wanting; the songs of Burns are sung in every quarter of the globe, and
his poems are treasured in millions of memories, so that his fame may set
fate at defiance. All this was rapturously received; nor was the
approbation of the company less coldly manifested when the chairman
proposed 'the health of the ETTRICK SHEPHERD;' it appeared, however, that
he was much less familiar with his works than with those of Burns, and
though a native of a pastoral district, made sad work among the romances
and ballads of the imaginative shepherd. This want was, however, in some
degree supplied, by a most characteristic speech from Hogg himself, in
which he related how the inspiration of the muse came upon him, in
consequence of his being born, like Burns, on the 25th of January; how, on
the evening of his birth, a man and horse were dispatched for the midwife,
but the night being wild, and Ettrick deep in flood, the rider was lost;
nevertheless, the familiar spirit called Brownie--the Lubber-Fiend of
Milton--supplied his place, and brought the marvelling midwife in time to
achieve the adventure of the future poet of Kilmeny. All this, and much
more he related in a way hovering between jest and earnest, and in a
strong Ettrick tone, to the consternation of the English part of the
meeting, for whom it was rather peculiar and learned. The audience
evidently, one and all, regarded the Shepherd with wonder, and hundreds
were on tiptoe to have a look at him as he stood on a table to relate his
own varied fortunes.

"But on the banks of Tweed the chairman was aware that a wizard, still
more enchanting than him of Yarrow, lived, or rather, lately lived; and he
accordingly gave the health of 'SIR WALTER SCOTT, and a safe return to his
native country.' It is needless to say with what rapture the health of
this most illustrious of all the sons of Scotland was drunk. This
honour--such is the word--was acknowledged by Mr. Lockhart, in a speech
worth any two chapters in the whole range of British Biography;--it was