that led to the house from all the four quarters of the world. For some time it crossed" the crooks of the burn," as they called them; that is, it kept straight up the bottom of the glen, and crossed the burn at every turning. Of course every time that the group crossed this stream, they were for a moment involved in a cloud of spray that almost hid them from view, and the frequent recurrence of this rendered the effect highly comic.

Still, however, they kept apparently close together, till at length the path left the bottom of the narrow valley, and came round the sloping base of a hill that was all interspersed with drains and small irregularities of surface; this producing no abatement of exertion or speed, horses and men were soon foundering, plunging, and tumbling about in all directions. If this was amusing to view, it was still more so to hear the observations of the delighted group that stood round me and beheld it. "Ha, ha, ha! yonder's ane aff! Gude faith! yon's Jock o' the Meer-Cleuch; he has gotten an ill-faur'd flaip-Holloa! yonder gaes another, down through a lair to the een-holes! Weel done, Aedie o' Aberlosk! Hie till him, Tousy, outher now or never! Lay on, ye deevil, an' hing by the mane! Hurray!"

The women were by this time screaming, and the men literally jump ing and clapping their hands for joy at the deray that was going on; and there was one little elderly-looking man whom I could not help noting; he had fallen down on the ground in a convulsion of laughter, and was spurring and laying on it with both hands and feet. One, whom they denominated Davie Scott o' the Ramseycleuch Burn, amid the bay of dogs, and the shouts of men and women, got first to the bridegroom's door, and of course was acknowledged to have won the broose; but the attention was soon wholly turned from him to those behind. The man whose horse had sunk in the bog, perceiving that all chance of extricating it again on the instant was out of the question, lost not a moment, but sprung to his feet-threw off his clothes, hat, and shoes, all at one brush and ran towards the goal with all his might. Jock o' the Meer Cleuch, who was still a good way farther back, and crippled besides with his fall, perceiving this, mounted a VOL. I.

gain-whipped on furiously, and would soon have overhied his pedestrian adversary; but the shepherds are bad horsemen, and, moreover, Jock's horse, which belonged to Gideon of Kirkhope, was unacquainted with the sheep-drains, and terrified at them; consequently, by making a sudden jerk backwards when he should have leapt across one of them, and when Jock supposed that he was just going to do so, he threw his rider a second time. The shouts of laughter were again renewed, and every one was calling out, "Now for the mell! Now for the mell! Deil tak the hindmost now!" These sounds reached Jock's ears; he lost no time in making a last effort, but flew at his horse again-remounted him-and, by urging him to a desperate effort, actually got a-head of his adversary just when within ten yards of the door, and thus escaped the disgrace of winning the mell.

I was afterwards told, that in former ages it was the custom on the Border, when the victor in the race was presented with the prize of honour, the one who came in last was, at the same time, presented with a mallet or large wooden hammer, called a mell in the dialect of the country, and that then the rest of the competitors stood in need to be near at hand, and instantly to force the mell from him, else he was at liberty to knock as many of them down with it as he could. The mell has now, for many years, been only a nominal prize; but there is often more sport about the gaining of it than the principal one. There was another occurrence which added greatly to the animation of this, which I had not time before fully to relate. About the time when the two unfortunate wights were unhorsed in the bog, those who still kept on were met and attacked, open mouth, by at least twenty frolicsome collies, that seemed fully as intent on sport as their mas→ ters. These bit the hind-legs of the horses, snapped at their noses, and raised such an outrage of barking, that the poor animals, forspent as they were, were constrained to lay themselves out almost beyond power. Nor did the fray cease when the race was won. Encouraged by the noise and clamour which then arose about the gaining of the mell, the staunch collies continued the attack, and hunted the

T

racers round and round the houses with great speed, while the horses were all the time wheeling and flinging most furiously, and their riders, in desperation, vociferating and cursing their assailants.

All the guests now crowded toge ther, and much humour and blunt wit passed about the gaining of the broose. Each of the competitors had his difficulties and cross accidents to relate; and each affirmed, that if it had not been such and such hindrances, he would have gained the broose to a certainty. Davie Scott o' the Ramseycleuch-burn, however, assured them, that he was aye hauding in his yaud wi' the left hand, and gin he had liket to gie her out her head, she wad hae gallopit amaist a thrid faster."-"That may be," said Aedie o' Aberlosk, "but I hae come better on than I expectit wi' my Cameronian naig. I never saw him streek himsel sae afore-I dare say he thought that Davie was auld Clavers mountit on Hornie. Poor fallow!" continued he, patting him," he has a good deal o' anti-prelatic dourness in him; but I see he has some spirit, for a' that. I bought him for a powney, but he's turned out a beast."

