brewing which, I foresee, will end in a serene sky: time will show. Let them go on in their way, and we will go on in ours. We shall not prevent them by personal abuse; but there is a little bird whispers in my ear that a day is coming when the newspapers will not make men's opinions for them. Some people say, that my opinions on this subject are visionary and speculative; but there is nothing speculative and visionary in the difference between 7d. and 3d. The same little bird whispers that a few months, perhaps, will show if there be."

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (slapping himself congratulatingly.)

What think ye of that now!-Is that illiberal Conservative courtly doctrine? A rush into the gallery, and cries from the Croupier's table of Order! order! above there!)

We're no out o' order. If I had a speaking trumpet, now: is there such a thing among your trumpets, lads? -I would bawl out to the Lay Elder, to make Mr. Tait place this bit at Aberdeen, to the Chancellor's side of the balance sheet in his next number;-but here they come! -Ye saw how anxious his Lordship was to get Tait, at Lanark ?*-'Od its another good sign o' him, this liking to see an honest, able publication like yours, Mr. Tait, where he will see the truth told about himself, without malice and without meanness, that never flattered him, and seldom wronged him—really ye'll own yon warlock's head was no flattery. Let me congratulate you on this night's work-plenty room here,-O man, but I miss Mr. Aytoun.

LAY ELDER.

TAIT'S MAGAZINE, John, for his work's sake, would stand by the Chancellor through good report and through evil, if he would not destroy himself.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

I daresay he would get the Magazine at Hamilton Palace. Rather than he should want it, I would send him a len' o' our ain,—or he might keep it a'thegither; -though ye may be sure it is rather blackened by the middle o' the month in our club :-he might not be the worse, though, of seeing the thumbed bits,-the marrow o' modern poleeticks, the reflection of public opinion, as face answereth to face in a glass.

LANARK. Within these few weeks past, Lord Brougham, and a number of other celebrated statesmen, have passed through our borough. When his Lordship was here, he called at one of our bookseller's shops, and inquired for Tait's Magazine. The bookseller happened to have none of the number at the time, but presented a few of the Penny Magazines. His Lordship said, "Oh. these are my own," and laid them aside. The bookseller was at first a little surprised; but immediately inquired if he had the ho nour of being in the presence of the Lord Chancellor. His Lordship rejoined that he was, if he considered it an honour. His Lordship purchased a number of the Church of Scotland Magazine, and some trifling articles, and left the shop. A considerable number of people turned out to see the Chancellor, but there was no public demontrations.-Glasgow Chronicle,

LAY ELDER..

You make Mr. Tait blush, John. I have never doubted either the judgment, taste, or genius of Lord Brougham, his urgent necessity of having his Tait early, is only a trait that might have been looked for, wherever he sojourned:-but Mr. Bannerman, holding forth below, is really too bountiful in discourse. Have you seen Hobhouse yet, John ?—we shall have him on his legs in a minute.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

Whar's the opera glass? Yon's him is it? near the auld Yerl's right elbow, just rising,--no far from Breadalbane, who is really a sensible, plain-spoken, judicious lad to be a Marquis. [Reconnoitring] And that's Sir John! Well, I have long liked him, though I never saw him before. I even thought the Lon'oner's rather whippy wi' him lately. I cannot report him as a perfect Adonis, Elder, he is a little ouzelly stieve chieldy ;-but wheesht." [During Sir John Cam Hobhouse's speech, Girnel, Sydney Tucker, and the Lay Elder exhibit signs of the most enthusiastic admiration, and make signals to Bailie Christie, Mr. Tait, and different Radicals below, till at last they lean over the croupier, throw out their arms and huzza.] JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (shouting.)

Sir John for ever! That's the man, too! "A RADICAL REFORMER!" avowed, and one of his Majesty's Ministers! Mr. Ellice also. Give me a shake of your hand, Elder? Who would have thought to see a day like this at an Edinburgh Whig dinner! 'Od man, I could amaist greet! (Order, order, above there!) Ay, that's frae the Clique, who are looking as sour as as many swine playing on trumps, wi' their bits o' wands o' office trembling in the hands o' them for very anger and fear. Sir Tammas has catched it, though. Hurrah, Sir Tammas, though ye did gang wrang in the case o' "Plain John," ye are comin' right the night. Look, sirs, to the exulting faces around ye!

LAY ELDER.

Did ye note how the whole house kindled and got into a buzz of delight under that electrifying avowal, which I prophesy will not appear in any one Edinburgh paper? What say you to Sir John's health again among ourselves here, in Fiddlers' Hall, as a Radical Reformer?

