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D. sity —— a, 2 HM yQss SESS é co) ae Va BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS. M DCCCLIX, Riverside, Cambridge: Stereotyped and Printed by H. O. Hoveuton & Co. To my TWO FRIENDS at Busby, Renfrewshire, In Remembrance of a Fourney from Carstairs Function to Toledo and back. cele “JOS dee: a 3 7 Rey a 1 : 43 %; nee ea : AER 3 Cun v eee een rae fy ed 4 , fe! ‘ Br cas ‘ ¥ et, Tae RAB AND HIS FRIENDS. OUR-AND-THIRTY years ago, Bob Ainslie and I were coming up Infirmary Street from the High School, our heads to- gether, and our arms intertwisted, as only lovers and boys know how or why. When we got to the top of the street, and turned north, we espied a crowd at the Tron Church. “A dog-fight!” shouted Bob, and was off; and so was I,»both of us all but pray- ing that it might not be over before we got up! And is not this boy-nature? and human nature too? and don’t we all wish a house on fire not to be out before we see it? Dogs like fighting; old Isaac says they “delight ” in it, and for the best of all reasons; and boys are not cruel because they like to see the fight. They see three of the great cardinal virtues of dog or man—courage, endurance, and 6 Rab and his Friends. skill—in intense action. ‘This is very differ- ent from a love of making dogs fight, and enjoying, and aggravating, and making gain by their pluck. A boy—be he ever so fond himself of fighting, if he be a good boy, hates and despises all this, but he would have run off with Bob and me fast enough: it is a natural, and a not wicked interest, that all boys and men have in witnessing intense energy in action. Does any curious and finely-ignorant wom- an wish to know how Bob’s eye at a glance announced a dog-fight to his brain? He did not, he could not see the dogs fighting; it was a flash of an inference, a rapid induction. The crowd round a couple of dogs fighting, is a crowd masculine mainly, with an occa- sional active, compassionate woman, flutter- ing wildly round the outside, and using her tongue and her hands freely upon the men, as so many “brutes;” it is a crowd annular, compact, and mobile; a crowd centripetal, having its eyes and its heads all bent down- wards and inwards, to one common focus. Well, Bob and I are up, and find it is not over: asmall thoroughbred, white bull-terrier, is busy throttling a large shepherd’s dog, unac- Rab and his Friends. ° 7 customed to war, but not to be trifled with. They are hard at it; the scientific little fellow doing his work in great style, his pastoral ene- my fighting wildly, but with the sharpest of teeth and a great courage. Science and breed- ing, however, soon had their own; the Game Chicken, as the premature Bob called him, working his way up, took his final grip of poor Yarrow’s throat,—and he lay gasping and done for. His master, a brown, hand- some, big young shepherd from Tweedsmuir, would have liked to have knocked down any man, would “drink up Esil, or eat a croco- dile,” for that part, if he had a chance: it was no use kicking the little dog; that would only make him hold the closer. Many were the means shouted out in mouthfuls, of the best possible ways of ending it.- ‘“ Water!” but there was none near, and many cried for it who might have got it from the well at Black- friars Wynd. “Bite the tail!” and a large, vague, benevolent, middle-aged man, more desirous than wise, with some struggle got the bushy end of Yarrow’s tail into his ample mouth, and bit it with all his might. — This was more than enough for the much-enduring, Fe} Rab ied his Friends. much-perspiring shepherd, who, with a gleam of joy over his broad visage, delivered a terrific facer upon our large, vague, benevolent, mid- dle-aged friend,— who went down like a shot. Still the Chicken holds;- death not far off. “Snuff! a pinch of snuff!” observed a calm, highly-dressed young buck, with an eye-glass in his eye. “Snuff, indeed!” growled the an- gry crowd, affronted and glaring. “Snuff! a pinch of snuff!” again observes the buck, but with more urgency; whereupon were produced several open boxes, and from a mull which. may have been at Culloden, he took a pinch, knelt down, and presented it to the nose of the Chicken. The laws of physiology and of snuff take their course; the Chicken sneezes, and Yarrow is free. The young pastoral giant stalks off with Yarrow in his arms,—comforting him. But the Bull Terrier’s blood is up, and his soul unsatisfied; he grips the first dog he meets, and discovering she is not a dog, in Homeric phrase, he makes a brief sort of amende, and is off. The boys, with Bob and me at their head, are after him: down Niddry Street he goes, bent on mischief; up the tne — " tte... Rab and his Friends. 