stole across my brain, than the shadows which now began to settle down on the fair face of external nature. My heart fluttered for a moment, then made long irregular throbs, and finally I became dizzy and faint, and almost fell to the ground with Jessy in my arms.

"Was I in the presence of an evil spirit?' said I to myself.

466

'Why,' said the young gentleman, 'what has come over you, Saunders? I won't tell, man-so keep your own secret, and nobody will be a whit the wiser.'

“Secret, sir!' said I, deeply stung; 'secret I have nane, sir-nane-that I love the lassie, the haill parish kens, and I am not ashamed of it; but if you-ay, you, sir, or any man, dares'

66 6 Heyday-dares! What do you mean by that, Master Skelp?-Dares!'My recollection and self possession returned at this moment.

"I beg pardon, sir; I have been taken by surprise, and in my anxiety to vindicate Jessy from all suspicion I have been very uncivil to you; I am sorry for it.'

"The abjectness of this apology caused me to blush to the eyes, but it was made, as I thought, to serve my heartdear girl, and gulping down my chagrin and wounded pride, I turned to go away. "Well, well, Dominie, I forgive you, man, and I believe there is nothing wrong between you two after all. I only spoke in jest, man, and am in turn sorry to have given you pain; so gie's your hand -there-and I must have a kiss from Miss Miller, the darling, or I never shall believe that you both really and truly forgive me.'

"We returned together to the village; I would willingly have shaken off the youngster, but he insisted on seeing Jessy home, and as I had no plea to prevent him, I submitted in great bitterness of spirit."-Cruise of the Midge.

THE NIGHT COACH.

He who has travelled by night, need not be told of the comforts of the mail-coach from the setting to the rising sun; and even somewhile after this grand event, the jaded way-farer does not acknow ledge much benefit from the return of

his beams.

There is a wonderful display of cheerfulness among the passengers on taking place; such a bustle with comforters for the neck; such a perking up of unstatuary-looking heads, while they are

adjusted, and such sagacity of remark when the affair is accomplished; and the jerking his noddle backwards and forwards to find how it works within its woollen trenches, seems at length to say, "All's well." "Devilish sharp evening,' is likely enough to be the first observation, if it comes from one under thirty years of age; but the senators of the coach, the plump round-bellied sexagenarians, hint the chances of a severe winter, with laconic sagacity, which would imply that they are in the secret, but above all, because it is so much cleverer to predict things to come, than dilate on things present.-Anybody could do the latter; but, excepting Joanna Southcote, and Price Hohenlohe, who, in these days, have we had worth speaking of in the trade of prophesying? To talk of cold in a coach, operates as certainly on the inmates in producing a general chilling, as if a chemist had begun to mingle the ingredients of a freezing mixture. Such a stir in the ant-hill, such puffing and blowing to collect the caloric, a new arrangement of the neckcloth, and an additional button to the body-coat; the upper benjamin, which had perhaps strayed across the limbs of a more thinly clad neighbour, is instantly recalled, and tightly fastened above and under, to prevent any more desertions; the window glasses are sharply examined, and some unquestioned truisms discharged against the negligence of the proprietors. Each one dovetails his knees between those of his opposite fellow-traveller, and carefully arranges his well-stuffed pockets on his lap, to save his sandwiches from the percussion of his neighbour, which he dreads as much as Captain Parry would an iceberg; and having thus arranged everything, and provided against accidents, ten to one but they throw themselves back, and burying their head up to the nose in their trot-cosey, like redbreasts under their wing, put on a resigned look, and wait for what may next betide them.

