ry good examples of Scottish humour,
and always expressing their great pleasure in reading, when in distant
lands and foreign scenes, anecdotes which reminded them of Scotland, and
of their ain days of "auld langsyne."

There is no mistaking the national attachment so strong in the Scottish
character. Men return after long absence, in this respect, unchanged;
whilst absent, Scotsmen _never_ forget their Scottish home. In all
varieties of lands and climates their hearts ever turn towards the "land
o' cakes and brither Scots." Scottish festivals are kept with Scottish
feeling on "Greenland's icy mountains" or "India's coral strand." I
received an amusing account of an ebullition of this patriotic feeling
from my late noble friend the Marquis of Lothian, who met with it when
travelling in India. He happened to arrive at a station upon the eve of
St. Andrew's Day, and received an invitation to join a Scottish dinner
party in commemoration of old Scotland. There was a great deal of
Scottish enthusiasm. There were _seven_ sheep-heads (singed) down the
table; and Lord Lothian told me that after dinner he sang with great
applause "The Laird o' Cockpen."

Another anecdote arising out of Scotsmen meeting in distant lands, is
rather of a more serious character, and used to be told with exquisite
humour by the late lamented Dr. Norman Macleod. A settler in Australia,
who for a long time had heard nothing of his Scottish kith and kin, was
delighted at the arrival of a countryman direct from his own part of the
country. When he met with him, the following conversation took place
between them:--_Q_. "Ye ken my fouk, friend; can ye tell me gin my
faather's alive?" _A_.--"Hout, na; he's deed." _Q_.--"Deed! What did he
dee o'? was it fever?" _A_.--"Na, it wasna fever." _Q_.--"Was it
cholera?" _A_.--"Na." The question being pressed, the stranger drily
said, "Sheep," and then he accompanied the ominous word by delicately
and significantly pointing to the jugular under his ear. The man had
been hanged for sheep-stealing!

It must always be amusing for Scotsmen to meet in distant lands, and
there to play off on each other the same dry, quaint humour which
delighted them in their native land, and in their early days at home. An
illustration of this remark has been communicated by a kind
correspondent at Glasgow. Mrs. Hume, a true Scot, sends me the following
dialogue, accompanied by a very clever etching of the parties, from the
Melbourne