of the river, betrayed by fragments of water that sparkled here and there amid the yellow stubbles and green pastures, was exquisitely beautiful. But nothing gave so much interest to this glorious scene as the far-off woods of Abbotsford, then dimmed by the warm haze, and melting, as it were, from their reality, and so reminding us even yet more forcibly of the fleeting nature of all the things of this perishable world. Having descended from our elevation, we entered the grounds of Dryburgh. These occupy a comparatively level space, embraced by a bold sweep of the Tweed, where the house of Dryburgh, and the picturesque ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, standing about two hundred yards distant from it, are surrounded by groups of noble trees of all sorts, rare as well as common; and among them the cedar is seen to throw out his gigantic limbs with that freedom and vigour which could only The hearse drew up close to be looked for on his native Lebanon.

the house of Dryburgh; and the company, having quitted their carriages, Not one word was spoken; but, as if pressed eagerly towards it. all had been under the influence of some simultaneous instinct, they The serdecently and decorously formed themselves into two lines. vants of the deceased, resolved that no hireling should lay hands on the coffin of their master, approached the hearse. Amongst these, the figure of the old coachman who had driven Sir Walter for so many years, was peculiarly remarkable, reverentially bending to receive the coffin. No sooner did that black casket appear, which contained all that now remains of the most precious of Scotia's jewels, than with downcast eyes, and with countenances expressive of the deepest veneration, every individual present took off his hat. A moment's delay took place whilst the faithful and attached servants were preparing to bear the body, and whilst the relatives were arranging themselves around it in the following order:

Head.

Major Sir WALTER SCOTT, eldest Son of the Deceased.

WILLIAM KEITH, Esq. of Edinburgh.

When all were in their places, the bearers moved slowly forward, preceded by two mutes in long cloaks, carrying poles covered with crape; and no sooner had the coffin passed through the double line formed by the company, than the whole broke up, and followed in a thick press. At the head was the Rev. J. Williams, Rector of the Edinburgh Academy, dressed in his canonicals as a clergyman of the Church of England; and on his left hand walked Mr. Cadell, the well-known publisher of the Waverley Works. There was a solemnity as well as a simplicity

!

as the

in the whole of this spectacle which we never witnessed on any former occasion. The long-robed mutes; the body with its devotedly attached and deeply afflicted supporters and attendants; the clergyman, whose presence indicated the Christian belief and hopes of those assembled ; and the throng of uncovered and reverential mourners, stole along beneath the tall and umbrageous trees with a silence equal to that which is believed to accompany those visionary funerals which have their existence only in the superstitions of our country. The ruined Abbey disclosed itself through the trees; and we approached its western extremity, where a considerable portion of vaulted roof still remains to protect the poet's family place of interment, which opens to the sides in lofty Gothic arches, and is defended by a low rail of enclosure. At one extremity of it, a tall thriving young cypress rears its spiral form. Creeping plants of different kinds, "with ivy never sere," have spread themselves very luxuriantly over every part of the Abbey. These, perhaps, were in many instances the children of art. But, however this may have been, Nature had herself undertaken their education. In this spot especially she seems to have been most industriously busy in twining her richest wreaths around those walls which more immediately form her poet's tomb. Amongst her other decorations, we observed, a plum-tree, which was, perhaps, at one period, a prisoner, chained to the solid masonry, but which having long since been emancipated, now threw out its wild pendant branches, laden with purple fruit, ready to drop, as if emblematical of the ripening and decay of human life.

In such a scene as this, then, it was, that the coffin of Sir Walter Scott was set down on trestles placed outside the iron railing; and here that solemn service, beginning with those words so cheering to the souls of Christians, "I am the resurrection and the life," was solemnly read by Mr. Williams. The manly, soldierlike features of the chief mourner, on whom the eyes of sympathy were most naturally turned, betrayed at intervals the powerful efforts which he made to master his emotions, as well as the inefficiency of his exertions to do so. The other relatives who surrounded the bier were deeply moved; and, amid the crowd of weeping friends, no eye, and no heart, could be discovered that was not altogether occupied in that sad and impressive ceremonial which was so soon to shut from them for ever, him who had been so long the common idol of their admiration, and of their best affections. Here and there, indeed, we might have fancied that we detected some early and longtried friends of him who lay cold before us, who, whilst tears dimmed their eyes, and whilst their lips quivered, were yet partly engaged in mixing up and contrasting the happier scenes of days long gone by, with that which they were now witnessing, until they became lost in dreamy reverie, so that even the movement made when the coffin was carried under the lofty arches of the ruin, and when dust was committed to dust, did not entirely snap the thread of their visions. It was not until the harsh sound of the hammers of the workmen who were employed to rivet those iron bars covering the grave to secure it from vio.. lation, had begun to echo from the vaulted roof, that some of us were called to the full conviction of the fact, that the earth had for ever closed over that form which we were wont to love and reverence; that eye which we had so often seen beaming with benevolence, sparkling with wit, or lighted up with a poet's frenzy; those lips which we had so often seen monopolizing the attention of all listeners, or heard roll

NO. VIII.VOL. II.

Q

ing out, with nervous accentuation, those powerful verses with which his head was continually teeming; and that brow, the perpetual throne of generous expression, and liberal intelligence. Overwhelmed by the conviction of this afflicting truth, men moved away without parting saluta.. tion, singly, slowly, and silently. The day began to stoop down into twilight; and we, too, after giving a last parting survey to the spot where now repose the remains of our Scottish Shakspeare, a spot lovely enough to induce his sainted spirit to haunt and sanctify its shades, hastily tore ourselves away.

DIRGE

TO THE MEMORY OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.