I have alluded to the general complaisance of fellow-travellers on first setting out;-every man is brim-full of observation; such a running over of acuteness and facility of remark, that you suspect that if you had not Geoffrey Crayon himself at your side, you had certainly the rare fortune, at least, of having some portion of his family. It is the kind of exhilaration which a mask produces, where, the real character being unknown, every one may assume what he chooses -when the little wit a man may have,

he may safely bring forth, because he calculates that the party will be broken up before his stock is exhausted. Old arguments, like stale dishes, are garnished and served up as new ones; illustrations worn thread bare, till, from frequent use, they darken, rather than illustrate, the subject to which they are applied, now come forth like giants refreshed, or like antique jewels in a new setting. Your merry fellows, and your ready fellows, are now in their right place-they have no fear of meeting an officious friend to hold up his finger at their best story, as if he would say, "The joke is familiar to me ;" a man cursed with such a companion, reminds me of a chamber candlestick with an extinguisher hanging by its side. In compliance with the kind of incognito to which the coach is so favourable, most people wish to assume every character but their own-no wonder; ourselves are to ourselves like an every-day suit, which, however good, becomes confoundedly tiresome, and we put aside both, and gladly at times take the use of another, not that it can fit us better, but because it shews us in a new light. There is some shyness also about profession, in a coach, chiefly because our exact rank in it may not always be known, and which may be necessary to secure our respectability in it. By courtesy, every one who buys and sells is called a merchant, but the claim to it is felt to be doubtful, so long as the claimant stands behind a counter; and till that is aban. doned, therefore, little is said about the matter. Military folks, under the rank of captain, are shy enough about their calling. Who would be thought an ensign or a lieutenant? In so heroic a profession, what is the use of these beggarly gradations, except to break the spirit? Cornet Battier's affair has given a death-blow to standard-bearers. A captain is well enough-the name may at least be uttered with safety; majors are pot-bellied and brimful of pride; colonels, conceited and regimental; generals-but they are for the most part old, and ought therefore to be treated reverentially. These three last classes are much too consequential for a coach, and therefore not a word of the armylist while they are between its doors. Lawyers are afraid of being mistaken for attorneys, who, they know, are constantly pecked at by a company, like a hawk among singing-birds-and attorneys are so little sure of themselves, that they are jealous lest they be supposed something even worse. The clergy

would all be bishops; the bishops would faint if they were suspected to be of the saints; both classes abhor the idea of a curacy, and no one dislikes the reality of it so much as he who possesses it; for all these reasons, and to avoid misconstruction, not a word of the pulpit, and no pretence to a Divine Legation while among the ribalds of a mail-coach. A farmer is prudent on the subject of crops, unless the receipt for his last rent is in his pocket; and the grain pedlars at Mark-Lane might be guessed at, by their shyness about the late averages.

We

Generally speaking, no one lets himself out so freely as the sailor. He looks always as if he was brimful — everything is a matter of novelty to him; he is as easily excited as a kitten with a straw or a dangling thread. You may discover him (if he does not make the disclosure himself) by his ill-brushed coat, and his hat turned up on all sides like a polygon. He is restless and watchful to learn the trim of the vessel, and if he has reached the rank of master, betrays some anxiety to take the management. I travelled once from Chatham with one of this class; not a word broke from him, though he was as eager and busy, now looking to this side, and now to that, as if it was a dark and gusty night in the Chops of the Channel. were more than once interrupted by one of those huge wagons which shew with Majesty the privilege of eight horses. He seemed to shrink under its huge bulk, and, as it passed us, and threw a deep cloud around, to crouch into his corner, to keep his frail bark from foundering; but all his animation revived with a long line of carts, which nearly blocked up the road, and maintained a running fire with the coachman. he was again himself, amid this flotilla of cock-boats; Gulliver himself never looked more manfully when dragging the navy of Lilliput after him. Broadside after broadside did he pour among them, in all the variety of objurgation and execration familiar to the gun-room; and, as we passed these land-pirates, as he called them, threw himself back on his seat, and wound up his notions of discipline and legislation, by growling through his teeth," By the Lord, there should be a law to shoot these fellows!" By and by conversation slackens in the coach,-observations are seldom made, and answers less frequently, and less fully given; and if one, more adventurous than the rest, will, in spite of all these indications, continue to prate, he

