might well assimilate to this sunny sky. Nature seemed to say to man, from above and from beneath--from hill and from dale--from land and from sea--from a thousand portals of beauty and blessedness--"Thou stranger on earth, enjoy the happiness which thy God prepares for thee. For thee, he hath hung the heavens in a drapery of light and love--for thee, he hath clothed the earth in fragrance and plenty--for thee, he hath spread out the waters of the great sea, and made them carriers of thy wealth and thy will from land to land, and from the broad sea to the city and the hamlet on the narrow frith." Thus spake, or seemed to speak, God to man, in the beautiful manifestations of his love. But what said "man to man?" Alas! true it is, and of verity, that "Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn." The whole of the south of Scotland was, at this peaceful hour, overrun with locusts and caterpillars--with all that can hurt and destroy--that can mar, mangle, and torture--with rage, persecution, and violence--profanity, bloodshed, and death. Oh, what a contrast!--Look, only look, on this picture and on that:--Here all peace; there, Douglas, Grierson, Johnstone, Clavers: here, all mercy and love; there, the red dragoons, stained and besmeared with blood and with brains: here, the comforts, and fellowship, and affection of home and of kindred; there, the mountain solitude, the trembling refugee, the damp cave, and the bed of stone! Truly, God hath made man in innocence, but he hath found out many inventions, and, amongst others, the instruments of torture and of death--the bloody maiden--the accursed boots--and the thumbikin and torch, to twist and burn with anguish the writhing soul. And all this, for what? To _convert_ the nation into a land of hypocrites--to stifle the dictates of conscience--to extinguish liberty, and establish despotism. But _tempora mutantur_: thank God! it is otherwise now with the people of Scotland--and the sword of oppressive violence has been sheathed for ever.