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Na, said Meg, "I sal

"But that need not hinder said Mrs Mason. "You

flies at the window. Mrs Mason addressed herself to Meg, and after a courteous good-morrow, asked her where she should find a hand-bason? "I dinna ken," said Meg, drawing her finger through the milk that had been spilled upon the table." Where is your mother?" asked Mrs Mason. "I dinna ken," returned Meg, continuing to dabble her hands through the remaining fragments of the feast. "If you are going to clean that table," said Mrs Mason, you will give yourself more work than you need, by daubing it all over with the porridge; bring your cloth, and I shall show you how I learned to clean our tables when I was a girl like you. Meg continued to make lines with her fore finger. "Come," said Mrs Mason," shall I teach you?" dight nane o't. I'm gain' to the schul." you to wipe up the table before you go, might have cleaned it up as bright as a looking-glass, in the time that you have spent in spattering it, and dirtying your fingers. Would it not be pleasanter for you to make it clean, than to leave it dirty." "I'll no be at the fash," returned Meg, making off to the door as she spoke. Before she got out, she was met by her mother, who, on seeing her, exclaimed, "Are ye no awa yet bairns? I never saw the like. Sic a fight to get you to the schul! Nas wonner ye learn little, whan you'r at it. Gae awa like good bairns; for there's nae schulin the morn ye ken, its the fair day. Meg set off after some further parley; but Jean continued to catch the flies at the window, taking no notice of her mother's exhortations, though again repeated in pretty nearly the same terms. "Dear me!" said the mother, "what's the matter wi' the bairn! what for winna ye gang, when Meg's gane? Rin, and ye'll be after her or she wins to the end o' the loan. " "I'm no ga'an the day," says Jean, turning away her face. "And wharfor are no ye ga'an, my dear?" says her mother. "Cause I hinna gotten my questions," replied Jean." O, but ye may gang for a' that,

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said her mother; "the maister will no be angry. Gang, like a good bairn." "Na," said Jean," but he will be angry, for I did no get it the last time either." "And wharfor did na ye get it, my dear," said Mrs MacClarty in a soothing tone. "Cause 'twas unco kittle, and I cou'd no be fashed;" replied the hopeful girl, catching as she spoke another handful of flies.' p. 164-167.

Mrs Mason then makes some moral observations on disobedience, and renews her application for the means of ablution.

"Dear me," replied Mrs MacClarty, "I'm sure you're weel eneugh. Your hands ha' nae need of washing, I trow. Ye ne'er do a turn to file them." "You can't surely be in earnest," replied Mrs Mason. "Do you think I could sit down to breakfast with unwashed hands? I never heard of such a thing, and never saw it done in my life. " "I see nae gude o' sic nicity," returned her friend; "but its easy to gie ye water eneugh, though I'm sure

407.

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I dinna ken what to put it in, unless ye tak ane o' the porridge plates: or may be the calf's luggie may do better, for it 'ill gie you eneugh o' room. said Mrs Mason. "Your own bason will do better than either, "Give me the loan of it for this morning, and I shall return it immediately, as you must doubtless often want it through the day. "" "Na, na, fash wi' sae mony fykes. There's ay water standing in some thing returned Mrs MacClarty, "I dinna or other, for ane to ca their hands through when they're blacket. The gudeman indeed is a wee conceity like yoursel', an' he coft a brown bason for his shaving in on Saturdays, but its in use a' the week haddin' milk, or I'm sure ye'd be welcome to it. I sal see an' get it ready for you the morn. "' p. 170, 171.

These scenes are little more than ludicrous. The mismanage ment of these good people, however, soon produces effects more seriously distressing; and these, too, are drawn by Mrs Hamilton with great effect and discrimination. Hearing a violent noise of quarrelling, Mrs Mason advances to inquire into the cause of it.

