d, which gave the waterfall every
advantage, and it was while battling with the elements in climbing the
hill to view it that Dr Burton felt the first return of his natural
elasticity of spirit. He soon found also the best medicine of all in
hard work. The years between the death of his first wife and his second
marriage were the most active of his literary life, at least in the line
of periodical literature. He contributed regularly to 'Blackwood's
Magazine,' besides other periodicals. In 1852 he published narratives
from Criminal Trials in Scotland. In 1853 a 'Treatise on the Law of
Bankruptcy in Scotland,' and in the same year his 'History of Scotland
from the Revolution to the extinction of the last Jacobite Rebellion.'

CHAPTER IV.

SECOND STAGE OF LITERARY LIFE.

_Appointed Secretary to the Prison Board--Second marriage--Daily
life--Death of infant child--First volunteers--Removal to Craighouse._

In 1854 Dr Burton was appointed Secretary to the Prison Board, at a
salary of L700 per annum, and was thus relieved of the necessity, which
had pressed on him for more than twenty years, of maintaining himself by
his pen. On his appointment to this office he removed from Ann Street to
the house then 27 Lauriston Place, the site of which is now occupied by
the Simpson Memorial Hospital. In 1854 the situation was half rural. The
house stood in a good old-fashioned garden of its own, beyond which lay
a field containing some old trees; and the house possessed good offices,
stables, &c., which were soon adapted to a workshop for Dr Burton
himself, and rabbit and pigeon houses for his children.

The productiveness of the garden was marred by incursions of
rabbits,--_not_ the children's pets, but wild rabbits, however
incredible that may appear, now that the situation has got so entirely
separated from the country by new buildings. At that time there was no
building between Lauriston Place and Morningside.

Dr Burton, while a widower, had become a more and more frequent visitor
at the house of Cosmo Innes in Inverleith Row. The writer does not
recollect ever seeing him there along with other company--he preferred
finding the family alone. She has met him occasionally in company in
other houses--memorably in that of the late Mrs Cunningham, Lord
Cunningham's widow--but never, so far as she can remember, in that of
her father. He was at that time considered a good talker--his company
was sought for the sake of his c