der her protection; or, on the other hand, to have the matter heard of afterwards, and her family disgraced for concealing such a guest. KINGSBURGH then determined to take him at all hazards to his own house: they had to go two miles, and a crowd of people returning from church, took the same road. FLORA and her attendant preceded, and KINGSBURGH fell back a little to share the conversation, and divide the attention of his fellow-travellers. He found them all engaged on one common topic, the aukward strides and uncouth appearance of the Irish maid. He told them it was a shameful thing, immediately after hearing the word of GOD, to spend their time in conversation so idle and sinful, as commenting on the defects or peculiarities of their neighbours: The well-meaning rustics were abash'd and silent, and the maid walked on peaceably. They rested by the sea-side till all the family were in bed, when they introduced their guest to the dining-room, and KINGSBURGH summoned his wife to attend him. She was in great concern, not knowing, as she said, how to appear before Majesty. Upon being introduced, she knelt with much reverence, and was raised and saluted by her guest. She heard, with great concern, how he had lived for some time past; went and dressed a neat supper, at which she attended standing, while KINGSBURGH was prevailed on to sit. At day-light the PRINCE retired to a comfortable bed, provided for him in a private apartment; there he slept all day, and when he rose, his hostess folded his sheets and put them in a drawer, that she might preserve them to be buried in. He set off that night in a different disguise: the circumstances of his having

been concealed in that family, and of his female dress, were however traced out; in consequence of which FLORA and her father in law were seized and carried prisoners, with many others, on board a frigate then lying in the road, and taken to London, in order to be tried for misprision of trea

son.

No. 33.

To ages yet unborn th' undying song.-P. 92.

The Isle of Sky still retains, in some degree, its ancient pre-eminence above the rest of the Hebrides; it is the native region of Gaelic music and poetry. The inhabitants held their land on very easy terms; the surrounding sea poured all its riches upon their coasts, and even foreign luxuries, from the frequent passage of Dutch and Danish vessels through their straits, were obtained at an easier rate than in most other places. They had a succession of very learned and intelligent clergy among them, one of whom, DR MACPHERSON, father to the present SIR JOHN, was the first who threw light upon Gaelic antiquities. It is singular enough, that the Sky gentlemen, though more enlightened and informed than almost any set of people of their own rank, did not often acquire much taste for the English classics. Having early cultivated a poetical taste at home, that taste, formed on the simple and sublime models of OSSIAN, and the poets of his remote age, was gratified at college chiefly by the perusal of the Greek and Roman poets. MILTON was the only Eng

lish poet they set any value on; they read and quoted Latin all their life after being at college; but, instead of studying English poetry, returned with a heightened relish to the admiration of their own. Hence the latter Gaelic songs in the Isle of Sky, abound with classical allusions. HECTOR, HELEN, JUNO, and VENUS, are there most familiarly used,

"To point a moral, or adorn a tale."

No. 34.

TO FLORA long had vow'd his plighted truth.-P. 93. FLORA MACDONALD, who was a young woman of singular good sense and excellent principles, added to these advantages a genteel figure, mild, pleasing countenance, great self-command, and soft decorous manners. She was the daughter of a respectable gentleman in the island of South Uist; who dying very young, his widow, in FLORA's infancy, married MACDONALD of Kingsburgh, who had one son by a former marriage. These young people, as they grew up, contracted an attachment to each other, and were in a manner betrothed at the time she was carried away prisoner.

No. 35.

The just applause due to the dauntless maid.-P. 96. FLORA, on this trying occasion, behaved with astonishing composure and propriety; for she had death in immediate prospect, and did not indulge a hope of escaping. KINGSBURGH, her fellow-sufferer, was asked afterwards if

he did not feel a very lively pleasure in being relieved from the terrors of death, and restored to a family in which he was known to be singularly happy. He said, no; he was not in the least elated; the bitterness of death was over with him ; he had divorced his mind from its dearest earthly ties, made every preparation for his change, and was quite resigned, in full hope of the divine aid to support it like a Christian. He had brought himself to consider lengthened life as merely protracted sin and suffering, and could hardly hope again to prepare himself for death at full leisure, in possession of all his faculties.

No. 36.

That treacherous FLORA royal blood betray'd.-P. 97.

It was truly in consequence of such a conversation as is. here recited, that FLORA and her associates were discharged; and from the greatness of mind shewn by the Moparch on this occasion, there is room to conclude, that had not the royal ear been engrossed by inhuman and unwise counsellors, the overstrained rigour of that juncture would not have been permitted to stain the annals of a reign otherwise glorious.

No. 37.

Preserves the simple manners of the plain.-P. 98.

It is a fact, that during the time FLORA staid in London after her discharge, she received distinguished attentions from the discontented party; every day carriages waited at her door with invitations from ladies of distinction,

who loaded her with civilities and presents. She is said also to have had very advantageous offers of marriage, and to have been much admired in her own circle. Determined however to assume no new character, incompatible with that to which she was resolved to return, she, with the finest linen and most valuable trinkets, always preserved a characteristic and national form of dress; she wore the Highland plaid, adjusted in the modest and becoming form then usual among Scottish ladies; and her gown, though the finest of the kind to be had, was invariably tartan. During the remainder of her life she received a pension from some of the leaders of the declining faction in England.

No. 38.

And oft to want his liberal bounty dealt.-P. 99.

FLORA was very happily married, and made an excel lent wife and mother. Some of her descendents, worthy of their parents, are still alive. KINGSBURGH was a man of great worth and spirit, but affected a liberal and showy stile of living, rather beyond his circumstances, though these were very easy; this concurred, with other causes alluded to in the poem, to induce the family to emigrate to America in the year 1776.

No. 39.

Endur'd the rigid law's forbidding frown.-P. 103. Nothing could depress the Highlanders more than the imagined policy of depriving them of a national habit which