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my says the father; " but live." Hoot na, ""

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The voices stopped; and proceeding, she saw the farmer, hastily nsaddling a horse; and the son at the same moment issuing from the door, but pulled back by his mother, who held the skirt of his coat, saying, "I tell ye, Sandie, ye manna gang to anger your father. " "But I sal gang, winna be hindered. I sal gang, I tell ye, whether " cried Sandie, in a sullen tone. or no. 32 "Ye may gang, ye door loon, if ye do, ye sal repent it as lang as ye the mother, " ye'll forgie' him; and ye had as weel let him gang, for ye see he winna be hindered!" going to?" asked Mrs Mason, "Where is the young man for but to the fair?" returned the mother; "its only natural. But "Where sud he be for gain' to, our gudeman's unco particular, and never lets the lads get ony daf"Daffin!” cried the farmer; "is Druckenness daffin? Didhe gang last ye wad have him tak the brown mare too, without ever spearing my year, and come hame as drunk as a beast? And leave! saddled and bridled too, forsooth, like ony gentleman in the land! But ye sal baith repent it: I tell ye, ye'se repent it." "O, I did na ken o' the mare, is it possible," said Mrs Mason, addressing herself to the young said the too easy mother. man," is it possible that you should think of going to any place, in direct opposition to your father's will? I thought you would have been better acquainted with your duty, than to break the commands of God, by treating your parents in such a manner. am sure he has been weel taught, how it is, our bairns never mind a word we say! said the mother; "but I kenna " I mind you, said Mrs Mason," and set a better example of obedi"But he will ence to his brothers and sisters, than he is now doing. Come, I must reconcile all parties. Will you not give me your hand? I'll no' stay frae the fair for naebody," said the sullen youth, endeavourias

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deavouring to pass; "a' the folk in the Glen are gain', and I'll gang too, say what ye wull. " Mrs Mason scarcely believed it possible that he could be so very hardy, until she saw him set off with sullen and determined step, followed by his mother's eye, who, on seeing him depart, exclaimed, "Hegh me! ye're an unco laddie." • The farmer appeared to feel more deeply, but he said nothing. Grasping the mane of the mare, he turned to lead her down the road to his fields, and had advanced a few steps, when his wife called after him, to inquire what he was going to do with the saddle, which he carried on his shoulders? Do wi' it!" repeated he, "I have naething to do wi' it!" Then dashing it on the ground, he proceeded with quickened pace down the steep. "Wae's me!" said Mrs MacClarty," the gudeman taks Sandie's doorness mickle to heart!" p. 195-198.

The dying scene of the worthy rustic, is described with great feeling and effect, and at the same time with a scrupulous attention to the peculiarities of national habits. The funeral is equally good. The crowd of sincere mourners feeding in the house and the barn,-the hoary headed elders bearing the corpse, and the decent farmers coming in from a distance to follow it to the grave. But it is more to our purpose, to trace the effects of Mrs Mason's exertions to overcome rooted prejudices.

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"Aye!" exclaimed the wife of auld John Smith, who happen, ed to visit the widow the first evening she was able to sit up to tea, aye, alake! it's weel seen, that whar there's new lairds there's new laws. But how can your woman and your bairns put up wi' a’ this fashery?" "I kenna, truly," replied the widow; " but Mrs Mason has just sie a way wi' them, she gars them do ony thing she likes. Ye may think it is an eery thing to me, to see my poor bairns submitting that way to pleasure a strainger in a' her nonsense. "An eery thing, indeed!" said Mrs Smith; " gif' ye had but seen how she gard your dochter Meg clean out the kirn! outside and inside! ye wad hae been wae for the poor lassie. I trow, said I, Meg, it wad ha' been lang before your mither had set you to sic a turn? Aye, says she, we have new gaits now, and she looket up and leugh." "New gaits, I trow!" cried Sandy Johnstone's mother, who had just taken her place at the tea-table; " I ne'er kend gude come o' new gaits a' my days. There was Tibby Bell, at the head o' the Glen, she fell to cleaning her kirn ae day, and the very first kirning after, her butter was burstet, and gude for naething. I am sure it gangs to my heart to see your wark sae managed. It was but the day before yesterday, that I cam upon madam, as she was haddin' the strainer, as she called it, to Grizzy, desiring her a' the time she poured the milk, to beware of letting in ane o' the cow's hairs that were on her goon. Hoot! says I, cow's hairs are canny, they'll never choak ye. "The fewer of them that are in the but"Twa or three hairs are better than the

ter the better!" says she.

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are aye the best!"

"The best charm against witchcraft is "I doubt it muckle," "auld ways says I; "Weel done!" cried Mrs Smith." I trow

ye gae her a screed o' your mind!" p. 260-262.

