ent in the British character; but such remarks, often accompanied
as they were with offensive comparisons from Eisteddfod platforms,
would in future be put to the test, for they would, with their new
educational machinery, be placed on a footing of perfect equality with
the Scotch and the Irish people."

And here must come to an end the character history of my autumn tour in
Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire, and Wales. I had not the remotest
intention when setting out of collecting information and writing down
my recollections of the journey. But the persons I met, and the
information I received, were of no small interest--at least to myself;
and I trust that the reader will derive as much pleasure from perusing
my observations as I have had in collecting and writing them down. I
do think that the remarkable persons whose history and characters I
have endeavoured, however briefly, to sketch, will be found to afford
many valuable and important lessons of Self-Help; and to illustrate how
the moral and industrial foundations of a country may be built up and
established.

Footnotes for Chapter XII.

[1] A "poet," who dates from "New York, March 1883," has published
seven stanzas, entitled "Change here for Blairgowrie," from which we
take the following:--

"From early morn till late at e'en,
John's honest face is to be seen,
Bustling about the trains between,
Be 't sunshine or be 't showery;
And as each one stops at his door,
He greets it with the well-known roar
Of 'Change here for Blairgowrie.'
Even when the still and drowsy night
Has drawn the curtains of our sight,
John's watchful eyes become more bright,
And take another glow'r aye
Thro' yon blue dome of sparkling stars
Where Venus bright and ruddy Mars
Shine down upon Blairgowrie.
He kens each jinkin' comet's track,
And when it's likely to come back,
When they have tails, and when they lack--
In heaven the waggish power aye;
When Jupiter's belt buckle hings,
And the Pyx mark on Saturn's rings,
He sees from near Blairgowrie."

[2] The Observatory, No. 61, p. 146; and No. 68, p. 371.

[3] In an article on the subject in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, Mr.
Robertson observes: "If our finite minds were more capable of
comprehension, what a glorious view of the grandeur of the Deity would
be displayed to us in the contemplation of the centre and source of
light and heat to the solar system. The force requisite to po