trenches overshadowed by the heather-blossoms that scented the
wilderness afar--where the little maiden, sent from the shieling on
errands to town or village in the country below, seemed, as we met her
in the sunshine, to rise up before us for our delight, like a fairy from
the desert bloom--Thou loch, remote in thy treeless solitude, and with
nought reflected in thy many-springed waters but those low pastoral
hills of excessive green, and the white-barred blue of heaven--no
creature on its shores but our own selves, keenly angling in the
breezes, or lying in the shaded sunshine, with some book of old
ballads, or strain of some Immortal yet alive on earth--one and all bear
witness to our undying affection, that silently now feeds on grief! And,
oh! what overflowing thoughts did that shout of ours now awaken from the
hanging tower of the Old Castle--"Wilton, Wilton!" The name of the
long-ago buried faintly and afar-off repeated by an echo!

A pensive shade has fallen across MAY-DAY; and while the sun is behind
those castellated clouds, our imagination is willing to retire into the
saddest places of memory, and gather together stories and tales of
tears. And many such there are, annually sprinkled all round the humble
huts of our imaginative and religious land, even like the wildflowers
that, in endless succession, disappearing and reappearing in their
beauty, Spring drops down upon every brae. And as ofttimes some one
particular tune, some one pathetic but imperfect and fragmentary part of
an old melody, will nearly touch the heart, when it is dead to the
finest and most finished strain; so now a faint and dim tradition comes
upon us, giving birth to uncertain and mysterious thoughts. It is an old
Tradition. They were called the BLESSED FAMILY! Far up at the head of
yonder glen of old was their dwelling, and in their garden sparkled the
translucent well that is the source of the stream that animates the
parish with a hundred waterfalls. Father, mother, and daughter--it was
hard to say which of the three was the most beloved! Yet they were not
native here, but brought with them, from some distant place, the soft
and silvery accents of the pure English tongue, and manners most
gracious in their serene simplicity; while over a life composed of acts
of charity was spread a stillness that nothing ever disturbed--the
stillness of a thoughtful pity for human sins and sorrows, yet not
unwilling to be moved to smiles by the breath