ellows about the smoking-room who
seemed, in the eyes of one who cannot count himself strait-laced, in
need of some more practical sort of teaching. They seemed only eager to
get drunk, and to do so speedily. It was not much more than a week after
the New Year; and to hear them return on their past bouts with a gusto
unspeakable was not altogether pleasing. Here is one snatch of talk, for
the accuracy of which I can vouch--

"Ye had a spree here last Tuesday?"

"We had that!"

"I wasna able to be oot o' my bed. Man, I was awful bad on Wednesday."

"Ay, ye were gey bad."

And you should have seen the bright eyes, and heard the sensual accents!
They recalled their doings with devout gusto and a sort of rational
pride. Schoolboys, after their first drunkenness, are not more boastful;
a cock does not plume himself with a more unmingled satisfaction as he
paces forth among his harem; and yet these were grown men, and by no
means short of wit. It was hard to suppose they were very eager about
the Second Coming: it seemed as if some elementary notions of temperance
for the men and seemliness for the women would have gone nearer the
mark. And yet, as it seemed to me typical of much that is evil in
Scotland, Maybole is also typical of much that is best. Some of the
factories, which have taken the place of weaving in the town's economy,
were originally founded and are still possessed by self-made men of the
sterling, stout old breed--fellows who made some little bit of an
invention, borrowed some little pocketful of capital, and then, step by
step, in courage, thrift, and industry, fought their way upward to an
assured position.

Abercrummie has told you enough of the Tolbooth; but, as a bit of
spelling, this inscription on the Tolbooth bell seems too delicious to
withhold: "This bell is founded at Maiboll Bi Danel Geli, a Frenchman,
the 6th November 1696, Bi appointment of the heritors of the parish of
Maiyboll." The Castle deserves more notice. It is a large and shapely
tower, plain from the ground upward, but with a zone of ornamentation
running about the top. In a general way this adornment is perched on the
very summit of the chimney-stacks; but there is one corner more
elaborate than the rest. A very heavy string-course runs round the upper
story, and just above this, facing up the street, the tower carries a
small oriel window, fluted and corbelled and carved about with stone
heads. It is so ornate it has somewhat t