breeding: 'Its not the custome when a prince doth snese to say, as to other persons, Dieu vous ayde, God help you, but only to make a low reverence.' After this, the learned will give us commentaries upon a sigh and a yawn; indeed the latter has already caused the spending of much philosophy. TO MY DOG. COSSACK, my mute companion, as thou sleep'st Where thy sweet days of puppyhood were past, On the dark bills capp'd with eternal clouds? The film which hides the future? Dost thou see Sweetest Cur, Tho' Cur thou he, unseemly, bandy legg'd, Yet hear me, Cossack, I would trust the heart ANY deadly feuds have subsisted from time immemorial between the families of M'Pherson of Bendearg, and Grant of Cairn, and were handed downunimpaired' even to the close of the last century. In earlier time the warlike chiefs of these names found frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual animosity; and few inheritors of the fatal quarrel left the world without having moistened it with the blood of some of their hereditary enemies.But in our own day the progress of civilization, which had reached even these wild countries-the heart of the North Highlands-although it could not distinguish entirely the transmitted spirit of revenge, at least kept it within safe bounds; and the feud of M'Pherson and Grant, threatened, in the course of another generation, to die entirely away, or at least to exist only in some vexatious lawsuit, fostered by the petty jealousies of two men of hostile tempers and contiguous property. It was not, however, without some ebullitions of ancient fierccuess, that the flame which had burned for so NO. IV. E many centuries seemed about to expire. Once, at a meeting of the country gentlemen, on a question of privilege arising, Bendearg took occasion to throw out some taunts aimed at his hereditary foe, which the fiery Grant immediately received as the signal of defiance, and a challenge was the consequence. The sheriff of the county, however, having got intimation of the affair, put both parties under arrest; till at length, by the persuasions of their friends-not friends by blood-and the representations of the magistrate, they shook hands, and each pledged his honour to forget-at least never again to remember in speech or action the ancient feud of his family. This occurrence, at the time, was the object of much interest in the country side; the rather as it seemed to give the lie to those prophecies of which every Highland family has an ample stock in its traditionary chronicles, and which expressly predicted that the enmity of Cairn and Bendearg should not be quenched but in blood; and on this seemingly cross-grained circumstance, some of the young men who had begun already to be tainted with the heresies of the lowlands, were seen to shake their heads as they reflected on the tales and the faith of their ancestors: but the grey-headed seers shook theirs still more wisely, and answered with the motto of a noble house, 'I bide my time.' There is a narrow pass between the mountains in the neighbourhood of Bendearg, well known to the traveller who adventures into these wilds in quest of the savage sublimities of nature. At a little distance it has the appearance of an immense artificial bridge thrown over a tremendous chasm; but on nearer approach is seen to be a wall of nature's own masonry, formed of vast and rugged bodies of solid rock, piled on each other as if in the giant sport of architecture. Its sides are in some places covered with trees of a considerable size; and the passenger who has a head steady enough to look down the precipice, may see the eyries of birds of prey beneath his feet. The path across is so narrow that it cannot admit of two persons passing along side; and indeed none but natives accustomed to the scene from infancy would attempt the dangerous route at all, though it saves three miles. Yet it sometimes happens that two travellers meet in the middle, owing to the curve formed by the pass preventing a view across from either side; and when this is the case, one is obliged to lie down, while the other crawls over his body. One day, shortly after the incident we have mentioned, a Highlander was walking fearlessly along the pass; sometimes bending over to watch the flight of the wild birds that built below, and sometimes detaching a fragment from the top, to see it dashed against the uneven sides, and bounding from rock to rock, while its sound echoed like a human voice, and died in faint and hollow murmurs at the bottom. When he had gained the highest part of the arch, he observed another coming leisurely up on the opposite side: he being himself of the patrician order, called out to him to halt and lie down; the person, however, disregarded the command, and the Highlanders met face to face on the summit. They were Cairn and Bendearg! These two hereditary enemies, who would have gloried and rejoiced in mortal strife with each other on a hill side, turned deadly pale at the fatal rencounter. I was first at the top,' said Bendearg, ' and called out first-lie down, that I may pass over in peace." "When the Grant prostrates himself before M'Pherson,' answered the other, it must be with a sword driven through his body.' Turn back, then,' said Bendearg, and repass as you came." Go back yourself, if you like it,' replied Grant, I will not be the first of my name to turn before the M'Pherson.' This was their short conference, and the result was exactly as each had anticipated. They then threw their bonnets over the precipice, and advanced with a slow and cautious pace closer to each other. They were both unarmed. Stretching their limbs like men preparing for a desperate struggle, they planted their feet firmly on the ground, compressed their lips, knit their dark brows, and fixing fierce and watchful eyes on each other, stood thus prepared for the onset. They both grappled at the same moment; but being of equal strength, were unable for some time to shift each other's. position-standing fixed on a rock, with suppressed breath, and muscles strained to the top of their bent," like statues carved out of solid stone. At length M'Pherson, suddenly removing his right foot so as to give him greater purchase, stooped his body, and bent his enemy down with him by main strength, till they both leaned over the precipice, looking downward into the terrible abyss. The contest was as yet doubtful, for Grant had placed his foot firmly on an elevation at the brink, and had equal command of his enemy; but at this moment M'Pherson sunk slowly and firmly on his knee, and while Grant suddenly started back, stooping to take the supposed advantage, whirled him over his head into the gulf. M'Pherson himself fell backwards, his body hanging partly over the rock-a fragment gave way beneath him, and he sunk farther, till, catching with a desperate effort at the solid stone above, he regained his footing. There was a pause of death-like stillness, and the bold heart of M'Pherson felt sick and faint. At length, as if compelled unwillingly by some mysterious feeling, he looked down over the precipice. Grant had caught with a death-gripe by the rugged point of a rock-his enemy was yet almost within his reach!-His face was turned upward, and there were in it horror and despair-but he uttered no word or cry. The next moment he loosed his hold-and the next, his brains were dashed out before the eyes of his hereditary foe; the mangled body disappeared among the trees, and its last heavy and hollow sound arose from the bottom! M'Pherson returned home an altered man. purchased a commission in the army, and fell bravely in the wars of the Peninsula. The Gaelic name of the place where this tragedy was acted, signifies Hell's Bridge, of which interesting object our engraving is an accurate and picturesque representation. He A THOUGHT ON WISDOM. THE wisest of those who live, is he who believes himself the nearest to death, and who regulates all his actions by that thought. The most sensible, on the contrary, among those who make scientific researches, is he who believes himself the farthest from the goal, and who, whatever knowledge he may have acquired, whatever advances he may have made in his road, studies as if he yet knew nothing, and marches as if he were only yet beginning to make his first advances. |