Here

He

is at length rewarded with the chilling monosyllables, Yes, and No, to all his inquiries, uttered in a tone which needs no commentary on its meaning. I could never learn why people are so jealous of their appearance when sleeping; but you may always notice that a drowsy man, before he finally drops into the arms of Morpheus, peeps every now and then about him to watch the effect of it on the company; and if he discovers sly winks, or the remains of a smile lurking about the mouth of his fellow-travellers, adieu to a nap for that evening. sits as much on the alert against such frailty of his nature, as if a cask of gunpowder was beneath him, and tasks his ingenuity to ascertain, from the shreds and patches of the remarks of those about him, whether he had any share of the subject. I never heard one acknowledge that they snored in sleep; it is as stoutly denied as any of the deadly sins. A man might own it to his confessor, or admit it on the rack, but nothing short of either predicament could force the odious charge upon him, and yet the practice rests on good authority. I have heard a grave judge charged with it, who warmly rebutted the allegation, but pled guilty to the minor offence of sleeping; "but then," he added, "I always waken at the most interesting part of the evidence." And, if to sleep be a proof of a good conscience, how delightful must it be to a pious divine to hear low gruntings, like the jerkings of a bassoon, breaking from some corner of his church, which much satisfy him that he has at least one saint within its walls.

The

tasked my imagination still harder, to ascertain the realities of objects to which darkness and drowsiness had lent unreal forms and fantastic resemblances. I have been delighted to yield myself up to these "thick coming fancies," which transform the hedges into walls, flanked with towers, and bristling with artillery; while the same romance of feeling converts, with equal facility, the post-house into the castle, with its gates and portcullis. If, after the witching hour of night, any reasonable person can doubt that a bed is the fit and proper place to wait the coming of daylight, he is cured of such heresies by seeing the reluctance of the jaded horses who "go the next stage." to leave their resting-places, their heads bent down, their eyes halfclosed, and their ears drooping-in short, a quadruped image of despair. impatience and alacrity of the last driver to quit his charge, is contrasted by the tardiness with which the new one assumes it-his cautious examination of the harnessing, and peevishness of manner, I have sometimes thought was but a touch of the sulks, on leaving his bed. John has nothing of the knight-errant about him, and has no particular relish for nocturnal adventures. In the meanwhile, the officious hostler bustling about, now fastens a buckle, or undoes a strap, and pours his ready tale into the ear of the dismounted coachman, who listens to this oracle of the manger, while he gives, like a Sunday paper, a summary of the news since his last departure. By this time all the outsides are snug insides of the bar, where a light yet glimmers; and their angry call may be heard, while they fret their short minutes, till supplied with cigars, or the less ambiguous refreshment of a glass of hot brandy. I could paint the appearance of the night-waiter, even though I had a pencil of less pretension than Hogarth's— the strange expression of a countenance, in which, strictly speaking, there is no expression-his eyes half closed, as if the other portion of his optics was enough for the duty- and his breeches unbuttoned at the knees, leaving it a matter of doubt whether this economy of labour had most to do with his quitting bed, or dropping back into it again. I always wonder what can make people sleep, when I am not inclined to indulge that weakness myself; in other words, when it is not in my power, I sit with cat-like patience watching the dormice who slumber round me the morning rays seem more than usually slow, one might

At length, as night advances, all is bushed within the coach, and not a word to interrupt that silence, but a proposition "to shift legs" with your opposite neighbour, made with as little waste of speech as possible; or, if it is your misfortune to be so plighted, you may be on one side importuned for more air from the window, on the other for less, without any regard to your own asthma or lumbago. In this situation, I have sat and watched the appearances of things around me; the harsh accents of the driver occasionally fall heavy on the ear, when unbroken by other sounds. You hear an outside passenger ask the hour, which marks their slow progress,

