most manifested on a first introduction, we have in a short time, found the greatest affability. A period of formality appears in some to be a settled kind of probation through which all must go, before any intercourse more grateful can be indulged in. So much has this been the case, that Captain Bolton and myself, after finding ourselves just as we have been taking our leave, delighted with the intelligence and agreeableness of character of those, who for a day or more previous, had been our fellow-guests, with the interchange of scarce a word beyond the salutations of civility, have laughingly come to the resolution, that in any after visits we may make, we will at once say to those we meet under the roof of our hosts, "my dear Madam, or my dear Sir, we must. be off in a day or two, and have not an hour to give to unbending; therefore, let us be friends at once, that we may not have to lament just as we must bid you adieu, that we did not sooner discover you to be the affable, intelligent, and delightful persons, which you really are.” I have said that there is a greater precision of manners in the ladies, than with us-more stiffness of air, and a more mechanical movement of the figure; but with it, there is a propriety of attitude and action which is never in fault, and which more than counterbalances any disadvantage arising from the former. Whatever else may be said of the English ladies, those we have seen have exhibited the clearest proof in their manners, that they believe, with Hannah More, that "propriety is the first, the second, and the third highest quality of the sex," 70 70 DRIVE FROM NEWCASTLE, LETTER XXXIII. ARRIVAL IN EDINBURGH. Departure from Newcastle-Picts' wall-Coachman of the "Chevy Chase," and anecdote of a Scotch traveller-Harwood MoorScene of the hunt and conflict of Chevy Chase-Cheviot hills, and crossing of the border-Impressions in entering ScotlandPicturesque country near Jedburgh, and through Teviotdale— Banks of the Tweed, and Melrose Abbey-Abbotsford, the seat of Sir Walter Scott-The Pentland hills, and mountains of Fife and Perthshires-First view of Arthur's seat, and Salisbury Crags-The Castle Rock, and Frith of Forth-Splendour of the scene, and beauty of the evening-Entrance to the city. DEAR VIRGINIA, Crown Hotel, Edinburgh, AFTER a most rapid and exciting journey, of a hundred miles, from Newcastle, which we left, after an early breakfast, we reached this noted city just at nightfall yesterday. A first order was for a servant to be despatched to the post-office; and in a few moments we had the happiness of perusing large packets from America. Among the letters for myself were those from your father, designed by him to have anticipated my departure from New York. They are all in good time, however, except that to the British ambassador. In leaving Newcastle, we had a glimpse for a moment, of a small remain of the celebrated wall erected by the Romans to restrain the incursions of the Picts. It was built first of earth, by Adrian, and of stone and bricks afterwards, by. Severus and Actius; and extends across the island from near the mouth of the Tyne, in the east, to Solway Frith, on the Irish sea. As we came north after leaving York, we began to perceive a gradual change for the worse, in the grooming and nice keeping of the horses, in the neatness and brightness of the harness, and in the character and dress of the coachmen, and would, occasionally miss, in a stage, the portly figure and ruddy face of the real John-Bull Jehu, and in place of the well-smoothed beaver, the large calico shawl, or muffler, and the trimly fitted white-topped boots, characteristic of the class in most parts of the kingdom, would meet a slouched hat, an open-collared neck, and shoes and trowsers on the nether limbs of our charioteer. Such was the general costume of the driver of the "Chevy Chase," on whose box I became seated for a first day's journey in Scotland, -a fresh-complexioned, blue-eyed, and yellowhaired laddie of twenty, full of animation, and buoyant spirit, and with-health and muscle to accomplish without fatigue, the daily drive, except on the Sabbath, from the beginning to the end of the year, of the distance between Newcastle and Edinburgh. The first incivility we had met since the commencement of our travel, was from a Scotchman the day previous, when leaving Durham; and I was 72 ANECDOTE OF A SCOTCH TRAVELLER. happy in having, on this occasion, one of the same country, so entirely in contrast, for my immediate neighbour. The coach in which we left Durham, did not start, on its first stage, from that city, and we were obliged to take such seats as were vacant when it arrived from the south. Fortunately there were three places unoccupied in front, behind the coachman. One of these Captain Bolton took. A broad, stout, and hard-featured Scot followed, and became seated exactly midway between my friend, and a person on the other extreme of the range, which, though intended for four passengers, was. rather contracted in its dimensions-with such a display of frame and muscle, that there was room on neither side for myself. After getting up, and perceiving no disposition to move on his part, I asked him politely which seat he would prefer,-to which he very gruffly answered, the one he was in. But, sir, I continued, you are now occupying a part of two seats, and my question was to know which way you chose to move; and I was almost ready to debate whether it were not time, as the crabbed fellow very composedly replied, "I don't know that I shall move either way, sir," for my own Scotch blood to stir a little. I thought best, however, to turn my feelings into a happier channel, and, by remarking pleasantly, with a smile," if we should find all your countrymen, my dear sir, as accommodating as yourself, our tour in Scotland will be much less extended than we now propose to make it," at once touched the spring of his locomotive powers, and drew from him an apology for his rudeness, which gradually. 4 fell, on his part, into much intelligent and interesting conversation. Soon after leaving Newcastle, the country through which we passed began to differ in its aspect from that over which we had previously travelled, and before the end of many miles we entered upon an extensive region of moorland, called Harwood Moor. All the rich crops and luxuriant growth by which we had so long been surrounded, as we were hurried on our way, were gone, and the eye rested only, in every direction, upon a wild and naked expanse, covered with a coarse, dark-coloured turf, dotted here and there by flocks of sheep, and occasionally relieved by another sign of life in the smoke curling up from the lowly and rude cabin of a shepherd. Whether the effect of early impressions, derived from reading of deeds of tragedy and horror perpetrated amidst similar scenery, or not, I cannot say, but this, the first extensive moor over which we have passed, in its dreary extent and desolation, seemed to me just the place for acts of villany. One fact, however, would rather intimate that robbery and murder occur here, at least, at very long intervals. The gallows of a murderer, hung and gibbeted on the spot where his crime was committed, and which may justly be considered the last incident of the kind which has taken place, still stands in the midst of the wide waste, presenting, in terrorem, to the passing traveller a wooden effigy, which in the distance I first supposed to be the real skeleton dangling in chains beneath. On this moor, for the first time since leaving |