As soon as we had emptied the basins of their savoury contents, the damsel removed them, and in their place produced a large jar full of smuggled brandy. Drinking cups made of horn, both deep and wide, accompanied it, and the guests proceeded to replenish and empty them with the regularity and rapidity of platoon firing. The gloom and wrath which were visible on the brows of the Galwegean, the man of Dryfe Dubs, and the fiery cousin of Kate Marshall, began to brighten up, smiles were succeeded by opener mirth-mirth by laughter, loud, and long, and boisterous. The names of the ancient heroes and heroines of the clan were toasted, and the toasts were accompanied by brief notices and allusions to their characters and their achievements.The chieftain, hoary and furrowed, and his might subdued by the force of eighty years and odd, sat up erect, and joyous as the glories of ancient times arose to his recollection. The light of youth came back to his faded eyes in fitful and broken gleams."Ah! lads," said he, with a tone of sorrowful reflection, and conscious that he was fallen on evil days and among little men, "the times are sadly changed and man, once stately and stark, is now stunted and fecklesswhere is the fallow now like black Jamie Macall, the game cock of Glenmannah, who threw a fat wether o'er the West Bow Port of Edinburgh, on a wager of a plack with a porter." "And sad and sair he rued it," said Kate Marshall," the deed was done in anger, and the poor creature bleated as it flew owre the wall, thirty feet high and three, and Jamie said he heard the bleat o' the waefu brute in his lug as he lay on his death-bed!" "Then there was Jock Johnstone," said the chieftain, heedless of his grand-daughter's illustrations, "Rab's Jock of the Donkeydubs of Lochmaben, kenned far and near by the name of double-ribbed Jock, who fought his way from among iron stanchells, with nae better weapon in his hands than the jail-door, (it had once been a harrow,) whilk he reft frae the bands, and cleared his way through the seven corporations of King Bruce's borough. He was a rough unsonsie chield, and lost his life through the fault of strang hemp, when he was but twenty years auld and twa. But where was there a man like our ain Tam Marshall, known in his own sangs by the name of Galloway Tam, who had sic a cunning hand that he stole the purse of Serjeant Macraw from his very belt, as he paid him for a new snuff-mull, and a' for a wager o' twall pennys-and, by my fay, he had a hand as strang as it was cunning, for he fought the het-blooded Highlander wi' a crabtree stick against cauld steel for a round sound hour, and then gae him back his purse to mend his sair banes." "Ah, grandfather," said Kate Marshall, " my uncle was the pride o' ancient Galloway. Compared with him, what are those handless and heartless coofs that carry on the calling now-reavers of auld wives haddins, and robbers of hen-roosts.And yet thae sackless sinners sigh for the hand o' strang Tam Marshall's niece-of a' the miseries and dools that women are doomed to dree, that of bearing bairns to a gomeril is the saddest and the sairest." "And what serves all this sighing about auld times," said the descendant of the Macgrabs of Galloway, "the days are gane when a stark chap, with a drawn sword, bought pleasure and wealththe hempen might of civil law lies stretched over the land, and deel soupit it is else but a desperate foumart trap -a cursed gird-an-girns to grip all kinds of spulziers-slight maun to do, for might canna do, sae said Tam Marshall, wight as he was, and sae say I-and talking o' gallant Tam, I might do waur than gie ye ane of his sangs-he had a soul to make, and a sweet voice to sing-sangs that shall live while heads wear horns, and that's a right bauld boast." The audience seemed as prepared to listen as the Galwegean was to sing, and he accordingly delivered, in a kind of rough and careless chant, the following rude verses: 2 The moor-hen swears by her rough legs, She scorns the carle and his corn bags; She's fatter far on the heather top, Than the cankered carle on fold and crop. Let the hen beware of the foxes toothThe carle of blight, and blast, and drowth; But holm and hill, and moor and tree, Have crop, and flock, and fruit for me. The Galwegean ceased, and applauses prolonged, and almost rivalling in discordance the mixed greeting of the owl and raven, when the fox glides under their secure roosts, followed the traditional ballad of the tribe."May I be ridden by the reeket deil round the roons o' Galloway," said the descendant of the Macgrabs, "without saddle or sonks, if lady's fingers ever touched stented thairm to a better sang than