9 Cowgate, like an arrow — Bob and I, and our small men, panting behind. There, under the single arch of the South Bridge, is a huge mastiff, sauntering down the middle of the causeway, as if with his hands in his pockets: he is old, gray, brindled, as big as a little Highland bull, and has the Shaks- perian dewlaps shaking as he goes. . The Chicken makes straight at him, and fastens on his throat. To our astonishment, the great creature does nothing but stand still, hold himself up, and roar—yes, roar; a long, serious, remonstrative roar. How is this? Bob and I are up to them. He zs muzzled! The bailies had proclaimed a general muzzling, and his master, studying strength and economy mainly, had encompassed his huge jaws in a home-made apparatus, constructed out of the leather of some ancient breechin. His mouth was open as far as it could; his lips curled up in rage—a sort of terrible grin; his teeth gleaming, ready, from out the darkness; the strap across his mouth tense as,a bowstring ; his whole frame stiff with indignation and sur- prise; his roar asking us all round, “Did you ever see the like of this?” He looked a statue 10 Rab and his Friends. of anger and astonishment, done in Aberdeen granite. : We soon had a crowd: the Chicken held on. “A knife!” cried Bob; and a cobbler gave him his knife: you know the kind of knife, worn away obliquely to a point, and always keen. I put its edge to the tense leather; it raft before it; and then!—one sudden jerk of that enormous head, a sort of dirty mist about his mouth, no noise,—and the bright and fierce little fellow is dropped, limp, and dead. A solemn pause: this was more than any of us had bargained for. I turned the little fellow over, and saw he was quite dead: the mastiff had taken him by the small of the back, like a rat, and broken it. He looked down at his victim appeased, ashamed and amazed; snuffed him all over, stared at him, and taking a sudden thought, turned round and trotted off Bob took the dead dog up, and said, “John, we'll bury him after tea.” ‘“ Yes,” said I, and was off after the mastiff. He.made up the Cowgate at a rapid swing; he had forgotten some engagement. He turned up the Candlemaker Row, and stopped at the Harrow Inn. . Rab and his Friends. Uae ES There was a carrier’s cart ready to start, and a keen, thin, impatient, black-a-vised little man, his hand at his gray horse’s head, looking about angrily for something. “ Rab, ye thief!” said he, aiming a kick at my great friend, who drew cringing up, and avoiding the heavy shoe with more agility than dignity, and watching his master’s eye, slunk dismayed under the cart, —his ears down, and as much as he had of tail down too. What a man this must be—thought I—to whom my tremendous hero turns tail! The carrier saw the muzzle hanging, cut and use- less, from his neck, and I eagerly told him the story, which Bob and I always thought, and still think, Homer, or King David, or Sir Walter, alone were worthy to rehearse. The severe little man was mitigated, and conde- scended to say, “ Rab, ma man, puir Rabbie,” — whereupon the stump of a tail rose up, the ears were cocked, the eyes filled, and were comforted; the two friends were reconciled. “Hupp!” and a stroke of the whip were given to Jess; and off went the three. _ Bob and I buried the Game Chicken that 12 Rab and his Friends. night (we had not much of a tea) in the back- ‘green of his house in Melville Street, No. 17, with considerable gravity and silence; and being at the time in the Iliad, and, ioe all boys, Trojans, we called him Hector of course. aim years have passed,—a long time for a ‘boy and a dog: Bob Ainslie is off to the wars; 1 am a medical student, and clerk at Minto House Hospital. Rab I saw almost every week, on the Wednesday; and we had much pleasant in- timacy. I found the way to his heart by frequent scratching of his huge head, and an occasional bone. When I did not notice him he would plant himself straight before me, and stand wagging that bud of a tail, and looking up, with his head a little to the one side. His master I occasionally saw; he used to call me “Maister John,” but was laconic as any Spartan. One fine October afternoon, I was leaving the hospital, when I saw the large gate open, and in walked Rab, with that great and easy Rab and his Friends. 