NORTH.

Very good-now be so good as bring on Lord Prudhoe.

TICKLER.

I can't say whether he or Mr Felix named the first name-but it was WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. The Magician made three reverences towards the window, waved his wand nine times, sung out something beyond their interpretation, and at length called out, "Boy, what do you behold?”—“ The Sultan alone remains," said the child-" and beside him I see a pale-faced Frank-but not dressed like these Franks-with large eyes, a pointed beard, a tall hat, roses on his shoes, and a short mantle !" You laugh—shall I proceed?

NORTH.

Certé-What next?

TICKLER.

The other asked for Francis Arouet de Voltaire, and the boy immediately described a lean, old, yellow-faced Frank, with a huge brown wig, a nutmeg-grater profile, spindle shanks, buckled shoes, and a gold snuff

box!

NORTH.

My dear Tickler, don't you see that any print-book must have made this scoundrel familiar to such phizzes as these?

TICKLER.

Listen. Lord Prudhoe now named Archdeacon Wrangham, and the Arab boy made answer, and said, "I perceive a tall grey-haired Frank, with a black silk petticoat, walking in a garden, with a little book in his hand. He is reading on the book-his eyes are bright and gleaming-his teeth are white-he is the happiest-looking Frank I ever beheld."

NORTH.

Go on.

TICKLER.

I am only culling out three or four specimens out of fifty. Major Felix now named a brother of his, who is in the cavalry of the East India Company, in the presidency of Madras. The Magician signed, and the boy again answered, “ I see a red-haired Frank, with a short red jacket, and white trowsers. He is standing by the sea-shore, and behind him there is a black man, in a turban, holding a beautiful horse richly caparisoned.”— "God in Heaven!" cried Felix.-" Nay," the boy resumed, "this is an odd Frank-he has turned round while you are speaking, and, by Allah! he has but one arm!"-Upon this the Major swooned away. His brother lost his left arm in the campaign of Ava! Verbum non amplius. Seeing is believing.

NORTH.

Why the devil did they not bring Maugraby with them to England?
Perhaps the devil's power only lingers in Africa!

TICKLER.

NORTH.

Tell that to the marines.

SHEPHERD.

I'll tell ye a ten thoosan' times mair extraordinar story than that o' Lord Proud-O's-gin I had only something till eat. But I wad defy Shakspeare himsell to be trawgic on an empty stammack. Oh! when wull thae dear guttural months be comin' in again-the months wi' the RRR's! Without eisters this is a weary warld. The want o' them's a sair drawback on the simmer. (Enter Supper.) What! Groose? Groose afore the Tualt? That's a great shame. Gie's the auld Cock. [They sup.

Edinburgh Printed by Ballantyne & Co. Paul's Work, Canongate.

BLACKWOOD'S

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

No. CLXXXV.

SEPTEMBER, 1831.

Contents.

THE WISHING-TREE,

ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. No. IX.
AN AWFU' LEEIN'-LIKE STORY BY THE ETTRICK SHEPherd,

SIR H. PARNELL ON FINANCIAL REFORM,

AN HOUR'S TALK ABOUT POETRY,

ON THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE WHIG ADMINISTRATION. No. I.

VOL. XXX.

BELGIUM,

OPINIONS OF AN AMERICAN REPUBLICAN, AND OF A BRITISH WHIG ON
THE BILL,

DREAMS OF HEAVEN. BY MRS HEMANS,

TO A BUTTERFLY NEAR A TOMB. BY MRS HEMANS,

NOCTES AMBROSIANÆ. No. LVIII.

423

432

448

457

475

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.

491

506

529

530

531

EDINBURGH:

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, NO. 45, GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH;

AND T. CADELL, strand, London.

To whom Communications (post paid) may be addressed.

SOLD ALSO BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

This day is Published, price 3s.

THE EDINBURGH LAW JOURNAL, No. III.,

For August, 1831.

