regarded as a
favourable specimen. He died at Newmills, near Ardrossan, on the 20th
September 1851, in his thirty-fifth year. Some time before his death, he
exclusively devoted himself to serious reflection and Scriptural
reading. He married in October 1850, and his widow still survives.

THE WILD-ROSE BLOOMS.

TUNE--_"Caledonia."_

The wild-rose blooms in Drummond woods,
The trees are blossom'd fair,
The lake is smiling to the sun,
And Mary wand'ring there.
The powers that watch'd o'er Mary's birth
Did nature's charms despoil;
They stole for her the rose's blush,
The sweet lake's dimpled smile.

The lily for her breast they took,
Nut-brown her locks appear;
But when they came to make her eyes,
They robb'd the starry sphere.
But cruel sure was their design,
Or mad-like their device--
For while they filled her eyes with fire,
They made her heart of ice.

ALEXANDER A. RITCHIE.[28]

Alexander Abernethy Ritchie, author of "The Wells o' Wearie," was born
in the Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1816. In early youth he evinced a lively
appreciation of the humorous and the pathetic, and exhibited remarkable
artistic talent, sketching from nature with fidelity and ease. His
parents being in humble circumstances, he was apprenticed as a
house-painter, and soon became distinguished for his skill in the
decorative branch of his profession. On the expiry of his
apprenticeship, he cultivated painting in a higher department of the
art, and his pictures held a highly respectable place at the annual
exhibitions of the Scottish Academy. Among his pictures which became
favourites may be mentioned the "Wee Raggit Laddie," "The Old Church
Road," "The Gaberlunzie," "Tak' your Auld Cloak about ye," and "The
Captive Truant." His illustrations of his friend, Mr James Ballantine's
works, "The Gaberlunzie's Wallet" and "The Miller of Deanhaugh," and of
some other popular works, evince a lively fancy and keen appreciation of
character. He executed a number of water-colour sketches of the more
picturesque and interesting lanes and alleys of Edinburgh; and
contributed to the _Illustrated London News_ representations of
remarkable events as they occurred in the Scottish capital. He died
suddenly at St John's Hill, Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1850, in the
thirty-fourth year of his age. Ritchie was possessed of a vast fund of
humour, and was especially e