nner;--and, the better to expedite the business, I got
it to be permitted by the Lord Kelburne that the bonds should be sent
the same day to Irvine, where I hoped to be able next morning to
discharge them. All this was happily concerted and brought to a pleasant
issue before sunset;--at which time I was discharged from the tolbooth,
carrying with me many pious wishes from those who were there, and who
had not been so gently dealt by.

It was my intent to have proceeded home the same night, but my son was
very tired with the many errands he had run that day, and by his long
ride in the morning; moreover, I was myself in need of repose, for my
anxiety had brought on a disturbance in my blood, and my limbs shook,
and I was altogether unable to undertake any journey. I was therefore
too easily entreated of Archibald Lochrig, my wife's cousin, and one of
my cautioners, to stop in his house that evening. But next morning,
being much refreshed with a pleasant sleep and the fallacious cheering
of happy dreams, I left Ayr, with my son, before the break of day, and
we travelled with light feet, for our hearts were lifted up with hope.

Though my youth was long past, and many things had happened to sadden my
spirit, I yet felt on that occasion an unaccountable sense of kindliness
and joy. The flame of life was as it were renewed, and brightened in the
pure and breezy air of the morning, and a bounding gladness rose in my
bosom as my eye expatiated around in the freedom of the spacious fields.
On the left-hand the living sea seemed as if the pulses of its moving
waters were in unison with the throbbings of my spirit; and, like jocund
maidens disporting themselves in the flowing tide, the gentle waves,
lifting their heads, and spreading out their arms and raising their
white bosoms to the rising sun, came as it were happily to the smooth
sands of the sparkling shore. The grace of enjoyment brightened and
blithened all things. There was a cheerfulness in the songs of the
little birds that enchanted the young heart of my blooming boy to break
forth into singing, and his carol was gayer than the melody of the lark.
But that morning was the last time that either of us could ever after
know pleasure any more in this world.

Eager to be home, and that I might share with Sarah Lochrig and our
children the joy of thankfulness for my deliverance, I had resolved to
call, in passing through Irvine, at the clerk's chamber, to inquire if
the b