[_i.e._, the late Joseph Robertson, a constant companion and
attached friend], tell him I will write to him soon and have a deal
to say to him, particularly of my discovering a sculptured stone in
Elgin Cathedral. Notwithstanding the fineness of the evening, this
day is determinedly rainy. If you see any of the H.'s, give Mrs
Grant's compliments.--Adieu for the present; and I remain, my dear
mother, your affectionate and dutiful son,

"J. HILL BURTON."

The writer has heard many farther details of the excursion of which this
letter records the beginning. The temporary clearing up of the weather
referred to was but a hollow truce in the tremendous elemental warfare
of that memorable autumn. The flood described in the Findhorn was but a
faint precursor of the wave sixty feet high, which, a week or two later,
burst through the splendid girdle of rock which at Relugas confines that
loveliest of Scotch rivers, and spread over the fertile plain beneath,
changing it into a sea. At some points in Morayshire, the enormous
overflow of the rivers broke down the banks which bound the ocean, and
permanently changed the coast-line of the country. The most striking and
extraordinary part of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's description of this flood
is an extract from the log of a sailing packet--a sea-going
vessel--which directed its course over and about the plain of Moray,
picking the inhabitants off the roofs of their houses, or such other
elevations as they could reach.

Dr Burton had the good fortune to see the Fall of Foyers during this
great flood, and had the temerity to cross its stream, which lay on his
road, upon a remaining parapet of the fallen bridge!

CHAPTER II.

EDINBURGH.

_Apprenticeship in lawyer's office--Grandfather's letter--J.H. Burton's
letters to his mother, conveying first impressions of Edinburgh, and
account of passing Civil Law trial._

On the completion of his studies, John Burton was apprenticed to a
writer in Aberdeen. He has talked of this period as one of the most
painful of his life. He was utterly unable to master the routine of
office-work, or to submit to its restraints; and one of his most joyful
days was that in which his indentures were, by mutual desire, cancelled.

A piece of yellow old paper was found in Dr Burton's desk when he died.
It was a letter written some fifty-five years before, and had probably
lain there during all these years. A