reading in the Bible at a place where, among other evil propensities, man is described as a backbiter. Mr. Woods began at the head, and put the question to each boy in the class, What is a backbiter? Not one could tell, till at the foot of the class, where stood a poor little, half-naked, half-starved looking boy. "Well," said Mr. Woods, " my little fellow, can you tell me what is a backbiter?" The boy looked up, with a pitiful face, and in a whining tone of voice replied, "It's a LOUSE, Sir." I was told that Mr. Woods was so amused with the answer, that he gave the boy a crown, and has promised to look after his future prospects. CHAPTER XV. - DUMFRIES ANECDOTES OF TALES FROM THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES-JAMES VI. DUMFRIES is not only the county town of the shire, but may be termed the capital of the southwestern province of Scotland. The town derives a melancholy interest from having been for some years the residence of Robert Burns; the place where he breathed his last, and where all of him that could die has been deposited. I made a short stay among the intelligent, sedate, and substantial inhabitants of this prosperous town, where I learned the following anecdote :-In the reign of James VI. there lived in this town a poor but honest labouring man. It was then the custom of all ranks to give entertainments on yule-day;* but this man one year found his funds so low, that it was not in his power to be neebour-like on that occasion. So, in this dilemma, he resolved to go out of town and leave his wife in the house, locking the door upon her, and enjoining her, in case any person called, * Christmas. not to answer. He went to dig peats, and, before he had worked an hour, he struck on a pot containing a quantity of gold pieces. He knew that all treasure found in such a way, by law, belonged to the king. So away he trudges, making a pilgrimage to London on foot, and tenders the money to the king. James was so much struck with the honest simplicity of the man, that he told him to keep the money and build a house with it, and when he (the king) cam back to "auld Scotland," he would accept, as sufficient compensation, one night's lodging under its roof. The man built the house, and the king lodged in it accordingly. This story is well authenticated; it has been handed down from generation to generation in the town. A great-grand-daughter of the treasure-finder died in Dumfries, since the beginning of the present century. An anec Kircudbright is a thriving little sea port in the shire of Galloway. It is famous for being the birth-place of Paul Jones. St. Mary's Isle, about a mile from this town, is the seat of the Earl of Selkirk. The father of Paul was gardener to the Earl. dote of his youth, connected with the garden, has been preserved by tradition. The gardener of St. Mary's Isle, at that time, was one of the old fashioned sort; parterre corresponding with parterre, summerhouse with summer-house, every thing, in short, had its double; and the different sides of the central walk were as regularly alike, as the different sides of a man's face. All this was the taste of the old Earl Dunbar, who was such a stickler for the system of duplicate resemblances, that it is probable, had he been struck on one side by the palsy, he would have 66 regretted no part of his misfortune so much, as the want of correspondence between the different parts of his frame. The Earl coming one day into the garden, saw a boy looking through the barred window of one of the summer-houses, he asked old Paul how he came there. Why," said Paul, "I caught him stealing fruit, and clapped him up till I should know what your lordship would be pleased to have done with him." The Earl then happened to turn his eye to the corresponding summer-house on the other side, and observed Mr. Paul's own son looking through the corresponding window. "What!" exclaimed the nobleman, "has John been stealing fruit too?" "Na," quoth the gardener; "if it please your lordship, I only pat him in for symmetry." When Paul Jones was hovering with his fleet on the coast of Britain, during the war of the American revolution, he paid his native town a visit. He landed on St. Mary's Island, and sent sixteen of his men to visit Lord Selkirk's house. They brought off a quantity of plate, which was returned by Paul in the same state as when taken away. It was supposed, his object was to have made a prisoner of Lord Selkirk; he would have been a good hostage to the Americans. The news of an armed force having landed on St. Mary's soon reached Kircudbright, and occasioned the greatest alarm. The people ran hither and thither, backwards and forwards, up streets and down streets, every one making inquiries, and no one possessing any intelligence; the people in the east end of the town carrying their goods and gear to the west end L of the town; and those in the west just as busy carrying their's east. All was hurry, bustle, and confusion. At length the people collected some of their scattered courage, and getting an old crazy twenty-four pounder down to the beach, triumphantly defied the departing Americans. During the night watch, somebody called out that he saw Jones' ship at a little distance from the shore; and the cannon was by trembling hands brought to bear, and fired at the object he pointed out. No answer was returned from the supposed ship; and the good burghers thinking him disabled, resolved by no means to spare him, even in his misfortunes, continued the cannonade with might and main. “For the love of God, more powder!" was an exclamation often uttered that night, in the urgent distress of the assailants for supplies of ammunition. At last, when morning dawned, and when they thought they must have completely destroyed the object of their mighty rage, to their inconceivable mortification and shame, it turned out that they had been all along wasting their powder, their balls, their courage, and their exertions, upon an uncompromising rock, which stood a little way from shore. At the present day, their are few who can believe, were it not on record undisputed, in what terror this man held the inhabitants of Britain, living within ten miles of the sea. For a number of years, I remember hearing the noise of his cannon, when he visited the Firth of Forth, about the year 1782. And though our town was upwards of four miles from the shore, when it was known that he was on the coast, people hid their valuables, and the troops were under arms |