13 saunter of his. He looked as if taking general possession of the place; like the Duke of Wellington entering a subdued city, satiated with victory and peace. After him came Jess, now white from age, with her cart; and in it a woman, carefully wrapped up,—the carrier leading the horse anxiously, and looking back. When he saw me, James (for his name was James Noble) made a curt and grotesque “boo,” and said, ‘“ Maister John, this is the mistress; she’s got a trouble in her breest— some kind o’ an income we're thinkin’.” By this time I saw the woman’s face; she was sitting on a sack filled with straw, her husband’s plaid round her, and his big-coat, with its large white metal buttons, over her feet. - I never saw a more unforgetable face—pale, serious, /onely,* delicate, sweet, without being at all what we call fine. She looked sixty, and had on a mutch, white as snow, with its black ribbon ; her silvery, smooth hair setting off her dark-gray eyes—eyes such as one sees only twice or thrice in a lifetime, full of suf- 1It is not easy giving this look by one word; it was ex- pressive of her being so much of her life alone. 14 Rab and his Friends. fering, full also of the overcoming of it: her eyebrows black and delicate, and her mouth firm, patient, and contented, which few mouths ever are. : As I have said, I never saw a more beauti- - ful countenance, or one more subdued to set- tled quiet. “ Ailie,” said James, “this is Mais- ter John, the young doctor; Rab’s freend, ye ken. We often speak aboot you, doctor.” She smiled, and made a movement, but said noth- ing ; and prepared to come down, putting her plaid aside and rising. | Had Solomon, in all his glory, been handing down the Queen of Sheba at his palace gate, he could not have done it more daintily, more tenderly, more like a gentleman, than did James the Howgate carrier, when he lifted down Ailie his wife. The contrast of his small, swarthy, weather- beaten, keen, worldly face to hers— pale, sub- dued, and beautiful—was something wonder- ful. Rab looked on concerned and puzzled, but ready for anything that might turn up,— were it to strangle the nurse, the porter, or even me. Aijlie and he seemed great friends. “ As I was sayin’, she’s got a kind o’ trouble in her breest, doctor; wull ye tak’ a look at Rab and his Friends. 15 it?” We walked into the consulting-room, all four; Rab grim and comic, willing to be happy and confidential if cause could be shown, willing also to be the reverse, on the same terms. Aijlie sat down, undid her open gown and her lawn handkerchief round her. neck, and, without a word, showed me her right breast. I looked at and examined it carefully,—she and James watching me, and Rab eyeing all three. What could I say? there it was, that had once been so soft, so shapely, so white, so gracious and bountiful, so “full of all blessed conditions,”—hard as a stone, a centre of horrid pain, making that pale face, with its gray, lucid, reasonable eyes, and its sweet resolved mouth, express the full measure of suffering overcome. Why was that gentle, modest, sweet woman, clean and lovea- ble, condemned by God to bear such a burden? I got her away tobed. ‘“ May Raband me bide?” said James. ‘“ You may; and Rab, if he will behave himself.” ‘“ I’se warrant he’s do that, doctor ;” and in slunk the faithful beast. I wish you could have seen him. There are no such dogs now. He belonged to a lost tribe. As I have said, he was brindled, and gray like 16 Rab and his Friends. Rubislaw granite; his hair short, hard, and close, like a lion’s; his body thick set, like a little bull—a sort of compressed Hercules of a dog. He must have been ninety pounds’ weight, at the least; he had a large blunt head ; his muzzle black as night, his mouth blacker than any night, a tooth or two — being all he had—gleaming out of his jaws of darkness. His head was scarred with the records of old wounds, a sort of series of fields of battle all over it; one eye out, one ear cropped as close as was Archbishop Leighton’s father’s; the re- — maining eye had the power of two ; and above it, and in constant communication with it, was a tattered rag of an ear, which was forever unfurling itself, like an old flag; and then that bud of a tail, about one inch long, if it could in any sense be said to be long, being as broad as long—the mobility, the instantaneousness of that bud were very funny and surprising, and its expressive twinklings and winkings, the intercommunications between the eye, the ear and it, were of the oddest and swiftest. Rab had the dignity and simplicity of great - size; and having fought his way all along the road to absolute supremacy, he was as mighty Rab ‘and_his Friends. 