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As he sat at his meat, the music play'd sweet,
With the choicest of singing his joys to complete.

While the tinker did dine, he had plenty of wine,
Rich canary, with sherry, and tent superfine,
Like a right honest soul, faith, he took, off his bowl,
Till at last he began for to tumble and roll

From his chair to the floor, where he sleeping did snore,
Being seven times drunker than ever before.

Then the duke did ordain, they should strip him amain,
And restore him his old leather garments again :
'Twas a point next the worst, yet perform it they must,
And they carried him strait where they found him at first;
Then he slept all the night, as indeed well he might,
Bu twhen he did waken, his joys took their flight.

For his glory' to him' so pleasant did seem,

That he thought it to be but a mere golden dream;
But at length he was brought to the duke, where he sought
For a pardon, as fearing he had set him at nought;
But his highness he said, 'Thou'rt a jolly bold blade,
Such a frolic before, I think, never was play'd.'

Then his highness bespoke him a new suit and cloak,
Which he gave for the sake of his frolicsome joke;
Nay, and five hundred pounds, with ten acres of ground,
"Thou shalt never,' said he'range the countries around,
Crying old brass to mend, for I'll be thy good friend,
Nay, and Joan thy sweet wife shall my duchess attend.'
Then the tinker replied, 'what! must Joan my sweet bride
Be a lady, in chariots of pleasure to ride?

Must we have gold and land ev'ry day at command?
Then I shall be a squire I well understand:

Well I thank your good grace, and your love I embrace,
I was never before in so happy a case.'

THE VOW.

THE rose is my favourite flower:
On its tablets of crimson I swore,
That up to my last living hour

I never could think of thee more!
I scarcely the record had made,
Ere zephyr, in frolicsome play
On his light airy pinions conveyed
Both tablet and promise away,

HUMAN GLORY.-A FRAGMENT.

IN the piping times of peace' literature, science, and the arts attain their highest perfections, and men bail these halcyon days as the harbinger of national prosperity. Indeed, so repugnant is the very sound of WAR to a benevolent mind that nature sickens at those scenes of desolation and carnage with which the paltry ambitiou of man has so often strewed the earth, and dyed the very corn of the soil in human blood. Such was the victory of WATERLOO, the last in the annals of our history! Triumphs thus dearly purchased rather add to the calendar of crime than to the honors of a nation; and when the clamour of victory has subsided, the philanthropist mingles his sorrow with the groans of the wounded, and with the sympathies and bewailings of the widows and orphans of the slain.

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BOWED DAVIE.

HERE is an evident propensity in man, to confer the stamp of reality or past existence on even the most imaginary characters that come before him, whether from the pen of the dramatist, novelist, or incidental story-teller. Accordingly, in conformity with this principle, I find the Quarterly Reviewers, in an article published on the 'Tales of my Landlord,' pointing out an individual as the probable prototype of the Black Dwarf, or 'Cannie Elshie, of the ingenious and far-famed novelist. Now, with a laudable regard to facts, the Reviewer has referred us to the actual spot where this supposed original is said to have resided. He has thus rendered inquiry practicable; as I happen to know some particulars regarding the individual alluded to, which bear the reviewer's story out, as far as facts go, and correct it where exaggeration seems to have led him astray.

David Richie, alias Bowed Davie, for such was the name, of this real dwarf, lived for many years in a small cottage, on the farm of Woodhouse, parish of Manner, Peedlesshire, and was very generally known in that part of the country, by the name of Bowed David o' the Wod'use,' a name given to him from his remarkable deformity, his stature being short, his body thick, and his legs aukwardly bent, and although not possessed of that spheroidal form which is given to the Black Dwarf, yet evidently af