that. I should like to see the lad that said no till't-" "Its a ballad o' bauld bearing doubtless," said the chieftain, "and brags o' hership and bodily harm. Tam 1 3 When the hare has might to break my mesh, Marshall made sangs of a safter sort— he had a tender heart at times-it aye grew hardened by the Candlemas fair o' Dumfries-whan men rade hame with dizzy heads and heavy purses. Kate Marshall, my winsome lass, e'en sing me thy uncle's sang that he made for poor Christian Kennedy o' Cummertrees, whan the salt sea swallowed up the father o' her lad bairn." The gay look of the gypsey maiden saddened as the old man spoke, and she sung, with a voice exceedingly pathetic and sweet, some verses which I have never forgotten. CHRISTIAN KENNEDY'S SONG. The lea shall have its lily bells, The tree its bud and blossom, But when shall I have my leal love Hame frae the faithless ocean. 2 Sair, sair I pled, and followed him With weeping and with wailing; "Sweet be your tongue, my sonsie lass," said the man of Galloway; "I shouldna scunner at a bed aneath the billows myself-providing I could be drowned within sight o' Tongland, my native place to have sae saft and tender a voice to warble aboon me-Faith, I count it nae uncomfortable thing to have a sweet sang sung by cherry lips about ane whan their head's happit."-" And what voice shall sing owre thee," said the iron man of Dryfe, who had no sympathy for the fame of song after the turf had opened and closed upon him"The hooded crow shall have its sunket off yere brisket bane some mornin, and ye winna hear its croakdom me, if ye will-" "It's now near ane o'clock,” said Kate Marshall's cousin ;" and we maun count the sheep on Cursan Collieson's hill-sidenumber the fat hens on Captain Ca 3 All night I woo the tender stars, Oh sweetly sweet would be the sleep, poncrapin's numerous roosts-see if the carse pool keeps a salmon with a fat mergh-fin-seek for a hare in the hedge, and a moorhen on the hill-and, aboon a', pluck some ripe plumbs and apples for my fair and kind cousin Kate-We maun cease singing and rin.” Instant preparation was made for this excursion, and I had no doubt that the laird and the captain would mourn o'er their diminished flocks in the morning, and plan an expedition with hound and horn, against the foxes of Dalswinton wood and Queensberry mountain. The alert Macgrab, and the cousin of bonny Kate, stood ready awaiting the signal to march from the chieftain, but the desperado from the Dub of Drufe shewed evident reluctance to prepare, and seemed contending with some strong internal feeling. He put his emotions in words:"By the spur o' the Johnstones," said he, "and its a winged ane, if the sough of Christian Kennedy's sang is no ringing in baith my lugs, like the wether's bleat i' the lug o' black Jamie o' Glenmannah. De'il hae me if I'se owre prood ot. Kate, my winsome kimmer, hae ye nae sang -some kissing kind ane, to drive this wail o' dool and sorrow out of my lug. Conscience, if ye'll sing me ane, I'se bribe your lips with a pocket-full o' the sweetest plumbs that ever hung under a green leaf to the sun, d-n me 1. if I disna." The gypsey maiden looked on the Drysdale suppliant with mingled pity and scorn-but her grandfather said: "Sing him a sang, Katherine, my dow; its a sad thing to have the sough of a dirge in ane's ear,-it never comes but dole and sorrow follow-dinna let him gang to his doom, may be, uncheered, if your tongue can charm him." To her grandfather's request the maiden complied, and sung, with an easy and arch grace, the ballad I shall try to repeat to you. THE GYPSEY'S SONG. 0, haste ye, and come to our gate en', 2. I ha'e a pan o' my ain to clout, 3. Now, wad ye but leave your gay lady, And carry the tinkling tools wi' me; And lie on kilns, on clean ait straw, My winsome lass o' Gallowa." 4. The fingers that starch my lady's frills During the gypsey maiden's song, the sky, which before had become cloudy and overcast, darkened down to earth at once; thunder was heard nearer and nearer, and the crooked fires came flashing rapid and bright among the green branches of the forest. The applause which succeeded her song was sobered down by the presence of the tempest ;-I was busy with internal prayer; the old man alone seemed unawed, he snatched up the unfinished harvest-horn that lay at his feet, and gave one brief blast: "Bairns, to 5. Her hair in hanks o' gowden thread 6. I took her by the jimpy waist; 7. Now quat the grip, thou gypsey loon. And my lady will fret frae bower to ha', 8. Ye've coupit the soldering-pan, my lass, And ye have scaled my clinks o' brass; And my gude spoon caams ye've split in twa, My winsome lass o' Gallowa'. wark!" he