7 in his own line as Julius Cesar or the Duke of Wellington, and had the EN of all great fighters. You must have often observed the likeness of certain men to certain animals, and of cer- tain dogs to men. Now, I never looked at Rab without thinking of the great Baptist preacher, Andrew Fuller.?, The same large, heavy, menacing, combative, sombre, honest countenance, the same deep inevitable eye, the same look,—as of thunder asleep, but 1 A Highland gamekeeper, when asked why a certain ter- rier, of singular pluck, was so much more solemn than the other dogs, said, ‘*‘ Oh, Sir, life’s full o” sairiousness to him — he just never can get enuff o’ fechtin’.”’ 2 Fuller was, in early life, when a farmer-lad at Soham, fa- mous as a boxer; not quarrelsome, but not without ‘the stern delight ’’ a man of strength and courage feels in their exercise. Dr. Charles Stewart, of Dunearn, whose Tare gifts and graces. as a physician, a divine, a scholar and a gentleman, live only in the memory of those few who knew and survive him, liked to tell how Mr. Fuller used to say, that when he was in the pulpit, and saw a duirdly man come along the passage, he would instinctively draw himself up, meas- ure his imaginary antagonist, and forecast how he would deal with him, his hands meanwhile condensing into fists, and tending to ‘‘ square.” He must have been a hard hitter if he boxed as he preached — what ‘* The Fancy ”’ would call ‘* an ugly customer.” 18 Rab and his Friends. ready, —neither a dog nor a man to be trifled with. Next day, my master, the surgeon, exam- ined Ailie. There was no doubt it must kill her, and soon. It could be rrmoved—it might never return—it would give her speedy relief —she should have it done. She curtsied, looked at James, and said, “ When?” “To- morrow,” said the kind surgeon—a man of few words. She and James and Rab and I retired. I noticed that he and she spoke little, but seemed to anticipate everything in each other. The following day at noon, the stu- dents came in, hurrying up the great stair. At the first landing-place, on a small well- known black board; was a bit of paper fas- tened by wafers, and many remains of old wafers beside it. On the paper were the words,— “An operation to-day. J. B. Clerk.” Up ran the youths, eager to secure good places: in they crowded, full of interest and talk. “ What’s the case?” ‘“ Which side 1s it?” Don’t think them heartless; they are neither better nor worse than you or I: they get over their professional horrors, and into their proper work ; and in them pity — as an emotion, end- Rab and his Friends. 19 ing in itself or at best in tears and a long- drawn breath, lessens, while pity as a motive, is quickened, and gains power and purpose. It is well for poor human nature that it is so. The operating theatre is crowded; much talk and fun, and all the cordiality and stir of youth. The surgeon with his staff of assistants is there. In comes Allie: one look at her quiets and abates the eager students. That beautiful old woman is too much for them; they sit down, and are dumb, and gaze at her. These rough boys feel the power of her presence. She walks in quickly, but without haste; dressed in her mutch, her neckerchief, her white dimity short-gown, her black bombazine petticoat, showing her white worsted stockings and her carpet-shoes. Behind her was James with Rab. James sat down in the distance, and took that huge and noble head between his knees. Rab looked perplexed and dangerous; forever cock- ing his ear and dropping it as fast. Ailie stepped up on a seat, and laid herself on the table, as her friend the surgeon told her; arranged herself, gave a rapid look at James, shut her eyes, rested herself on me, and took my hand. The operation was at once begun; 20 Rab and his Friends. it was necessarily slow; and chloroform—one of