etry passed on towards Inverness. But the
battle was presented to the imagination, in these old personal
narratives, in many a diverse form. I have been told by an ancient
woman, who, on the day of the fight, was engaged in tending some sheep
on a solitary common near Munlochy, separated from the Moor of Culloden
by the Firth, and screened by a lofty hill, that she sat listening in
terror to the boom of the cannon; but that she was still more scared by
the continuous howling of her dog, who sat upright on his haunches all
the time the firing lasted, with his neck stretched out towards the
battle, and "looking as if he saw a spirit." Such are some of the
recollections which link the memories of a man who has lived his
half-century, to those of the preceding age, and which serve to remind
him how one generation of men after another break and disappear on the
shores of the eternal world, as wave after wave breaks in foam upon the
beach, when storms are rising, and the ground-swell sets in heavily from
the sea.

CHAPTER VII.

"Whose elfin prowess scaled the orchard wall."--ROGERS.

Some of the wealthier tradesmen of the town, dissatisfied with the small
progress which their boys were making under the parish schoolmaster,
clubbed together and got a schoolmaster of their own; but, though a
rather clever young man, he proved an unsteady one, and, regular in his
irregularities, got diurnally drunk, on receiving the instalments of his
salary at term-days, as long as his money lasted. Getting rid of him,
they procured another--a licentiate of the Church--who for some time
promised well. He seemed steady and thoughtful, and withal a painstaking
teacher; but coming in contact with some zealous Baptists, they
succeeded in conjuring up such a cloud of doubt around him regarding the
propriety of infant baptism, that both his bodily and mental health
became affected by his perplexities, and he had to resign his charge.
And then, after a pause, during which the boys enjoyed a delightfully
long vacation, they got yet a third schoolmaster, also a licentiate, and
a person of a high, if not very consistent religious profession, who was
always getting into pecuniary difficulties, and always courting, though
with but little success, wealthy ladies, who, according to the poet, had
"acres of charms." To the subscription school I was transferred, at the
instance of Uncle James, who remained quite sure, notwithstanding the
experien