urrying on from all quarters, towards that stupendous pile
of gloom, through which no eye can penetrate; an unceasing sound, like
the enginery of an earthquake at work, rolls from the heart of that
profound and indefinable obscurity--sometimes a faint and yellow beam of
the sun strikes here and there on the vast expanse of edifices; and
churches, and holy asylums, are dimly seen lifting up their countless
steeples and spires, like so many lightning rods to avert the wrath of
Heaven.

The entrance to Edinburgh also awakens feelings of a more pleasing
character. The rugged veteran aspect of the Old Town is agreeably
contrasted with the bright smooth forehead of the New, and there is not
such an overwhelming torrent of animal life, as to make you pause before
venturing to stem it; the noises are not so deafening, and the occasional
sound of a ballad-singer, or a Highland piper, varies and enriches the
discords; but here, a multitudinous assemblage of harsh alarms, of
selfish contentions, and of furious carriages, driven by a fierce and
insolent race, shatter the very hearing, till you partake of the activity
with which all seem as much possessed as if a general apprehension
prevailed, that the great clock of Time would strike the doom-hour before
their tasks were done. But I must stop, for the postman with his bell,
like the betherel of some ancient "borough's town" summoning to a burial,
is in the street, and warns me to conclude.--Yours,

ANDREW PRINGLE.

LETTER V

_The Rev. Dr. Pringle to Mr. Micklewham_, _Schoolmaster and
Session-Clerk_, _Garnock_
LONDON, 49 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND.

DEAR SIR--On the first Sunday forthcoming after the receiving hereof, you
will not fail to recollect in the remembering prayer, that we return
thanks for our safe arrival in London, after a dangerous voyage. Well,
indeed, is it ordained that we should pray for those who go down to the
sea in ships, and do business on the great deep; for what me and mine
have come through is unspeakable, and the hand of Providence was visibly
manifested.

On the day of our embarkation at Leith, a fair wind took us onward at a
blithe rate for some time; but in the course of that night the bridle of
the tempest was slackened, and the curb of the billows loosened, and the
ship reeled to