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL, (rising in enthusiasm.) I'll drink that toast, were it a fathom to the bottom! Onything in the bottle, Mr. Blarney? 'Od I'll be a bottle o' wine myself to the health of the first Radical Reformer I ever heard of in his Majesty's councils,-out o' my ain pouch :-play-up you chaps," The rank is but the guinea's stamp." I have a sore miss o' Mr, Aytoun, though he should have been here. : This meeting is to

be a grand political lesson. Had Lord Durham staid away, where would we have been ?-in' the very mire o' Whiggery.

LAY ELDER.

And I'll call up Bailie Christie, Geordy Milne, and the Deputy. Lingo doesn't know me to-night, and Seesaw The and Jobbery look shy; but they will come round. Dons are all upon the move, though. I suppose it would be contrary to etiquette for Lord Durham, Sir John, and Mr. Ellice, to remain after Earl Grey.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

Weel, goodnight and joy be wi' them. But there's a hantle constitutional toasts to drink yet which the Whigs have forgotten; and though Mousie Arago is, I daresay, a very good man, "The cause o' ceevil and religious liberty all over the world," is something better, sirs. No religious toleration ye'll notice, but liberty, which requires no toleration.

LAY ELDER.

These toasts have been a tough job for the Whigs, John. There would have been a grace in giving Mr. Abercromby the "Peace and Prosperity of Ireland," though Lord Durham did it justice-and a propriety in giving his Lordship the neglected sentiment you have mentioned. But the Pavilion is thinning fast.

JOHN OF THE GIRNEL.

Come awa-come awa! we'll put you in the chair, supported by Bailie Christie on the right, and the Deputy

THE conduct of Lord Brougham and his insensate allies of the press, is dragging the Earl of Durham into political activity, almost in spite of himself, and thrusting unsought honours and distinctions upon him. The speeches of the Chancellor on his northern tour, wound up by that which he made at the Grey Festival, drew forth from Lord Durham those spirited and manly sentiments which are wormwood and gall to the conscience-smitten Whigs of the modern school of the Juste-Milieu. His welcome declaration was followed by the demonstration at Dundee, and by the spontaneous movement in Glasgow,a city which Lord Brougham has rather shunned of late. It is, to be sure, the true focus of the liberal feeling, and the untrammelled public spirit of Scotland. These events led to the pettish and almost puerile harangue of Lord Brougham at Salisbury, which has, quite in the natural course of such things, been followed up by a formal, most unfair, and insidious attack upon the Earl of Durham, in the Chancellor's quarterly organ, the Edinburgh Review.

No one hesitates to impute the article to Lord Brougham; though even among those of his friends who are disposed to acquiesce in its justice, there are many who lament the exceeding indiscretion of an attack, the motive of which is so transparent. The recent line of conduct held by the Chancellor, has been but an indifferent course of preparation, for trying absolute conclusions with Lord Durham, standing forth as the defender of the principles of Reform, and the champion of that liberal party which it now seems good to Lord Brougham to brand as, at best, hot-headed, precipitate fools, incapable of sound judgment or sober reflection.

We were looking out for the customary laudation of the deeds of Government in the by-past Session, in the pages of the Edinburgh Review, but had not anticipated that the expected article was to be confined to a sophistical defence of the peccant parts of Lord Brougham's late

VOL. I.-NO. X.

conduct, and an onslaught upon the statesman he seems to seek occasions of singling out as his rival. That attack may be safely left to refute itself, until the time comes-and it cannot be distant-when Lord Durham shall speak out. The new charge, that the £10 clause of the Reform Bill-nearly its whole value we admit-had not emanated from Lord Durham, and the other gentlemen who aided him in framing the measure,—no doubt, comes upon the nation with surprise, as it also does to learn that this all-important clause was added in the Cabinet. We know not how this may be, and wait for explanation, which the earlier it comes, will be the better timed; but recollecting the broad principle of Lord Durham's original Reform Bill of 1821, we hesitate strongly to accept the assertion in the Review, without having more evidence in these days than the mere character of the alleged Reviewer. The current belief at the time, in all well-informed circles, was, that two Bills were framed—the one, in substance, that which was brought forward by Lord John Russell in the House of Commons, and the other, (afterwards suppressed by a section of the Cabinet,) a Bill for restoring the Constitutional practice of Triennial Parliaments, which was to flow as a corollary from the first. But we need not speculate upon what a few days, or a few hours will set at rest. And this much we already know:-If the Cabinet changed the qualification clause from L.20 to L.10, several members of that same Cabinet, Lord Brougham being one, showed the strongest inclination to revert to the higher rate; and were only held to the more liberal measure, by the awakened suspicions, and the vigilance and spirit of the people. We have not forgotten, though this Reviewer may, the alarm instantly caught by the far-off soundings of how the public mind stood affected to the higher rate; nor the hasty meetings which took place in the principal cities:-no, nor yet the shuffling of certain

2X