arts.

Both in Perthshire and in East Lothian the reputation and success of the farmers is such, that many young men come from England to serve an apprenticeship to these skilful farmers. Certainly, those efforts which produce crops equal to those in the south, from a less fertile soil, and genial climate, must be a proof of more than common skill and industry.

After leaving Kinross and Cowper of Angus, poverty and dirt no longer excited disgust. The visible change for the better, is most grateful to the eye, and pleasant to the feelings, in the progress of improvement. The neat cottages of the poor are now built of the good substantial stone of the country, finished with slate, instead of thatched roofs, and sashed windows, which admit the light of heaven. The dunghill before the door has disappeared, and rural gardens, with fruit-trees and flowers, embellish the walls. How greatly are the lower class indebted to Mrs. Hamilton, for the Cottagers of Glenbervie:" which has tended to effect such a happy change

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amongst that community of people, that must ensure not merely comfort, but health.

Home truths, though most unpalateable to digest at the time, yet, are like nauseous medicine, frequently effecting a surprising cure, when it comes to the root of the disease. Surely that of dirt, is one of the most loathsome.

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The dress of the peasantry remains, as yet, unchanged by time. Blue flannel is still worn for a petticoat, with a short striped bed-gown. A cloth night-cap is the head-dress, tied under the chin; but young girls always go bare-headed, and still consider themselves fettered by shoes and stockings. This habit, though less pleasing to an eye accustomed to that of the south, is certainly better adapted than a close gown, to the drudgery which, in these northern districts, is assigned to the weaker sex, who always milk and attend the cattle, reap the corn, and take more than an equal share in all rural toil. Mary Woolstonecroft, who was an acute observer,

remarks, the English, in the midland counties, are the only women who, among the lower class, have not some short and simple vesture, of the jacket or bed-gown sort, adapted for those occupations, in which the long gown is an encumbrance. These habits of convenience prevail, not merely in the north of Scotland, but all over northern Europe. Perhaps one reason why the apparel of the higher and lower classes assume the same form in our southern district is, that the women do less outdoor work than the northern damsels. The eye accustomed to the uniformity of habit, is not easily reconciled to the Scottish homespun garb of these fellow-labourers with the husbandman.

LETTER VII.

Belvidere, near Aberdeen,

June.

THE short interval of time, since the close of my last letter, has been filled up with an interest so entirely personal, egotism is unavoidable, if I recur to those mournful yet tender recollections, which ever associate themselves with the renewal of early friendship. Yet, who is there, but at some period of life has not felt their heart glow with delight, when, after a lapse of time, the same objects are again presented, which formed a large portion of enjoyment. The same scene again meets the eye, the same hand is again extended, formerly pressed in youthful friendship. If, however, juvenile companionship awaken these sensations, there is, alas! others, of even a tenderer and more affecting na

ture; and which may you be long, very long in experiencing. It is, my dear Miss Porter, in beholding the last remaining friends of our parents sunk into the vale of years, gradually retiring from this mortal scene, when, scarcely terrestrial, the spirits seem almost soaring to that blessed region whither it is hastening; when in a last farewell, the tender cord of friendship is torn asunder, and all that diffused joy and sunshine to the heart exists no longer.

Those who are strangers to such sensations, and cannot therefore enter into the nature of them, I will forgive their passing over the above. To those who possess a mind like yours, alive to the tender and delicate feelings of the heart, no apology is requisite, as I shall readily be forgiven for partially dwelling on that friendship, which lent a peculiar charm to life, and which, even with time, can never fade from my remembrance.

I am at present on a visit to a younger branch of this family, who is married to a lovely young cousin of mine,