orning but the
eternal one can remove, I am one, at least, who in this respect cannot
follow its example.

"Edinburgh, with its 'palaces and towers,' and its many crowded ways,
was at first strangely new to me, being as different, in almost all
respects, to what I had been accustomed as it might seem possible for
contrariety to make earthly things. Though I had friends in it, and
therefore was not solitary, yet its tendency, like that of the noisy and
restless sea, was to render me melancholy. Some features which the
congregated condition of mankind exhibited penetrated my heart with
something like actual dismay. I had seen nothing of the sort, nor yet
even so much as a semblance of it, and therefore I had no idea that
there existed such a miserable shred of degradation, for example, as a
cinder-woman--desolate and dirty as her employment--bowed down--a shadow
among shadows--busily prone, beneath the sheety night sky, to find out
and fasten upon the crumb, whose pilgrimage certainly had not improved
it since falling from the rich man's table. Compassion, though not
naturally so, becomes painful when entertained towards those whom we
believe labouring under suffering which we fain would but cannot
alleviate.

"I had enough of curiosity for wishing to see all those things which
others spoke of, and characterised as worthy of being seen; but I
contented myself meanwhile with a survey of the city's external
attributes. In a week or two, however, my friend A. F. Harrower,
formerly mentioned, having come into town from Clydesdale, took pleasure
in finding out whatever could interest or gratify me, and of conveying
me thither. With very few exceptions, every forenoon he called at my
lodgings, leaving a note requesting me to meet him at some specified
time and place. I sometimes sent apologies, and at other times went
personally to apologise; but neither of these methods answered well.
Through his persevering attentions towards me, I met with much agreeable
society, and saw much above as well as somewhat below the earth, which I
might never otherwise have seen. In illustration of the latter fact, I
may state that, having gone to London, he returned with two Englishmen,
when he invited me to assist them in exploring the battle-field of
Pinkie. We terminated our excursion by descending one of Sir John Hope's
coal-pits. These humorous and frank English associates amused themselves
by bantering my friend and myself about the chas