66 to

him that watcheth," or impatiently thumping with his feet, which speaks as plainly as a thermometer, of the coldness of the night wind. I have strained my eyes through the dim glasses, to catch the mile-stones as we passed, and have

think some accident had befallen them, that they were so long of coming forward. At first there is scarcely enough to illuminate the whole of our neighbours' visages; perhaps a nose and an eye, probably neither very good of their kind, come into view, and these are served up in strong perspective. It must be a good face indeed, that can stand this piecemeal display of its parts. Chins that had been smoothed with more than wont ed rigour, to anticipate the toilette of a second day, spite of all this care, are now rough, and perhaps grisly; neckcloths deranged and rumpled; and if a female traveller has had the misfortune to pass the night with you, the very squalor carceris seems to sit on her haggard cheek. The events of yesterday appear as if they had been pushed back a week in your recollections. A land-journey to the Pole could not have been more tedious than your progress from first setting out; you are not very sure if you are really in good earnest awake, or ingeniously suspect that the birds, while they prune their wings, and trill their feeble notes on the first blush of morning, are but chirping through their sleep. But if the country seems dreary at these unwonted hours, when night and morning struggle for ascendancy, it falls far short of the feeling of desolation which a sleeping town exhibits, when, in broad daylight, not a soul is stirring, and every sound is hushed, as if it was the "City of the Plague"-when not an animal is seen to move, the honest mastiff still watching at his post, and pug and poodle still slumbering on the hearth-rug, dreaming of their loves and quarrels. The

cat alone is seen to rush across the street, like a midnight brawler seeking to regain his home before his absence be noticed.

But I have now reached the end of my journey, as wearied of it as my readers probably with its description. The coachdoor is opened, but for a moment not one rises; they are so closely fixed into each other, that it looks as if they could only be raised in a mass, like raisins out of a jar. In short, as Dr. Johnson would perhaps express himself, there is more alacrity than facility of loco-motion. When fairly disentangled from the coach, they creep about as tenderly on their feet as if they were their neighbours, and that they had not found out their right trim. They are tedious moments till the bed is ready

"Long as to him who works for debt the day; Long as the night to her whose love 's away; Long as the year's dull circle seems to run, When the bright minor pants for twenty-one."

As long, or longer than any of these alternatives, does it seem till the chamber-maid announces all is ready.—What can the hussey have been about all this while? she has had her own sleep, and does not think of others who want it; but I shall speak to her pretty sharply about this at breakfast. Good-night, good reader; my cap is already on my head, and, though half asleep, I do not forget that I ought not to remain in good company when en dishabille.

L.

Blackwood's Magazine.

A DAY BY THE DANUBE. BY DERWENT CONWAY.

AND this is the Danube! I know not how it is, but almost every one has a desire, from his early youth, to see some objects in preference to others, without being able to assign any reason why; and of all rivers the Danube had long been that which I had desired the most to look upon. Perhaps it was the name that impressed me, for there is certainly something sonorous in it. Or it may be that, when a child, I used to stop in the evening, and listen to a blind woman who sang, "Alone on the banks of the dark rolling Danube." Her voice was sweet, and there is something imposing in the image, "dark rolling Danube." The day I came in sight of it, however, it was not applicable; the sun was bright, the water flowed pure and rapid, and the gay fields of Hungary waved yellow in the summer's breeze. I was disappointed. It was not in accordance with the ideas I had formed of it. I would rather have seen a flood of dark waters flowing through gloomy forests; and I felt somewhat mortified that I should so long have cherished a false image. I shut my eyes, and thought of the Danube; and it rolled before me dark and mighty. I opened them, and beheld it as it is. I had breakfasted at Seid, about twelve miles distant; and I now sat down under a walnut-tree, close by the river, to refresh myself with the contents of my haversack. There is something soothing in the flowing of a river; and my disagreeable feelings soon gave way to the beauty of the prospect around me. I had not yet determined the future course of my journey; whether I should follow the river down to the Black Sea, or up to its Alpine source; and I determined now to settle the point. When one sits by a river's side, and sees it flowing past, the mind naturally flows with it: it requires some