God’s best gifts to his suffering children— was then unknown. The surgeon did his work. The pale face showed its pain, but was still and silent. Rab’s soul was working with- in him; he saw that something strange was going on,—blood flowing from his mistress, and she suffering; his ragged ear was up, and importunate; he growled and gave now and then a sharp impatient yelp; he would have liked to have done something to that man. - But James had him firm, and gave him a glower from time to time, and an intimation of a possible kick;—all the better for James, it kept his eye and his mind off Ailie. It is over: she is dressed, steps gently and decently down from the table, looks for James; then, turning to the surgeon and the students, she curtsies,—and in a low, clear voice, begs their pardon if she has behaved ill. The stu- dents—all of us—wept like children; the sur- geon happed her up carefully,—and, resting on James and me, Ailie went to her room, Rab following. We put her to bed. James took off his heavy shoes, crammed with tackets, heel-capt and toe-capt, and put them carefully Rab and his Friends. - 21 under the table, saying, “ Maister John, I’m for nane o’ yer strynge nurse bodies for Ailie. I'll be her nurse, and I'll gang aboot on my stock- in’ soles as canny as pussy.” And so he-did; and handy and clever, and swift and tender as any woman, was that horny-handed, snell, per- emptory little man. Everything she got he gave her: he seldom slept; and often I saw his small shrewd eyes out of the darkness, fixed on her. As before, they spoke little. Rab behaved well, never moving, showing us how meek and gentle he could be, and occa- — sionally, in his sleep, letting us know that he was demolishing some adversary. He took awalk . with me every day, generally to the Candle- maker Row; but he was sombre and mild; de- clined doing battle, though some fit cases of- fered, and indeed submitted to sundry indigni- ties; and was always very ready to turn and came faster back, and trotted up the stair with much lightness, and went straight to that door. Jess, the mare, had been sent, with her weath- er-worn cart,to Howgate,and had doubtless her own dim and placid meditations and confusions, on the absence of her master and Rab, and her unnatural freedom from the road and her cart. 22 Rab and his Friends. For some days Ailie did well. The wound healed “by the first intention;” for'as James said, “Oor Ailie’s skin’s ower clean to beil.” The students came in quiet and anxious, and surrounded her bed. She said she liked to see their young, honest faces. The surgeon dressed her, and spoke to her in his own short kind way, pitying her through his eyes, Rab and James outside the circle,— Rab being now re- conciled, and even cordial, and having made up his mind that as yet nobody required wor- rying, but, as you may suppose, semper paratus. So far well: but, four days after the operation my patient had a sudden and long shivering, a “sroosin’,” as she called it. I saw her soon after; her eyes were too bright, her cheek col- ored; she was restless, and ashamed of being so; the balance was lost; mischief had begun. On looking at the wound, a blush of red told the secret: her pulse was rapid, her breathing anxious and quick, she wasn’t herself, as she said, and was vexed. at her restlessness. We tried what we could. James did everything, was everywhere; never in the way, never out of it. Rab subsided under the table into a dark place, and was motionless, all but his eye, which fol- Rab and his Friends. 23 lowed every one. Aijlie got worse; began to wander in her mind, gently ; was more demon- strative in her ways to James, rapid in her questions, and sharp at times. He was vexed, and said, “She was never that way afore; no, never.” For a time she knew her head was wrong, and was always asking our pardon— the dear, gentle old woman: then delirium set in strong, without pause. Her brain gave way, and then came that terrible spectacle, ‘* The intellectual power, through words and things, Went sounding on its dim and perilous way ;”’ she sang bits of old songs and Psalms, stopping suddenly, mingling the Psalms of David, and the diviner words of his Son and Lord, with homely odds and ends and scraps of ballads. Nothing more touching, or in a sense more strangely beautiful, did I ever witness. Her tremulous, rapid, affectionate, eager, Scotch voice,—the