fording us, in all appearance, an imperfect prototype of
that mysterious personage. He also resembled Elshie in-
his temper, which was quite sour and misanthropical.
This was particularly displayed in his conduct to a sister
of his own, who resided many years in a neighbouring
cottage, but from whom he was completely estranged.
This cottage was erected for him by Sir James Nasmyth,
and was given to him rent-free. It was remarkable for the
lowness of the door, which was made proportionate to
the size of the inhabitant. The cottage was surround
ed by a garden, which was cultivated by Davie himself
and was long the admiration of every passenger who came
through the sequestered vale in which it lay. It was, in
fact, the richest garden for verdure and beauty which the
surrounding country could display; its walls were seven
feet high (a height uncommon in that part of the country)
and included some very large stones, which the dwarf him-
self is said to have lifted. The late Dr. Adam Ferguson,
who resided in the neighbouring mansion of Hallyards,
used sometimes to visit Davie as an amusement, in this
retired spot; but I never heard that any thing remarka-
ble occurred on these occasions. Sir Walter Scott was
also a frequent visitor of Davie's and was said to have
held long communings with him. So far the reviewer's
account of Bowed Davie' is consistent with facts; but
I believe it may be affirmed, that he was never much re-
marked for his intellectual superiority, and that the his-
tory of his mysterious appearance, and hasty rearing of
the cottage, rests on no better grounds than the mere ex-
aggerations of vulgar report. He lived to the advanced
age of 76 years; and rendered more dwarf-like by infirmi-
ty, died the 6th December, 1811-utterly unconscious, I
dare say, that his name and story would ever come before
the public. He was interred in the parish church-yard,
although he himself had expressed a wish that he might
be interred on a particular hillock in the neighbourhood
of his cottage. The following not unappropriate epitaph
was proposed by some pseudo poet, to mark his remains :

Here lies D. Ritchie's singular banes,
Stretched on the light red gravel stanes,
In you queer cave on Woodhouse croft,
A little garden he had wrought,

Twas there through life his way he fought,

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JUST once a year, when summer days are long,
When town is empty, and the moors are throng-
Just once a year I break the chains that bind,
For pine long months, my body and my mind,
And fly, with eager pleasure, to unbend
In the wild converse of one humble friend.
He was not humble twenty years ago,

When side by side we struggled, friend and foe;
When side by side we took our first degrees,
The boast of Johnians he, and I of Caius;
There as he lay upon his truckle bed,
Imaginary mitres graced his head;

Or French Savans, in flattering vision came
To hail the owner of his mighty name.

How would he then have scorn'd the fate that now
Sheds such contentment on his placid brow;
How turn with loathing from his humble lot,
In that lone vale forgetting and forgot?
And yet he loves it now; for all his care,
And all the objects of his love are there;
His is yon white-wash'd house with trees before,
And his the babes that play around the door;
His is the church whose high but ruined tower
Is deck'd with ivy, and each brighter flower;
And his the flock that come from vale and hill,
On sabbath days, that house of prayer to fill.
The Dilly stops, and there expectant stand
The vicar and his wife with open hand,
And looks of cordial love, that seem to say-
'We're glad you're come, and hope you mean to stay.'
The evening scarce suffices us to hear,

On either hand the happenings of the year-
How Jack, my godson, to his sire's surprize,
Has gained, at Winchester, the Latin prize-
How the rude 'squire has ceased to swear,

And comes to church, and kneels when he is there-
How well the Sunday school succeeds, and how
The girls all curtsey, and the boys all bow-
How rarely 'tis the game keeper can tell
He found a poacher skulking on the fell-

How drinking bouts, and boxing matches cease,
And some old saints have died in faith and peace.
So pass the evening hours, and pleased to hear
The toils and triumphs of a friend so dear,
I go to rest; but promise to attend,

Next morn, the parish progress of my friend,
First for the task with social meal and prayer,
Our bodies and our spirits we prepare;

Then through the garden plot while still the dew
Gives every leaf a greener, brighter, hue;
And by the church-yard elms we take our way,
Beneath whose shadows lie the tombstones grey,
There stands, of transept and of nave bereft,
One narrow aisle, the little that is left,
And then the vicar pauses still, to tell
From what high glory Hartley Abbey fell;
How she in ancient time her abbots sent,
With all a bishop's pomp, to parliament;
And spread her cloister'd palaces around
A hundred acres of that holy ground,
Till conscientious Henry's holy zeal

Reform'd the tainted church with fire and steel.-
I ne'er could catch this antiquarian rage,
But you may read the whole in Dugdale's page.
"Tis but a step across the village green,
Where the geese paddle in the pools between;
We lift the latch, and there before our eyes,
Bed-rid and blind the widow Thompson lies.
That short five minutes' walk across the green,
Suffic'd my friend to tell what she had been.
Loving and lov'd, she enter'd upon life,
A village beauty, and a farmer's wife;
And children sprung around, that left no fears
Of kindly succour in declining years,

All promis'd fair: but then her husband gave
His name, the credit of a friend to save;

And when the bill was due, that friend had flown
And left his bail to meet the storm alone:.
Markets were dull, and harvest months were wet,
And so poor farmer Thompson died in debt.
Then, though her children bloom'd in manly pride,
Consumption came, and one by one, they died
All-all were gone; and she was left behind,
To mourn and suffer,-poor, decrepid, blind!
She knew the very step of him, whose voice
Had taught her 'midst her sorrows to rejoice;

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