nk it. The insuperable point where I stick fast is a
doubt of the practically beneficial result which its general
acceptance would produce. I think they overrate the reforming power
of their system, though Mr. Combe's account of the numbers who
attend his lectures, and of the improvement of their bodily and
mental conditions which he has himself witnessed, must, of course,
make me feel diffident of my own judgment in the matter. Their own
experience can alone test the utility of their system, and whether
it does or does not answer their expectations. I thought of Hamlet
as I sat on the ground, with my arms and lap full of skulls. It is
curious enough to grasp the empty, worthless, unsightly case in
which once dwelt the thinking faculty of a man. One of the best
specimens of the human skull, it seems, is Raphael's; a cast of
whose head I held lovingly in my hands, wishing it had been the
very house where once abode that spirit of immortal beauty. [The
phrenological authorities were mistaken, it seems, in attributing
this skull to Raphael. I believe that it has been ascertained to be
that of his friend, the engraver, Marc Antonio.] At the theater the
play was "The Hunchback;" the house very good, and I played very
well.

_Saturday, 14th._--My last day in Edinburgh for two years; and who
can tell for how many more? At eleven o'clock, Mr. Murray, Mr.
Allen, Mr. Byrne, and myself sallied forth on horseback toward the
Pentlands, having obtained half an hour's grace off dinner-time, in
order to get to Habbies How. We went out by the Links, and up steep
rises over a white and dusty road, with a flaring stone dyke on
each side, and neither tree nor bush to shelter us from the
scorching sunlight till we came to Woodhouseleigh, the haunted walk
of a white specter, who, it seems, was fond of the shade, for her
favorite promenade was an avenue overarched with the green arms of
noble old elm trees; and we blessed the welcome shelter of the
Ghost's Haunt.... A cloud fell over all our spirits as we rode away
from this enchanting spot, and Mr. Murray, pointing to the sprig of
heather I had put in my habit, said they would establish an Order
of Knighthood, of which the badge should be a heather spray, and
they three the members, and I the patroness; that they would m