an roughness. Shawls, cloaks, plaids, are the only
substitute for tents, and a bush or a tree the only shelter from the
summer wind. Such wandering companies are rarely short of provisions,
for they have a wholesome dread of Highland hunger; and hearty is the
feast and loud the merriment, as they sit thus, houseless and homeless
outcasts of the Clyde. The night comes on, neither dark nor
unpleasantly cold, and the trooping stars assemble in the heavens, and
look down on the slumbrous waters, as bright and new as they were seen
of old from the hill-tops of Chaldea. Higher swell the hearts of the
spectators for a time, till, yielding to the influence of the hour,
lower and lower sink their pulses of emotion, like the tide of the
lately panting deep. Their voices fall; their words are few and
whispered, then heard no more; the lights of the village disappear one
by one; the last door is heard to shut; there is silence on the earth.

We never heard of anybody being the worse of this adventure, although
it is a kind of roughing we would not positively recommend to Miss
Laura Matilda, or any of her fair sisters. We would give _them_ a
thatched roof over their heads, a weather-tight room for their
slumbers, and a substantial wall between them and the couple of cows
that yield their warm milk in the morning. We would afford them a
homely sitting-room, with no temptation to keep them within doors for
a single moment, except during their brief and humble meals. We would
plant their tabernacle in some lonely place on a hillside, or on the
shores of a romantic loch, an hour's smart walk from any society they
are accustomed to at home. We would have them make acquaintances of
the said two cows; of both the dogs, even the surly one, which cannot
for some time understand who or what they are, or what business they
have there; of the hens, that present them with newly-laid eggs to
breakfast; of the five or six sheep, to whom they are evidently
objects of curiosity and admiration; of that sociable goat, which
accompanies the sheep to the hill like one of themselves; and more
especially of the little boy, who is proud of being called the herd;
and of the cotter and his old mother, and his wife and two young
daughters. We would insist upon their feeling a kindly interest in
these new friends, one and all; on their taking leave of them
individually when coming away; and on their carrying home with them an
impression which would sometimes,