et him again,
To part never mair!

THE DEAD WHO HAVE DIED IN THE LORD.[68]

Go, call for the mourners, and raise the lament,
Let the tresses be torn, and the garments be rent;
But weep not for him who is gone to his rest,
Nor mourn for the ransom'd, nor wail for the blest.
The sun is not set, but is risen on high,
Nor long in corruption his body shall lie--
Then let not the tide of thy griefs overflow,
Nor the music of heaven be discord below;
Rather loud be the song, and triumphant the chord,
Let us joy for the dead who have died in the Lord.

Go, call for the mourners, and raise the lament,
Let the tresses be torn, and the garments be rent;
But give to the living thy passion of tears
Who walk in this valley of sadness and fears,
Who are press'd by the combat, in darkness are lost,
By the tempest are beat, on the billows are toss'd.
Oh, weep not for those who shall sorrow no more,
Whose warfare is ended, whose combat is o'er;
Let the song be exalted, be triumphant the chord,
And rejoice for the dead who have died in the Lord.

[68] These stanzas are printed for the first time. The MS. is not in
Lady Nairn's handwriting, but there is every reason to assign to her the
authorship.

JAMES NICOL.

James Nicol, the son of Michael Nicol and Marion Hope, was born at
Innerleithen, in the county of Peebles, on the 28th of September 1769.
Having acquired the elements of classical knowledge under Mr Tate, the
parochial schoolmaster, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh,
where he pursued study with unflinching assiduity and success. On
completing his academical studies, he was licensed as a probationer by
the Presbytery of Peebles. His first professional employment was as an
assistant to the minister of Traquair, a parish bordering on that of
Innerleithen; and on the death of the incumbent, Mr Nicol succeeded to
the living. On the 4th of November 1802, he was ordained to the
ministerial office; and on the 25th of the same month and year, he
espoused Agnes Walker, a native of Glasgow, and the sister of his
immediate predecessor, who had for a considerable period possessed a
warm place in his affections, and been the heroine of his poetical
reveries. He had for some time been in the habit of communicating verses
to the _Edinburgh Magazine_; and he afterwards published a collection of
"Poems, chiefly in the Scottis