I next overheard one proposing to the man who left his horse, and exerted himself so manfully on foot, to go and pull his horse out of the quagmire. Na, na," said he, "let him stick yonder a while, to teach him mair sense than to gang intill an open well-ee and gar ane get a mell. I saw the gate I was gaun, but I couldna swee him aff; sae I just thought o' Jenny Blythe, and plunged in. I kend weel something was to happen, for I met her first this morning, the ill-hued carlin: but I had need to haud my tongue!-Gudeman, let us see a drap whisky." He was presented with a glass. Come, here's Jenny Blythe," said Andrew, and drank it off." I wad be nae the waur o' a wee drap too," said Aberlosk, taking a glass of whisky in his hand, and looking stedfastly through it. "I think I see Jock the elder here," said he; "ay, it's just him-come, here's the five kirks o' Eskdale." He drank it off. "Gudeman, that's naething but a Tam-Park of a glass: if ye'll fill it again, I'll gie a toast ye never heard afore. This is Bailey's Dictionary," said Aedie, and drank it off again. -"But when a' your daffin's owre,

Aedie," said John, "what hae ye made o' our young friend?"" Ou! she's safe eneuch," returned he;" the best-man and John the elder are wi' her."

On looking round the corner of the house, we now perceived that the bride and her two attendants were close at hand. They came at a quick canter. She managed her horse well, kept her saddle with great ease, and seemed an elegant sprightly girl, of twentyfour or thereabouts. Every cap was instantly waved in the air, and the bride was saluted with three hearty cheers. Old John, well aware of what it behoved him to do, threw off his broad bonnet, and took the bride respectfully from her horse-kissed and welcomed her home. "Ye're welcome hame till us, Jeany, my bonny woman," said he; "may God bless ye, an' mak ye just as good an' as happy as I wish ye." It was a beautiful and affecting sight, to see him leading her toward the home that was now to be her own. He held her hand in both his-the wind waved his long gray locks-his features were lengthened considerably the wrong way, and I could perceive a tear glistening on his furrowed cheek.

All seemed to know exactly the parts they had to act, but every thing came on me like magic, and quite by surprise. The bride now stopped short on the threshold, while the old man broke a triangular cake of short-bread over her head, the pieces of which he threw about among the young people. These scrambled for them with great violence and eagerness; and indeed they seemed always to be most in their element when any thing that required strength or activity was presented. For my part, I could not comprehend what the sudden convulsion meant, (for in a moment the crowd was moving I a whirlpool, and tumbling over one another in half dozens) till a little girl, escaping from the vortex, informed me that "they war battling wha first to get a haud o' the bride's bunn." I was still in the dark, till at length I saw the successful candidates presenting their favourites with small pieces of this mystical cake. One beautiful maid, with light locks, blue eyes, and cheeks like the vernal rose, came nimbly up to me, called me familiarly by my name, looked at me with perfect seriousness, and without even a smile on

like

her innocent face, asked me if I was married. I could scarcely contain my gravity, while I took her by the hand, and answered in the negative." An' hae ye no gotten a piece o' the bride's cake?"-" Indeed, my dear, I am sorry I have not."-" O, that's a great shame, that ye hae nae gotten a wee bit! I canna bide to see a stranger guidit that gate. Here, sir, I'll gie ye the tae half o' mine, it will ser' us baith; an' I wad rather want mysel than as civil a gentleman that's a stranger should want."

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So saying, she took a small piece of cake from her lap, and parted it with me, at the same time rolling each of the pieces carefully up in a leaf of an old halfpenny ballad; but the whole of her demeanour showed the utmost seriousness, and of how much import she judged this trivial crumb to be. "Now," continued she, ye maun lay this aneath your head, sir, when ye gang to your bed, and ye'll dream about the woman ye are to get for your wife. Ye'll just think ye see her plainly an' bodily afore your een; an' ye'll be sae weel acquainted wi' her, that ye'll ken her again when ye see her, if it war amang a thousand. It's a queer thing, but it's perfectly true; sae ye maun mind no to forget.'

I promised the most punctual observance of all that she enjoined, and added, that I was sure I would dream of the lovely giver; that indeed I would be sorry were I to dream of any other, as I deemed it impossible to dream of so much innocence and beauty," Now mind no to forget," rejoined she, and skipped lightly away to join her youthful associates.

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As soon as the bride was led into the house, old Nelly, the bridegroom's mother, went aside to see the beast on which her daughter-in-law had been brought home; and perceiving that it was a mare, she fell a-crying and wringing her hands. I inquired, with some alarm, what was the matter. "O dear, sir," returned she, "it's for the poor bairnies that'll yet hae to dree this unlucky mischance-Laike-a-day, poor waefu brats! they'll no lie in a dry bed for a dozen o' years to come!" "Hout! haud your tongue, Nelly," said the best-man, "the thing's but a freat a'thegither. But really we coudna help it the factor's naig wantit a forefit-shoe, an' was beckin like a watercraw. If I had ridden five miles to

the smiddy wi' him, it is ten to ane but Jock Anderson wad hae been drunk, an' then we wadna hae gotten the bride hame afore twall o'clock at night; sae I thought it was better to let them tak their chance than spoil sae muckle good sport, an' I e'en set her on Wattie Bryden's pownie. The factor has behaved very ill about it, the muckle stoottin gouk! If I had durst, I wad hae gien him a deevil of a threshin; but he says, "Faith it'sthat-yes indeed-that-he will send them-yes, faith-it's even a-a new tikabed every year."