CONTENTS.-1. Lawyer-Reform, or Observations on the Prevailing Moral Standard of Legal Practice, and Hints for a Revision of it by the Profession.-II. Dis tinction between Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.—III. Principles of Prescrip tion, with the History of its Rise and Progress in the Law of Scotland.-IV. Teind Court.-V. Considerations as to the Expediency of Imposing on a Judge the Duty of Examining into Correctness of the Statements of the Parties-VI. Suggestions for the Improvement of Courts of Justice, No. I-VII. On the Forms and Style of Land Rights in Scotland.-VIII. Transactions of Society for the Consideration of Questions relating to the Form of Process.-IX. Remarks on Recent Decisions. -X. Legal Intelligence-Sequestrations awarded by the Court of Session, from 12th March to 11th July, 1831-Cessiones Bonorum, for the same period.-List of Persons confirmed as Trustees on Sequestrated Estates, from 12th March to 11th July, 1831.-Discharges.

Printed for WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, Edinburgh ;
And T. CADELL, Strand, London,

1

Now, Mary M'Gragh, dost thou not see

The boughs how they quiver above thy head?
Knowest thou not the Wishing-Tree,

That ev'ry green leaf is a Fairy's bed,

And they're bending out over, thy bidding to take,
And 'tis that which maketh the leaves to shake?

Then Mary M'Gragh she wish'd more and more
A costly wardrobe all complete,

As ever the Queen of Sheba wore

For wishes are seldom too discreet;
And fast as the words flew out of her mouth,
Away went the Fairies north and south.

Away went the Fairies east and west,
As, by the laws of Faierie,

VOL. XXX.

They are bound to do for every guest

That wisheth beneath the Wishing-Tree;
But how they sped, and the work went on,
Wait but a while and you'll hear anon.

But first I must ring my magical bell,

To call my own dear Sprite to my ear,
To read me The Fairy-Chronicle;

And all you can comprehend you'll hear,
Yet a thousand to one you take for lies

2 E

What's read from the book or seen with these eyes. VOL. XXX. NO. CLXXXV.

Part II.

“Work on, work on,” quoth the Fairy Queen,

“ Work on, work on, my merry sweet elves, In air so bright or on earth so green,

Under the boughs or on lichen shelves,
Under the pebbles in glassy wells,
The bat's dark holes, or in waxen cells."

They stitch, they hammer, they line, they mark,

And though fifteen hundred beetles' snouts Are splitting the reeds and sawing the bark,

And each master-workman has fifty scouts, Yet you could but hear such hum as floats, When sunbeams sport with the busy motes. A veil they made of the spider's thread,

And the gossamer's floating film they spin,
With flowers of jasmine overspread,

For a gown of the finest mosselin;
And another they peel from the silken skin
That lines the tulip, farthest in.
And to edge and trim the mosselin sleeves,

Myriads of insects are set to trace
The fibres among the fallen leaves,

Of which they make the finest lace-
And finer and better, sure I am,
Ne'er came from Bruxelles or Nottingham.
The sparkles they fly from the beetle's wing,

As they clip it and file it for a clasp,
As the golden dust from brooch or ring

That shineth beneath a jeweller's rasp;
And as they flew they bronzed the streaks
In the tulips, that look'd like Nature's freaks.
Full fifty thousand Dumbledoors

The Elves they slew with a forked pin,
For a velvet boddice, except the gores,

And they were made of the black mole's skin;
The boddice was clasp'd with beetles' wings,
Prick'd with needles of hornets' stings.
They took a tuft of the trembling grass,

Sprinkled with dust of daffodil,
Till it shone as it shook like yellow glass,

Or light that sunbeams might distil.
And oh, it was a most rare device,
For a feather of Bird of Paradise.
From the damask-rose they cull'd drops of dew,

And made of them crystals ruby-stain'dThey pinch'd the glow-worms black and blue,

And filch'd their light when they were pain'd, Which in sand, in spar, and pebble set, Became amethyst, diamond, pearl, and jet.

A thousand merry-men hunt the shrubs,

With links from the wild-foal's mane to bind Living and writhing the hairy grubs,

For a tippet of the Boa-kind.