r
Silence comes, as o'er the valley,
Where all rioted so gaily,
When the sudden bursting thunder
Overpowers with awe and wonder--
Till again begins the fuss--
'Master, Jock's aye nippin' us!'
I could hear the fountains flowing,
Where the light hill-breeze was blowing,
And the wild-wing'd plover wailing,
Round the brow of heaven sailing;
Bleating flocks and skylarks singing,
Echo still to echo ringing--
Sounds still, still so wont to waken
That no note of them is taken,
Yet which seem to lend assistance
To the blessing of existence.

"'Who shall trow thee wise or witty,
Lore of "the Eternal City,"
Or derive delight and pleasure
From the blood-stain'd deeds of Caesar,
Thus bewildering his senses
'Mong these cases, moods, and tenses?
Still the wrong-placed words arranging,
Ever in their finals changing;
Out and in with hic and hockings,
Like a loom for working stockings.
Latin lords and Grecian heroes--
Oh, ye gods, in mercy spare us!
How may mortals be contented,
Thus confined and thus tormented!'

"My teacher, the late Richard Scott, was an accurate classical scholar,
which perhaps accounts for his being, unlike some others of his
profession, free from pedantry. He was kind-hearted and somewhat
disposed to indolence, loving more to converse with one of my years than
to instruct him in languages. He had seen a good deal of the world and
its ways, and I learned much from him besides Greek and Latin. We were
great friends and companions, and rarely separate when both of us were
unengaged otherwise.

"I bore aloof from making many acquaintances; yet, ere long, I became
pretty extensively acquainted with the people of the place. It went
abroad that I was a bard from the mountains, and the rumour affixed to
me a popularity which I did not enjoy. A party of young men in the
village had prepared themselves to act 'the Douglas Tragedy,' and wished
a song, which was to be sung between this and the farce. The air was of
their own fixing, and which, in itself, was wild and beautiful; but,
unfortunately, like many others of our national airs possessed of these
qualities, it was of a measure such as rendered it difficult to write
words for. Since precluded from introducing poetic sentiment, I
substituted a dramatic plot, and being well sung by alternate voices,
the song was well received, and so my fa