half shouted, "bairns to wark! when mankind are humbled we maun work,-a praying eye is aye steeked ;-a dunt o' thunder and a flaff o' fire are just the tongue and the light to make our trade thrive ;-mind, the fattest ewe has the fairest fleece; and the best hen sits at the wing o' the cock;-prime matters to remember.Rin, rin while the light shines."And away started the gypsey marauders, leaving me alone with the hoary conductor of this roving horde, and his hopeful grand-daughter. LETTER, FROM A PROPRIETOR OF ST ANDREW'S-SQUARE, RELATIVE TO PROPOSED MONUMENT FOR LORD MELVILLE. MR EDITOR, I AM one of those Proprietors of St Andrew's square who have been frequently alluded to of late in your Ma gazine, as well as in certain other publications, as having been the means of preventing the Naval Monument, in honour of the memory of the late Lord Melville, from being erected in that which, I agree with you in thinking, is the best situation for it, either within or in the neighbourhood of this city. I have not the least intention of entering into any discussion on the subject, nor do I think it would be reasonable to request of you to admit any additional arguments, either on the one side or the other, relative to a matter which has already occupied fully enough of your valuable Miscellany. At the same time, I must confess, that I am anxious that such gentlemen as may choose to favour the public with their speculations, should be fully acquainted with the facts of the case before they begin to reason upon the subject; and the more so, that, from the language employed by a gallant member of the Naval Committee, whose letter appeared in the last Number of your Magazine, and from certain other circumstances which have recently come to my knowledge, I am fully convinced, that, however strange it may appear, the Committee are at this moment in a state of considerable ignorance of the history and progress of their negotiation with the proprietors of St Andrew'ssquare. I am aware that, in point of fact, no official answer was transmitted by the proprietors of the Square to the last communication of the Naval Committee. This was doubtless a great omission on the part of the gentlemen who ought to have returned such answer. From not having been a member of the last Committee appointed by the proprietors, I am not personally responsible for the neglect; and the truth is, that I was not aware of it till after I had read the "General Report," which was published by the Naval THE Committee on 6th March last. Even after that, I merely considered it as a piece of neglect in point of etiquette; for I had reason to know that the secretary to the Naval Committee had constantly had access to the whole of our minutes; nor was it till I read the letter from "One of the Committee," that I came to be satisfied that this omission had been of more importance than I had previously imagined. I cannot persuade myself that the negotiation would ever have been broken off, had the Naval Committee been as well informed of our proceedings as we were with regard to theirs, nor that they would have neglected as they did a communication which was made to them by " a learned gentleman shortly before they adopted their last resolution, (unless, indeed, they considered themselves bound by their agreement with Sir Patrick Walker,) had they known, that it was not with any proprietor of the square that any change of measures originated, and, that after they themselves had agreed upon an ultimatum, point after point was conceded by the proprietors, with no other view than that of consulting the feelings and desires of the Naval Committee, before any one of the members of the square ever thought of protesting against the erection of the pillar. As I said before, I have no intention of arguing the matter; but trusting that you will agree with me in thinking, that in fairness and justice to all parties concerned, the facts of the case ought to be known to the public, I hope you will have the kindness to indulge me with inserting the following extracts from the minutes of the proprietors of the square, to which I will annex no farther explanation than seems to me to be necessary to render them intelligible to such persons as did not hear the verbal statements by which they were ac I hope there are none of us who are incapable of acknowledging and endeavouring to repair any error which we may happen to commit, but this gentleman was mistaken in saying that two of the proprietors might be induced to withdraw their objections, and your correspondent in the Number for February, who said they had made the amende honourable, was also wrong, and both for