We cannot afford to console our readers with the counterpart to this picture, in the history of Mrs Mason's more successful efforts in the cottage of the schoolmaster. We give only the final result of them. Poor Mrs MacClarty persisted in deriding her newfangled whimsies, and omitted no opportunity of railing. at the schoolmaster's wife, who she said

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"was now sae saucy as to pretend that she cou'd na' sit down in comfort in a house that was na' clean soopet. She for a time found many among the neighbours who readily acquiesced in her opinions, and joined in her expressions of contempt; but by degrees the strength of her party visibly declined. Those who had their children at school were so sensible of the rapid improvement that had been made in their tempers and manners, as well as in their learning, that they could not help feeling some gratitude to their instructors; and Mrs Mason having instructed the girls in needle-work, without any additional charge, added considerably to their sense of obligation. Even the old women, who during the first summer had most bitterly exclaimed against the pride of innovation, were by mid-winter inclined to alter their tone. How far the flannel waistcoats and petticoats distributed among them, contributed to this change of sentiment, cannot be positively ascertained; but certain it is, that as the people were coming from church the first fine day of the following spring, all stopped a few moments before the schoolhouse, to inhale the fragrance of the sweetbrier, and to admire the beauty of the crocuses, primroses, and violets, which embroidered the borders of the grass-plot. Mrs MacClarty, who, in great disdain, asked auld John Smith's wife" what a' the folks were glowering at?" received for answer, that they were "leuking at the boniest sight in a' the town," pointing at the same time to the spot. “Eh!" returned Mrs MacClarty, "I wonder what the warld will come to at last, since naething can serve the pride o' William Morison, but to hae a flower garden whar' gude Mr Brown's middenstead stood sappy for mony a day! he's a better man than will ever stand on William Morison's shanks." "The flowers are a hantel bonnier than the midden tho', and smell a hantel sweeter too, I trow," re turned Mrs Smith. This striking indication of a change of sentiment in the most sturdy stickler for the gude auld gaits, foreboded the improvements that were speedily to take place in the village of Glenburnie. The carts, which used formerly to be stuck up on end before every door, were now placed in wattled sheds attached to the gable end of the dwelling, and which were rendered ornamental from their coverings of honey-suckle or ivy. The bright and clear glass of the windows, was seen to advantage peeping through the

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foliage of the rose-trees, and other flowering shrubs, that were trimly nailed against the walls. The gardens on the other side were kept with equal care. There the pot-herb flourished. There the goodly rows of bee-hives evinced the effects of the additional nourishment afforded their inhabitants, and shewed that the flowers were of other use besides regaling the sight or smell. p. 394-398.

It would be extravagant to hope, that the mere perusal of this, or any other narrative, should effect a reformation which it truly represented as having been so laborious. But a strong current of improvement runs at present through all Scotland, and a much smaller impulse than would once have been necessary, will now throw the peasantry within the sphere of its action. Besides, our cottagers are reading and reasoning animals; and are more likely perhaps to be moved from their old habits by hints and suggestions which they themselves may glean up from a book, than by the more officious and insulting interference of a living reformer. It does not appear to us altogether visionary, therefore, to expect that some good may actually be done by the eirculation of such a work as this among the lower classes of society; and therefore, we earnestly recommend it to Mrs Hamilton to take measures for facilitating its admission into their economical circles. We have not taken any notice of the story of Mrs Mollins; because we do not think it nearly equal in merit and originality to the picture of the cottagers; and with regard to Mrs Mason's own history, we think it is rather long and languid, and would be much improved by abridgement. We would also take the liberty to hint, that this part of the performance rather seems calculated to encourage a feeling of too great servility in the lower ranks, and to be liable, on this account, to a censure which applies with peculiar force to Miss Hannah More's productions in the Cheap Repository. The poor are quite apt enough already to pay at least a due homage to wealth and station; and we really do not think it particularly necessary to inculcate these vassal feelings in Scotland.

ART. IX. A Voyage to the Demerary; containing a Statistical Account of the Settlements there, and of those of the Essequibo, the Berbice, and other contiguous Rivers of Guiana. By Henry Bolingbroke, Esq. Deputy Vendue Master at Surinam. Richard Phillips, London. 1808.

MERCIER, in his year 2440, represents it as the perfection of human society for every man to be an author; and describes the citizens of his imaginary commonwealth, as accompanying

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