swift, aimless, bewildered mind, the baffled utterance, the bright and perilous eye; some wild words. some household cares, something for James, the names of the dead, Rab called rapidly and in a “fremyt” voice, _and he starting up, surprised, and slinking off oy ata Rab and his Friends. as if he were to blame somehow, or had been dreaming he heard. Many eager questions and beseechings which James and I could make nothing of, and on which she seemed to set her all, and then sink back ununderstood. It was very sad, but better than many things that are not called sad. James hovered about, put out and miserable, but active and exact as ever; read to her, when there was a lull, short bits from the Psalms, prose and metre, chant- ing the latter in his own rude and serious way, showing great knowledge of the fit words, bearing up like a man, and doating over her as his “ain Ailie.” “ Ailie, ma woman!” “Ma ain bonnie wee dawtie!” The end was drawing on: the golden bowl was breaking; the silver cord was fast being loosed —that animula blandula, vagula, hospes, comesque, was about to flee. The body and the soul—companions’ for sixty years— were being sundered, and taking leave. She was walking, alone, through the valley of that shadow, into which one day we must all enter, —and yet she was not alone, for we know whose rod and staff were comforting her. One night she had fallen quiet, and as we. Rab and his Friends. 25 hoped, asleep; her eyes were shut. We put down the gas, and sat watching her. Suddenly she sat up in bed, and taking a bedgown which was lying on it rolled up, she held it eagerly to her breast, —to the right side. We could see her eyes bright with surprising tenderness and joy, bending over this bundle of clothes. She held it as a woman holds her sucking child; opening out her nightgown impatient- ly, and holding it close, and brooding over it, and murmuring foolish little words, as over one whom his mother comforteth, and who sucks and is satisfied. It was pitiful and strange to see her wasted dying look, keen and yet vague—her immense love. “Preserve me!” groaned James, giving way. And then she rocked back and forward, as if to make it sleep, hushing it, and wasting on it her infinite fondness. ‘‘ Wae’s me, doctor; I de- clare she’s thinkin’ it’s that bairn.” ‘“ What bairn?” “The only bairn we ever had; our wee Mysie, and she’s in the Kingdom, forty years and mair.” It was plainly true: the pain in the breast telling its urgent story to a be- wildered, ruined brain, was misread and mis- taken; it suggested to her the uneasiness of a 26 Rab and his Friends. breast full of milk, and then the child; and so again once more they were together, and she had her ain wee Mysie in her bosom. This was the close. She sank rapidly: the delirium left her; but, as she whispered, she was “clean silly ;” it was the lightening before the final darkness. After having for some time lain still—her eyes shut, she said “James!” He came close to her, and lifting up her calm, clear, beautiful eyes, she gave him a long look, turned to me kindly but shortly, looked for Rab but could not see him, then turned to her husband again, as if she would never leave off looking, shut her eyes, and composed herself. She lay for some time breathing quick, and passed away so gently, that when we thought she was gone, James, in his old-fashioned way, held the’ mirror to her face. After a long pause, one small spot of dimness was breathed out; it vanished away, and never returned, leaving the blank clear darkness of the mirror without astain. ‘“ Whatis our life? itis even a vapor, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Rab all this time had been full awake and motionless ; he came forward beside us: Ailie’s Rab and his Friends. 