the same reason, that those proprietors had expressly consented to terms more favourable to the Naval Committee, than they themselves had signified their satisfaction with, before the negotiation was broken off. companied, and from them I think you will be satisfied that the following is a correct detail of the facts of the case. 1st, The negociation was opened by a printed letter, dated 9th December 1818, and signed by the secretary to the Naval Committee; in which he asked permission of the Proprietors to erect the pillar in the square under certain conditions, which were all of them highly reasonable and proper. On the 21st of the same month the Proprietors of the Square held a meeting, for the purpose of taking this letter into their consideration, where the only differences of opinion among them were, as to whether the pillar should be erected in the centre, or at the west gate of the Square, and whether an answer should be returned to the Naval Committee, consenting to the erection, before or after it should be ascertained whether the absent Proprietors would concur with those who attended the meeting. At this meeting, all the gentlemen who have ever been stated as objectors, excepting one, were present, and it was unanimously agreed, that the proposal of the Naval Committee should be approved of, provided this general consent was got; and several meetings of the Proprietors, and of their Committee were held for the purpose of forwarding the object in view. 2d, It had been signified, that it would be as cheap, and that the pillar would be stronger, if it were built with a stair in the inside, than it would be if it were solid, and that the stair would also be convenient when it should be necessary to repair the pillar. It was suggested, at one of our meetings, that in order to secure the privacy of the Square for the sake of the children of the Proprietors, and to prevent strangers from getting within the area, under the pretence of ascending the stair, the door of the Pillar should be built up, and should never be opened excepting when repairs were wanted. It was also thought, that gas lights might be combined with the pillar in such a manner, as to prove ornamental to it, and useful to the Square. These suggestions, together with the proposal, that the pillar should be erected at the side of the Square, were communicated to the Naval Committee; and on the 9th of March 1819, they VOL. VII. entered into the following resolution : "The Committee, having considered the extract of the minute of the Committee of Proprietors of St Andrew's Square, of date the 8th instant, hereby instruct their secretary to inform the Committee of Proprietors, that the Naval Committee cannot agree to the modifications proposed by the pro prietors of the Square, relative to the introduction of gas, and building up the door of the monument." 3d, The different gentlemen who had proposed the modifications which I have mentioned, having been privately informed of this resolution of the Naval Committee, and being sincerely desirous to throw no obstacle in the way, withdrew their respective proposals. At the same time, in agreeing to a door being made in the pillar, it was thought advisable, that measures should be adopted to prevent the indiscriminate access of strangers. And whether the idea was correct in a legal view or not, it was also deemed necessary that this should be done before the pillar was erected, for this reason, that any condition agreed to beforehand by the Proprietors among themselves would have been binding upon them, and might have been en forced at any time by a minority, or even by one of their number; whereas a regulation made after the pillar was finished, would have been liable to constant alterations at the pleasure of every meeting of proprietors, or of persons obtaining authority from non-residents, however small the number of such meeting might be. This explanation will explain the next resolution of the Committee of Proprietors, which was entered into on 20th March, 1819, in these terms: "The Committee unanimously agree, that no gas-light shall be combined with the pillar; and that the door of the pillar shall be under lock and key, and entirely under the control of the Proprietors, and never opened excepting for necessary repairs, and that any individual proprietor shall have the power of a veto against opening the door, excepting for repairs.' 4th, This explicit offer was as explicitly accepted by the Naval Committee, by a minute dated on the same day, in which they state, that they consider the transaction with the Proprietors of the Square to be closed. Their minute was in these terms: having H |