The ceremony of the marriage next ensued; but as there was nothing peculiar about it (except that it took place in the bridegroom's house, and not at the bride's former home, which was out of the parson's reach),—and as it was, besides, the dullest part of that day's exercise, I shall not say much about it, only that every thing was done decently and in order. But I have run on so long with this Number, that I fear I must postpone the foot-race, the dinner discourse, and final winding up of the wedding, till a future opportunity.

REMARKS ON GREEK TRAGEDY.
No II.
(Eschyli Chaphori-Sophoclis
Electra.)

H.

WHEN We study the history of our race, which is little else than a chronicle of crimes and follies, of blood shed in vulgar wars, and intellect wasted on unworthy purposes, the eye that wanders with disgust over the blotted page, turns with delight to the contemplation of the virtues and the genius by which it is sometimes brightened; nor are periods wanting, in which, degraded as man has generally been, he exhibits such moral and intellectual grandeur, as to make even the most cynical abate of the harshness with which he usually judges of human nature. Of these favoured times, in an eminent degree, was the age in which Eschylus flourished. Never, perhaps, did there exist at once, a greater number of men distinguished by virtue and talent. To prove this assertion, nothing more were necessary than to give a list of the honest statesmen who then presided in the councils of Athens, of the warriors

1

who devoted their lives to her independence, of the architects, sculptors, painters, poets, historians, and philosophers, whose names are, even at this day, shedding a glory over her ruins, brighter than that which illumines the maturity and vigour of any other state. This age may be denominated the spring of the world, and its productions, even in their decay, "retain much of the freshness, and the bloom, and the beauty of that delightful season. Their statues do not appear so much to be imitations of nature, as nature herself, starting into life, and assuming her finest forms. The ruins of their temples give us models of the grandest design and the most beautiful execution. Socrates taught a system of the purest morals and the most sublime theology, of which he exemplified the one in his life, and sanctioned the other by his death. In history, Thucydides and Xenophon have not yet been surpassed; and the dramatic writers gave to the drama a form which their successors may have modified and improved, -never changed. War was not then waged to aggrandize one and to degrade the many, it was the generous struggle of a whole people, determined to perish amid the ruins of their country, rather than receive a foreign yoke. In the battles of liberty, in which Eschylus, and Pindar, and Socrates, fought, a little band of freemen resist ed and baffled the whole power of a mighty empire; and war, that in common cases depresses talent, and extinguishes all the arts but such as are subservient to the purposes of destruction, kindled a flame of enthusiasm that cherished and developed the seeds of whatever was great and good in man; and were we asked to name a period in which he is seen in the noblest view, our minds would turn to the years that elapsed from the Persian invasion, to the extinction of the liber ties of Greece by Philip. The duration of freedom, and the glory of Greece, was short; but let it be remembered, that national glory was the offspring of national independence, and that they perished together. The lovers of mankind may lament, and the abettors of despotism may rejoice, that their existence was of so short a date; but a few such years are worth myriads of ages of monkish slumber, and one such victory as Salamis or

';* *་ཡིན་ཟླ

Bannockburn is of more value than the innumerable triumphs of the vulgar herd of conquerors.

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Hence the curiosity which every thing connected with that extraordi nary people has excited, and the enthusiasm with which the ruins of their city have been explored, and the works of their poets and sages studied; yet it has happened, unfortunately for literature and the arts, that little more than the wrecks of their genius have survived. A pillar, or a capital, or a fricze, is all that remains of the temple that was the glory of the age that reared it; and of the ninety tragedies which the fertility of the genius of Eschylus produced, only seven have descended to us, and these in a mutilated and imperfec state; yet though in many passages it is obvious that the poetry has suffered from the carelessness of transcribers, and not less, perhaps, from the ambitious learning of the commentators, we can judge of these seven as wholes; and the more narrowly we examine them, the more cause shall we find to justify the admiration of his contemporaries, and of succeeding ages.

It is not the object of the writer of this essay to indulge in verbal criticism on the Greek text, or to attempt to restore imperfect readings, by conjectural emendations, much less to aim at bringing forward original views of the Greek Tragedy. His design is simply to offer such obvious remarks as are most suitable to a miscellany of this kind, and to give such abstracts, and extract such passages, as may enable the reader to judge for himself of these celebrated productions, He is now to analyze two plays written on the same subject, the Chaphori of Æschylus, and the Electra of Sophocles.

While Agamemnon was at Troy, his queen, Clytemnestra, had an illicit intercourse with Egysthus. Fearing the punishment due to their disloyalty, they surprised him on his return to Argos, murdered him, and usurped his throne, Electra, who at the time of her father's death, was arrived at womanhood, secretly sent to Phocis, under the care of an aged and faithful tutor, her infant brother, Orestes, well aware that her mother and Egysthus would soon remove this only obstacle: to the secure possession of that throne which they had obtained by adultery and murder. The punishment of the