efforts of time, where the least false step would precipitate the unwary
traveller into the abyss below. There no cheering sound of mirth was
ever heard, the blithe whistle of the ploughman never swelled upon its
echoes, nor often did the reaper's song disturb its gloomy silence. The
ear is assailed, on the one hand, by the discordant and dismal notes of
the screech-owl; and, on the other, by the angry roar of the waves that
beat, with ceaseless lash, the broken shore. A small hut now and then
bursts upon the view, raising its lowly roof beneath the shelter of the
mountain rock, and adds to the cheerlessness of the scene. One of those
small cottages often attracted my notice, by its external neatness, and
the laborious industry by which a small garden had been formed around
the dwelling; and by degrees I ingratiated myself into the good graces
of its owner, who, I found, by his knowledge and conversation, was of a
different cast from the dwellers around him. I knew by his accent that
he was a foreigner; and, feeling an interest in him, I often endeavoured
to gain some account from him of the early part of his life; but when
the subject was hinted at, he at once changed the conversation.

Having occasion last summer to spend some days at the house of a friend
in Argyleshire, I availed myself of this opportunity to visit my old
acquaintance at Tyree. I found him stretched on the bed of sickness, and
fast verging towards his end. When last I had seen him, his appearance,
though infirm, evinced but few signs of physical decay; and, though the
storms of scores of winters had blown over him, still his eye sparkled
with animation, and his raven locks retained the fresh and jetty colour
of the native of "Italia's sunny clime." But now, how changed the
appearance! His eyeballs were dim, deep sunken in their sockets; a few
scattered grey hairs waved carelessly over his finely-arched eyebrows;
and his forehead and cheeks were deeply furrowed with the traces of
sickness and secret wo. When I entered the lowly dwelling, he raised his
lacklustre eyes, and stretched forth his hand to meet my grasp.

"And is Heaven yet so kind," said he, raising his wasted hand in thanks
to the Disposer of all good, "as to send one pitying friend to soothe my
dreary and departing moments? Ah, sir, the hand of the grim tyrant is
laid heavily upon me, and I must soon appear in the presence of an
offended Deity. If you knew how awful are the feelings of a