27 hand, which James had held, was hanging down; it was soaked with his tears; Rab licked it all over carefully, looked at her, and returned to his place under the table. James and I sat, I don’t know how long, but for some time, —saying nothing: he started up abruptly, and with some noise went to the table, and putting his right fore and middle fingers each into a shoe, pulled them out, and put them on, breaking one of the leather latchets, and muttering in anger, “I never did the like o’ that afore!” I believe he never did; nor after either. “Rab!” he said roughly, and pointing with his thumb to the bottom of the bed. Jab leapt up, and settled himself; his head and eye to the dead face. ‘Maister John, ye’ll wait for me,” said’ the carrier, and disappeared in the darkness, thundering down stairs in his heavy shoes. I ran toa front window: there he was, already round the house, and out at the gate, fleeing like a shadow. I was afraid about him, and yet not afraid; so I sat down beside Rab, and being wearied, fell asleep. I awoke from a sudden noise outside. It was November, and there had been 28 Rab and his Friends. a heavy fall of snow. Rab was 7m statu quo; he heard the noise too, and plainly knew it, but never moved. I looked out; and there, at the gate, in the dim morning—for the sun was not up, was Jess and the cart,—a cloud of steam - rising from the old mare. I did not see James; he was already at the door, and came up the stairs, and met me. It was less than three hours since he left, and he must have posted out—who knows how?—to Howgate, full nine miles off; yoked Jess, and driven her as- tonished into town. He had an armful of blankets, and was streaming with perspiration. He nodded to me, spread out on the floor two pairs of clean old blankets, having at their corners, “A. G., 1794,” in large letters in red worsted. These were the initials of Alison Graeme, and James may have looked in at her from without—himself unseen but not unthought of—when he was “wat, wat, and weary,” and after having walked many a mile over the hills, may have seen her sitting, while “‘a’ the lave were sleepin’;” and by the firelight working her name on the pitas for her ain James’s bed. He motioned Rab down, and taking his Rab and his Friends. 29 wife in his arms, laid her in the blankets, and happed her carefully and firmly up, leaving the face uncovered; and then lifting her, he nodded again sharply to me, and with a re- solved but utterly miserable face, strode along the passage, and down stairs, followed by Rab. I followed with a light; but he didn’t need it. I went out, holding stupidly the candle in my hand in the calm frosty air; we were soon at the gate. I could have helped him, but I saw he was not to be meddled with, and he was strong, and did not need it. He laid her down as tenderly, as safely, as he had lifted her out ten days before—as tenderly as when he had her first in his arms when she was only “A. G.,”— sorted her, leaving that beautiful sealed face open to the heavens; and ‘then taking Jess by the head, he moved away. He did not notice me, neither did Rab, who presided behind the cart. I stood till they passed through the long shadow of the College, and turned up Nicol- son Street. I heard the solitary cart sound through the streets, and die away and come again; and I returned, thinking of that com- pany going up Libberton Brae, then along 30 Rab and kis Friends. Roslin Muir, the morning light touching the Pentlands and making them like on-looking ghosts; then down the hill through Auchin- dinny woods, past “haunted Woodhouselee;” and as daybreak came sweeping up the bleak Lammermuirs, and fell on his own door, the company would stop, and James would take the key, and lift Ailie up again, laying her on her own bed, and, having put Jess up, would return with Rab and shut the door. James buried his wife, with his neighbors mourning, Rab inspecting the solemnity from a distance. It was snow, and that black rag- ged hole would look strange in the midst of the swelling spotless cushion of white. James looked after everything; then rather suddenly fell ill, and took to bed; was insensible when the doctor came, and soon died. A sort of low fever was prevailing in the village, and his want of sleep, his exhaustion, and his misery, made him apt to take it. The grave was not difficult to reopen. A fresh fall of snow had again made all things white and smooth; Rab once more looked on, and slunk home to the stable. And what of Rab? I asked for him next Rab and hrs Friends. 