ser' some o' oor Professors than to hae him for
their precentor. They micht as weel hae thocht o' an organ--it wad be
just as devout; but the soun's everything now, laddie, ye ken, an' the
heart naething. Weel, Rob, as ye may think, was less than pleased wi'
the job, an' tauld them he could whistle better than sing; but it wasna
that they wanted, and sae it behoved him to tak his seat in the box. An'
lest the folk should no be pleased wi' ae key to ae tune, he gied them,
for the first twa or three days, a hale bunch to each; an' there was
never sic singing in St. Andrew's afore. Weel, but for a' that it
behoved him still to precent, though he has got rid o' it at last--for
what did he do twa Sabbaths agone, but put up drucken Tarn Moffat's name
in the prayer--the very chield that was sittin' at his elbow, though
the minister couldna see him. An' when the puir stibbler was prayin' for
the reprobate as weel's he could, ae half o' the kirk was needcessitated
to come oot, that they micht keep decent, an' the ither half to swallow
their pocket napkins. But what think ye"----

"Hoot, John, now, leave oot the moral," said the poet. "Here's a' the
lads."

Half a dozen young students entered as he spoke; and, after a hearty
greeting, and when he had introduced me to them one by one, as a choice
fellow of immense reading, the door was barred, and we sat down to half
a dozen of home brewed, and a huge platter of dried fish. There was much
mirth and no little humour. Ferguson sat at the head of the table, and
old John Hogg at the foot. I thought of Eastcheap, and the revels of
Prince Henry; but our Falstaff was an old Scotch Seceder, and our Prince
a gifted young fellow, who owed all his influence over his fellows to
the force of his genius alone.

"Prithee, Hal," I said, "let us drink to Sir John."

"Why, yes," said the poet, "with all my heart. Not quite so fine a
fellow, though, 'bating his Scotch honesty. Half Sir John's genius would
have served for an epic poet--half his courage for a hero."

"His courage!" exclaimed one of the lads.

"Yes, Willie, his courage, man. Do you think a coward could have run
away with half the coolness? With a tithe of the courage necessary for
such a retreat, a man would have stood and fought till he died. Sir John
must have been a fine fellow in his youth."

"In mony a droll way may a man fa' on the drap drink," remarked John;
"an' meikle ill, dootless, does it do in takin' aff the edge o'