"_8th September._--Waked very much in the same situation--a dead calm, but the weather very serene. With much difficulty, and by the assistance of the tide, we advanced up the Firth, and, passing the village of Gourock, at length reached Greenock. Took an early dinner, and embarked in the steamboat for Glasgow. We took leave of our little yacht under the repeated cheers of the sailors, who had been much pleased with their erratic mode of travelling about, so different from the tedium of a regular voyage. After we reached Glasgow--a journey which we performed at the rate of about eight miles an hour, and with a smoothness of motion which probably resembles flying--we supped together and prepared to separate.--Erskine and I go to-morrow to the Advocate's at Killermont, and thence to Edinburgh. So closes my journal. But I must not omit to say, that among five or six persons, some of whom were doubtless different in tastes and pursuits, there did not occur, during the close communication of more than six weeks aboard a small vessel, the slightest difference of opinion. Each seemed anxious to submit his own wishes to those of his friends. The consequence was, that by judicious arrangement all were gratified in their turn, and frequently he who made some sacrifices to the views of his companions was rewarded by some unexpected gratification calculated particularly for his own amusement. Thus ends my little excursion, in which, bating one circumstance, which must have made me miserable for the time wherever I had learned it, I have enjoyed as much pleasure as in any six weeks of my life. We had constant exertion, a succession of wild and uncommon scenery, good-humor on board, and objects of animation and interest when we went ashore-- 'Sed fugit interea--fugit irrevocabile tempus.'" Footnotes of the Chapter XXXII. [88: The Rev. Alexander Brunton, D. D., now (1836) Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Edinburgh.] [89: _Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands._] [90: "So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, They cannot see the Sun on high." Southey's _Inchcape Rock_.] [91: Southey's _Inchcape Rock_.] [92: See _Minstrelsy of the Border_, vol. iv. pp. 285-306 (Edin. Ed.).] [93: _The Boy and the Mantle_--Percy's _Reliques_, vol. iii. p. 10.] [94: Harriet, Duchess of Buccleuch, died August 24, 1814.] [95: Adam Duff, Esq., afterwards and for many years Sheriff of the county of Edinburgh, died on 17th May, 1840.--(1845.)] CHAPTER XXXIII LETTER IN VERSE FROM ZETLAND AND ORKNEY. -- DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUCH. -- CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DUKE. -- ALTRIVE LAKE. --NEGOTIATION CONCERNING THE LORD OF THE ISLES COMPLETED. -- SUCCESS OF WAVERLEY. -- CONTEMPORANEOUS CRITICISMS ON THE NOVEL. -- LETTERS TO SCOTT FROM MR. MORRITT, MR. LEWIS, AND MISS MACLEAN CLEPHANE. --LETTER FROM JAMES BALLANTYNE TO MISS EDGEWORTH 1814