31 week at the new carrier who got the goodwill of James’s business, and was now master of Jess and her cart. ‘“How’s Rab?” He put me off, and said rather rudely, “ What’s your business wi’ the dowg?” I was not to be so put off. “Where’s Rab?” He, getting con- fused and red, and intermeddling with his hair, said, “‘’Deed, sir, Rab’s deid.” ‘ Dead! what did he die of 2” ‘“ Weel, sir,” said he, getting redder, “he didna exactly dee; he was killed. “I had'to brain him wi’ a rack-pin; there was nae doin’ wi’ him. He lay in the treviss wi’ the mear, and wadna come oot. I tempit him wi’ kail and meat, but he wad tak naething, and keepit me frae feedin’ the beast, and he was aye gur gurrin’, and grup gruppin’ me by the legs. I was laith to make awa wi’ the auld dowg, his like wasna atween this and Thornhill, — but, ’deed, sir, I could do nae- thing else.” I believed him. Fit end for,Rab, quick and complete. His teeth and his friends gone, why should he keep the peace and be civil? Cambridge: Riverside Press. , RAB | > AND HIS FRIENDS | if is (ar By JOHN’BROWN, M.D. BOSTON: D TICKNOR AND FIELDS. MDCCCiIX. ee ee een a ee ee =e Sn AE ae ra a Ue CNRS CBN e HLEVEHN TH THOUSAND OF POY LS 0.8 Tie Ne By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C. L. POET-LAUREATE. 1 Vol! 16mo. 75 cents. ‘Mr. Tennyson has enriched the world with his best and most artistic work. No recent poet has made possible the indulgence of such a Midsummer Dream as any penton may enjoy who goes seaward or lakeward with these Idyls.”,—London Atheneum. “Equal to the best, and in some respects, it may be, better than the best of those works upon which the fame of Mr. Tennyson has hitherto securely rested.’”,-—London Examiner. “¢ Certainly the Laureate’s magnum opus.””—London Critic. ‘¢<¢ Blaine’ is the most beautiful and touching of all the legends connected with the history of Arthur, and the story is told with infinite grace.’’--London Literary Gazette. ‘‘Hyery lover of pure and exquisite poetry will be eager to possess this volume, which breathes like a balmy wind over the excitements of the day.”,»—New York Tribune. ““‘Tdyls of the King’ place Tennyson among the foremost men of all his time.’’—Phila- delphia Press. ‘¢ The lovers of poetry will read this volume with delight.’’—Home Journal. ‘Not since the days of Spenser and Tasso have we had such a poem as the ‘ Idyls of the King.’ "— Saturday Evening Post. ‘We regard the ‘ Idyls of the King’ as an almost consummate work of art, and the great imaginative poem of the century.”—WN. Y. Albion. ‘‘Tdyls they are in the best sense of the term — perfect as descriptive poems, beautiful and strong in their polished simplicity, and abounding in true gems of poesy.’’—Hartford Times. “These ‘Idyls of the King’ are monuments of a success certainly not surpassed, it equalled, by any modern poet.’’—Providence Journal. TICK NOR AWN LD bP as: gEa=> Copies sent post-free to any address in the United States on receipt of price. . ; ' 4 SHELLEY MEMORIALS, FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. EDITED BY EypyY SHELLEY. TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ESSAY ON CHRISTIANITY, (NOW FIRST PRINTED,) BY PERCY-BYSSHE SHELLEY. 1 Vol. 16mo. 795 cents. Tux editress of the above volume is the wife of Sir Percy Shelley, son of the Poet. She has prepared this volume to correct misstatements and erroneous impressions which have prevailed toward Shelley. The materials here used are family documents, for the most part new to the public. These comprise, among other matter now first published, the «Essay on Christianity” and the eloquent “ Letter to Lord Ellenbor- ough,” from Shelley’s own pen; new correspondence of Shelley with William Godwin, Keats, Horace Smith, Ollier, his publisher, and others, and Extracts from the Private Journal of Mrs. Shelley, after the death of her husband. All who desire to see the mist dispelled in which mis- representation and obloquy have clouded the memory of Shelley, should read this volume. “The closest approximation to a complete and perfect life of Shelley that has yet been furnished.”’—Boston Transcript. ‘C Will be eagerly seized upon by all readers of poetic temperament and cultivated taste.” —N. Y. Albion. ‘‘ The Essay on Christianity is eminently suggestive and characteristic. . . . . By far the most perfect biography which has appeared.””— Christian Register. ‘These Memorials are full of interest. They reveal to us more clearly than we knew before the gentle, guileless, noble soul of the Poet.”—. Y. Atlas. TICKNOR AND FIELDS. ——__—— pas> Copies sent post-free to any address in the United States on receipt of price. =o _ a ’ oe - a I > — a. _ = a - : ¥v we ; wre, 7 _ > ‘ 7 ; : a 7 ’ = 7 te 0 a * ‘s "1 : 7 BOTA ; - 7 7 ‘4. : — ' : 7 - : ' | : : : 7 . - a _ rf : 2 | 7 »y — ‘ ¥ , au a wa P cy _ . + oe : : : 7 | : . 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