"but," says he, "I gave them the short cut at last, and left the kine in the carn, and ever since that time, I have continued a souldier abroad and at home."

The singular production noticed above, which was written at the age of seventy-three, has so much of the whimsical solemnity of nothing, and is written in so uncouth a style, that a specimen may, probably, afford the reader some amusement. For this purpose, we shall select his account of a celebrated impostor of his race.

"Walter Scott was Robert's son ;

And Robert he was Walter's son,

The first of Whitehaugh that from Borthwick sprung.
That Wat of Whitehaugh was cousin-german

To John of Borthwick that fasted so long.
Three sundry times he did perform
To fast forty days, I do aver;

Bishop Spotswood, my author is he,

A profound learn'd prelate, that would not lie:
When James the Fifth he was Scotland's King,
In the Castle of Edinburgh he incarcer'd him,
And would not believe the country says,

That any mortal could fast forty days;

Bare bread and water the King allow'd for his meat,
But John Scott refused and would not eat:

'When the forty days were come and gone,

He was a great deal lustier than when he began.'

Then of the King he did presume

To beg recommendation to the Pope of Rome,
'Where there he fasted forty days more,

And was neither hungry, sick, nor sore.'
From Rome he did hastily return,
And arrived in Brittain at London,

Where Henry the Eighth he got notice,

That John Scott had fasted twice forty days;

The King would not believe he could do such thing,
For which he commanded to incarcerate him;
Forty days expired, he said he had no pain,
That his fast had been but ten hours' time.

Here, Walter Scott, I'll draw near an end,

From John of Borthwick, thy fathers did descend," &c.

The following account of this John Scott is given in Dalzell's "Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century," on the authority of Lesly and Bishop Spotiswoode.

"A person, having a lawsuit, and unable to pay, took refuge in Holyrood-House, which is still a sanctuary for debtors. He abstained a long time from food; on which the King, it is said, tried this faculty, for thirty-twa days, in a private chamber. He was dismissed, and, coming half naked into the street, professed to the people, that what he had done was from the assistance of the Virgin Mary.

Many supposed him a sacred person, but others, with more probability, that he was mad; so that, being soon neglected, he went to Rome, where he gave Pope Clement a similar proof, and, besides getting a certificate of so valuable a quality, he obtained some money to defray the expense of a journey to Jerusalem.

"As he returned by London, he preached against King Henry's divorce and defection from the Holy See, for which he was imprisoned; and having fasted fifty days, he was dismissed for a madman. Falling in with another rogue by profession, who earned a livelihood by exhibiting miracles, and selling relics, they agreed to join their fortunes. But one of them appropriating too much of the spoil, the other deserted him; and, erecting an altar, set up his own daughter, a beautiful young woman, as an image of the Virgin Mary, and thousands flocked to worship her. The cell became a kind of fashionable resort; young men and women made pilgrimages to the hermit, but, as we learn from Sir David Lindsay's • Exclamatioun aganis Idolatrie,' for purposes very different from devout. The imposture was, however, exposed, as soon as men durst begin to write."

We must not omit the "

Scott's poem:

Envoy" of Walter

Begone, my book, stretch forth thy wings and fly Amongst the nobles and gentility:

Thou'rt not to sell to scavengers and clowns,
But given to worthy persons of renown.

The number's few I've printed, in regard

My charges have been great, and I hope reward;

I caused not print many above twelve score,

And the printers are engaged that they shall print no more."

The book was reprinted in 1776.

BAXTER'S JUDGMENT OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES.

THE following extract from the Prefatory Address to this celebrated Nonconformist's "Poetical Fragments, 1681," comprises an interesting notice of several contemporary writers, of high reputation in their day.

"These times have produced many excellent poets; among whom, for strength of wit, Dr. [Mr.] Abraham Cooley [Cowley] justly bears the bell. I much value Mr. Woodford's Paraphrase on the Psalms; though his genius, or somewhat else, expounds some of the Psalms so, as the next age will confute. A Woman's

Poems, the Lady Catherine Phillips, are far above contempt; but that is best to me which is most holy.

"Honest George Withers, though a rustic poet, hath been very acceptable; as to some, for his prophecies, so to others, for his plain country honesty. The vulgar were the more pleased with him for being so little courtly as to say

'If I might have been hung, I know not how
To teach my body how to cringe and bow,
And to embrace a fellow's hinder quarters,
As if I meant to steal away his garters:
When any bowed to me, with congees trim,
All I could do, was stand and laugh at him.
Bless me! thought I, what will this coxcomb do?
When I perceiv'd one reaching at my shoe.'

Quarles yet outwent him: mixing competent wit with piety; especially in his poem against Rest on Earth.'

"Silvester, or Dubartas, seems to me to outdo them both.

"Sir Fulk Grevill, Lord Brook, a man of great note in his age, hath a poem lately printed (1670), for subjects' liberty, which I greatly wonder this age would bear. There are no