Forth went a shadowy hand,

And touched him on the brow;

Calmly he laid his wand

Aside, and shook the sand,

Death, is it thou?

Slow o'er his reverend head

The darkness crept, While nations round his bed Stood still, and wept!

Where shall we lay the dead?

What stately tomb shall guard,
With pall and scutcheon spread,
And solemn vaults o'erhead,
Our wizard Bard?

Green is that valley's breast,

His native air

Sighs from the mountain's crest,

O lay him there!

In the red heather's shade

Thus shall ye lay him down;

Fold him in Albyn's plaid,
And at his head be laid
The laurel crown;
Nor mock with pile or bust
That tombstone lowly,

The presence of his dust

Makes the earth holy!

A shrine not made with hands!
And kingdoms, while his grave
In silent glory stands,
Shall fall, as on the sands

Wave urges wave.

Midst the soul's sacred things
His words inspired

Shall echo, till the wings

Of Time are tired!

THE SLAVE..HOLDERS-THE MISSIONARIES-AND
MR. JEREMIE.

"NEEDS must whom the devil drives." Those who have sold themselves to the anti-social principle, will, like men in the delirium of a fever, grow more frantic as they grow weaker, and exasperate their sufferings, and accele rate their fate, by their own mad struggles. The sugar planters will rush on their fate. The mother country has warned them-has laid upon them the strong but friendly hand of maternal discipline; but they kick against her, and roar and squall with the vehemence of spiteful brats, more loudly at every attempt made to sooth and pacify them. They are like a drunken crew on board a perishing vessel; hiccuping, bawling obscene songs, and blaspheming in the teeth of the howling storm; stopping their fingers in their ears when addressed by the few sober men among them; hugging the anchors and swearing, "G-d b-t them! we will sink together in spite of these canting water-drinkers!" Their doom has been fixed by their own insane acts: it is now too late to save them. They have refused to withdraw their sacrilegious gripe from the throats of their fellow beings, whom God has made after his own image, and endowed with reason as well as themselves. They will not even relax a little that infamous system of bondage, abhorrent alike to the divine spirit of Christianity, and the dictates of humanity. They will not themselves take measures to attain what those who object to the instant emancipation of the slaves characterize as the safe and gradual abolition of slavery, as has been done in the new republics of South America; nor will they allow others to do it for them. Witness the persecution of the missionaries in Jamaica!-witness the refusal of the petty tyrants of the Mauritius to allow Mr Jeremie to land! The slaves have now, under God, but one source of aid to look to, and that is their own right hands; and who can blame them, if, in despair of that relief from bondage which they have long expected from the humanity of the British nation, they shall rise, and tell their masters, "We also are men; and we shall be slaves no longer." They have been taunted and goaded to insurrection, --they have been denied the attainment of freedom in a peaceable and equitable manner; and, were their colour white instead of black, where is the Briton who would not say that the slaves owe it to themselves and their children to vindicate their liberty as they best

may. Thwarted by the selfish blindness of their masters, -trammelled by the necessary bonds of conventional law, this country cannot aid them. They must rely upon themselves. The slave colonies will throw themselves loose from our allegiance? Fools! If they dared, it would be the best service they could render us. We are taxed-heavily taxed-to keep them from running to beggary in a losing and hopeless speculation. Britain has foolishly appropriated more sugar ground than she can herself consume. Foreign markets are now supplied by the produce of newer and more fertile soils. And Britain is bound, by the terms of her bargain, to pay not only for the sugar that she uses, but for the surplus which she has held out inducements to make the planters manufacture. This is the plain English of the longwinded evidence submitted to the House of Commons last session. In addition to this outlay, we pay for keeping the slaves in subjection. Were the British troops to be withdrawn from the slave colonies, the planters would not be one instant secure of their lives and property. This, then, ought to be our ultimatum to these little despots of the tropics :-" Accede honestly and heartily to our plans for ameliorating the condition of the slaves, or we leave you and them to settle the matter between you." On our lives, we do believe that the latter alternative will be accepted; and then it will be St Domingo over again. America cannot aid them. The Northern States are too deeply pledged to dare to engage in such an unholy crusade. The Southern States have their hands full at home: Their own slaves would be up, were they to despatch a force to the islands. Besides, America has no standing army, the only efficient tool of slave-holders. In a very few years at the farthest, the servile war will begin in the British slave colonies. It is then that the worth and importance of our missionaries will be acknowledged, even more than it has yet been. If among a population reared in a state of society calculated to make their reason only an instrument of deeper degra dation than mere instinct could have led to, one spark of a higher principle remain, it will be owing to their teaching. If amid the burnings, devastations, and bloodshed which are impending, instances of self-control appear on the part of the infuriated victors, (for victors the slaves must be ;) or something approaching to a distinct view of the object of the struggle, and a power organizing the multitude for its attainment, be visible, it will be owing to the generous and self-devoted daring of those among them who have courage to remain on the scene of horror. We adjure them by their high calling, "as they fear God, and regard man," to gird themselves for this trial. A task of usefulness and worth in the divine regard, to which no mere human strength can nerve a man, awaits them. We know that they will be found" with their lamps burning, and their loins girded."

of

SCOTTISH VOTERS,

A SKETCH FROM REAL LIFE.

WE returned a few days ago, from our annual excursion to our cottage in the Grampians, whither we always resort during the grouse-shooting campaign; and were it not that our magazine is devoted to canvassing the destinies of men, rather than of moorfowl, we should willingly follow the bent of our autumnal inclinations, and proceed to expatiate largely on our Mantons and Purdies; on our magazines of powder and shot; on the very superior noses, the high breeding, and the finished education of our stanch establishment of setters; to the leading dog of which, in the exuberance of our political feelings, and of our gratitude