cottage, begin to move round their wonted orbits. See what it is to hear lectures; even I am in a fair way to speak with tongues. LETTER XXXIX. TO MRS. MACINTOSH. Laggan, July 15, 1797. Dear Madam, I have been now nearly six weeks in perfect ignorance about you all; I leave you to judge how my busy imagination has wrought. To think you grown careless, is inconsistent with the general steadiness of your character. What, then, shall I think? I am sure you are of my opinion, that nothing less than a want of integrity, or very intolerable caprice of temper, can cause a breach of friendship. I never lost a friend in my life that I know of. I have seen them depart to a better world, where I humbly hope his (Sir John's) brother in the Isle of Skye. He was, however, so much attached to the parish of Laggan, where he had taught a school, and of which his brother had once been minister, that, when he thought his time drew near, he returned avowedly to die there. His great object was to be near us, having always declared our friendship to be his greatest earthly comfort. The wife of a substantial peasant, who reverenced the sanctity of his character, and esteemed his worth, did actually build a "chamber in the wall for the prophet, with a bed and a candle-stick." This circumstance, with a wide mantle he used to wrap around, and a peculiar kind of surly integrity, made us compare him to the Prophet Elijah. He was an excellent Gaelic scholar, and instructed me in that difficult language. He travelled through the Western Islands and Argyllshire with James Macpherson, the Translator of Ossian, in search of the Gaelic fragments forming the basis of that translator's works, and is mentioned in the late Report of the Highland Society upon Ossian's Poems. He died 16th December 1801, and sent me his dying blessing with great solemnity.—(1807.) to meet them again with renewed and exalted affection; but I never lost one by change or unkindness. If I should meet with such a new species of affliction, you will be both the first and last to occasion it, for I will never, never open my heart more. Why multiply the ties that bind me to this vain world, or open fresh sources of affliction in the sufferings of others? You would hear of poor Mrs. Macpherson's death, which happened very lately near us, at Dalchully. Hers was a truly useful life, divided betwixt the care of her soul and the care of her family. She had real principle, and great probity, though she was not gentle and conciliating. One reason why she was not so, was, that the rigour of her inflexible veracity and integrity could not bend to accommodate itself to other people's deviations; and she carried sincerity, if that were possible, to excess. I certainly ought to have grieved for her; for, though too much engrossed with more important objects to look for much gratification in social intercourse, she invariably showed marked attachment to me. But her case was so hopeless here, and so full of hope and assurance in what regards hereafter, that her death seemed a release, and apparent benefit to herself. Her boys will do very well; she has one girl, who is here now. We are all much pleased with the frankness and benevolence that appear in her disposition. Let me know when we are to expect you here. It must be after the 6th of August; we shall then be solemnly engaged;* this could not be sooner, for it * With the celebration of the Sacrament. is only on the 2d that people return from the glens. One of the great concerns of life here is, settling the time and manner of these removals. Viewing the procession pass is always very gratifying to my pastoral imagination; I rise early for that purpose. The people look so glad and contented, for they rejoice at going up; but, by the time the cattle have eat all the grass, and the time arrives when they dare no longer fish and shoot, they find their old home a better place, and return with nearly as much alacrity as they went. I do love these vestiges of primitive life, that put me in mind of the plains of Mamre, and the flocks of Rachel. The season is fine, and everything thrives and looks well, from our flowers and our children, down to our pigs and potatoes. You must come in time to see the flax under its azure bells, and the potatoes in full purple bloom. These humble rustic beauties have charms for me beyond much finer objects. I will only add, "Come and see." Adieu! simply, laconically. Dear Madam, LETTER XL. TO MRS. MACINTOSH. A. G. Laggan, July 20, 1797. a kind letter, I am now in haste to thank for you which came just in time to abate fears and jealousies. Not that I think you can forget me; but you know unequal spirits and irritable nerves make dreaming people, like me, at times see things through a dark ` medium. It is not on my own merit I depend, but on your constancy of temper and knowledge of character, which must have taught you long since to relinquish the vain expectation of meeting spotless, perfect friends, to which no human creature is entitled, fallible as we all are. Yet, such expectations, unreasonably indulged, and justly disappointed, have made many a one go through life dark and chilly, without having their hearts opened, their countenances brightened, or their virtues invigorated, by the cheering cordial of friendship. This leads me to congratulate you on your present enjoyment of this nature. I feel true satisfaction in thinking how much you and Miss Polson enjoy each other. I give you joy of your heroic nephew's* arrival, and hope he will pay his duty to you on your return from your Highland excursion, which, I see, is likely to be deferred to the shortening days and weeping equinox. Consider the green delights of my Elysium, Fort-Augustus; the "Siberian solitude," as Johnson called it, of Stratherick; and the "sublime thunder" of Foyers. Not a word of the cottage, but that it contains your faithful friend. Farewell. If I see you again, it must be here. Yours, &c. A. G. * Captain (afterwards Admiral) Sir Graham Moore, of the Navy, who had just then distinguished himself under Sir John Borlase Warren, in taking some French vessels on their way to a projected invasion on Ireland, and carried them into the Clyde. Captain Graham Moore was brother to Sir John Moore, the hero of Corunna. LETTER XLI. TO MRS. FURZER, AT ADMIRAL OURRY'S, MARRIDGE, My dear Friend, Laggan, December 10, 1797. I heartily congratulate you on your return to Goodamere. What could induce you, so made to animate and adorn society, to bury yourself in a place like Colford? Your friend there is perfectly naturalized to the place, and lives among her old intimates, so that the benefit or comfort your society might afford her, is no counterbalance to your secluding yourself in a place so uncongenial. I am now perfectly prepared to sympathize in all your cares and fears for the absent. We never intended John for the army as his permanent profession, but were flattered with the idea that the Fencible Regiments would be allowed half-pay at the conclusion of the war. He has been now a twelvemonth in Ireland, his education neglected, his morals in hazard, exposed to great expense from the frequent shifting of quarters, and separated from those who had the charge of him. How all this has preyed upon my spirits I cannot express. But now your old friend, General Moore, goes to Ireland, second in command to General Abercromby, and I hope John will get à long leave of absence. * Mrs. Macintosh spent a month here last autumn, *Afterwards Sir John Moore. |