thing of an effort to mount with it; so I speedily found myself passing through Belgrade, Turkey, and launched into the Black Sea. For a moment, fancy was arrested at Belgrade. Belgrade had been besieged; when, or by whom, I knew not, but it was the same thing, Belgrade had been besieged. But I left Belgrade, and entered Turkey; and then imagination filled up its picture: Constantinople floated before my eyes; and its seraglio of dark-haired beauties; and the Hellespont, and its tale of love and disaster; and then I passed into Asia, and wandered among the ruins of mighty cities, and ancient temples, where Arabs and their camels were reposing; and I saw the city of the prophet, and its hundred mosques; and I heard the voice of him who calls the Musselmen to prayers; and the scenery of the Arabian Nights rose before me, and its wonders and enchantments; and I beheld Bagdat in its ancient magnificence, and the Caliph and his Vizier walking through it in disguise. I shall certainly follow the river down to the Black Sea. There is perhaps no one to whom that name does not convey somewhat of a dismal image; not, perhaps, that any one imagines its colour to be black; but there is always an idea of darkness and gloominess connected with it. If there be any one who is insensible to this association, let the metaphysicians bottle him up as an exception to their theories of suggestion. Whether this idea be inviting or no, depends upon the state of the mind; to me it was revolting, after the brightness of my Asiatic visions. I then looked up the river, and thought of ascending to its source. I should pass through Vienna, the proud residence of the court of Austria, that inconceivable mixture of kindness and oppression, paternal with regard to Austria, and despotic to all the world besides. I should then traverse Germany: but here I was again obliged to leave the field to fancy. My igno rance, and not my will, consented; but she travelled not the less blithely on her way, that there was no finger-post to direct her wanderings: but a sad journey she led me, through gay fields, and gloomy forests, across plains, and round green hills, up rugged steeps, 'mong toppling rocks, and foaming cataracts, and at last left me in a desolate place, by the side of a clear fountain, where an eagle and a chamois goat were quenching their thirst. And this is the source of the Danube! I could get no farther up, so I was obliged to follow the stream down

again; and I determined, the moment light-feathered fancy borne on its bosom should reach me, to arrest it. I was yet ignorant where I should pass the night: the sun was getting low: so I finished my flask of Hungarian wine, and made for a small eminence close at hand, to see if I could discover in which direction lay the nearest village. I perceived a church tower, at about an hour's walk down the river. It is all one, said I to myself, where I rest to-night,-I can change my direction in the morning; and I had just turned my back upon the Holy Alliance, when I perceived a young girl coming towards me, along the path I had struck into, carrying in her arms one of the prettiest little dogs I had ever seen. Whether it was that the dog was alarmed at the approach of a stranger, or that its mistress was for the moment more occupied with that event than by the care of her favourite, I cannot pretend to determine; but, when within a few paces of me, the dog leapt from her arms, and fell into the river. The damsel screamed, and ran to the edge, but the bank was too high for her to reach the water. I immediately determined to save the dog at all hazards. It may be that I was less incited to the action by the danger of the dog than by the grief of its mistress; and when I call to remembrance her look of affection and agony, I know not which of the two I would prefer, to have it recorded as my motive, in my little catalogue of good actions. The dog was carried out from the bank a little way, and was rapidly descending the stream. At a short distance lower down, and only a few yards from the bank, were some rocks, and not more than two or three feet of water betwixt them and the shore. I instantly broke off a branch of a tree, and in a moment gained the rocks. I lay down upon my face, and extended the branch, in hopes that the little animal would lay hold of it. A moment later, and he was lost; but my efforts were crowned with success he seemed to exhaust his little remaining strength in fixing his teeth in it,

drew him to me, and instantly gained the shore. From the moment that the maiden saw me interest myself in her favour she had remained silent and motionless, the image of fear and anxiety; but when I presented her favourite to her, joy and gratitude glistened in her eyes; she clasped it to her bosom, dripping as it was, kissed it over and over again, held out her hand to me, smiled, caressed her dog again, and again gave