The funnyit tod cam furth to beik himself, The birds melodious chirpit in the schaw; - That sum wanchance was no that far awaw. An won a bricht pirn for a cast richt mirk. Sae rasé the Baillie an stravaigit out :Guess ye the baillie, quhase exploits I tell, In fyve-feit verses jingland tyme about. Nae feck o care was in the Baillie's heid; i He thocht nae mair nor commoun bodies think : He danderit on neir thinkand quhar awaw: He cryde; but naething answerit to his caw: He onlie wan quhar it had ky thit to dance. A quhyle he glowrit ;-hech, quhat an eirie sicht! A bussie schaw grew thick wi mournfu yew: Sure sic a spat was made to scaur the licht, An hyde wanhuman deids frae human view! How lang he stude, dementit, glowrand, thair ; Ar secrets still deip buryit in his pow. Quhat words he spak, we'll ablins'neir find out; But sum fell charm he surelie mannit to mutter ; For at the very bit he turnit about, A. And doddit hame to eat his rows and butter. HOW TO MAKE A FORTUNE. FROM THE ITALIAN. The ox, the horse, the sheep, and the ass, four animals of very different dispositions, agreed to travel and seek their fortunes. After traversing many a miry path and dirty lane,' they were surprised at the appearance of a beautiful meadow, the very goal that hope and imagination had previously anticipated. But alas! to this beautiful pasture they could discover only a single avenue, and that was guarded by a sturdy peasant, who brandished a soul-subduing cudgel to scare away all intruders. The timid sheep saw and fled. The persevering ox ruminated on the probabilities, resolved and reresolved, lowed apprehension and followed the sheep. The horse, at once courageous and spirited, despised the danger-but then the disgrace. "My body," neighed he, "will bear the marks of the struggle, and a sense of degradation will poison my felicity forever." Snorting disdain, he went onNot so the Ass. Ignorance precluded fear;—that impudence was a match for probability he knew, because he read the newspapers, and as to honour and disgrace pish! Possessed of so many qualifications negative and positive, what might not be expected? Boldly he proceeded to the attack, and although blows and ignominy covered him "all over like a cloak," tired his lusty opponent, and finally succceded. "See," exclaimed the longeared hero, from the flowery recess, to his companions on the outside, who had involuntarily halted to watch the result" See my friends, this is the way fortunes are made in the world.” Will the above fable apply to Honest industry? No. To laudable enterprize? Certainly not. To what then? How numerous the individuals around us who can answer the question. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. Some time ago we received a communication from “U. N." It is unfortunate, that one who seems so capable of writing and thinking, should have chosen so hacknied a subject; and the remarks which he makes have been already so often repeated, that we could scarcely excuse ourselves were we to admit them. We shall be glad to hear from him on any other subject less liable to the same objection. "Musæus" has been received, and shall find an early place. We thank him most warmly, though his visits are like those of Angels,-"few and far between.' Greenock: printed by R. Donaldson, THE VISITOR, OR, LITERARY MISCELLANY. No. XVI.-VOL. II. ON SLEEP. Tir'd Nature's sweet restorer! Balmy sleep! YOUNG. AUTHORS of all ages have agreed in dignifying sleep with the engaging name of the friend of the wretched! Poets have concurred to bestow on it the most delightful epithets! The miserable have implored its succour, and the weary have sought the blessings it confers! The antients were so convinced of its benignant influence on the human race, that they deified it; and Sanco Panza exclaims, "Blessings on the man that invented sleep! It wraps a man round like a warm blanket!" After these concurring testimonies of all ages and species in favour of this periodical image of death, bold must be the man who should presume to suspect that fiction has more to do in the business than truth; who should dare to hint that sleep far from being the universal benefactor of mankind, P the grand panacea for all human evils, is in fact deprecated by innumerable personages, and utterly defyed by many more than Macbeth or Chrononhotonthologos. When a man sedulously employs all his waking hours in the diligent increase of either knowledge or wealth, and finds them insufficient to satisfy his thirst when a lady passes every moment either in the contemplation of her charms, or in receiving the incense of innumerable loverswhen the mind is perpetually agitated by the interesting freaks of Fortune at the gaming table-or when any other pursuit of equal magnitude (if such there be) engrosses the whole of life, I can conceive that sleep may be an unwelcome intruder. But it is not merely those who are thus importantly occupied, who contemn and defy the inroads of that soft deluder! Many, who, as philosophical observers might imagine, do nothing but sleep, feel it an insult to be suspected of giving way to so opprobious a weakness. The shifts and subterfuges to which many well disposed dreamers have recourse, to prove themselves awake at the very moment when their companions have been disturbed by their snoring, resemble the ingenious evasions by which accused culprits endeavour to establish the plea of an alibi. I have seen a man taxed with being asleep, rouse himself indignantly from a dream, (which perhaps had placed him on a throne,) and assume an air of jocularity, to prove how well he had been attending to the conversation, |