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Knowledge, I grant, dilates the range of mind
Science unfolds to view a broader sphere;
And morals stand as landmarks, whence defined
Of good and ill the boundary lines appear.
But if ye think that man can truly steer
By human aid alone secure and free,

Ye do not count the perils he must fear:
You launch him in a wide uncertainty,
Without a pilot-hand, upon an unknown sea.

"No iron law, no strong necessity,

Controls our race foredoom'd. God did not give
For nought the innate feeling that we are free;
Nor were we taught by a fixed rule to live,
Denied of choice the just prerogative.
Whatever of good we find, from Him it came :-
The evil's our own; and if our hearts contrive
Themselves their devious way, to us the blame;
We cultivate the seed, and ours the fruit, the shame."

The "Essay on Happiness" is a poetical reply to the motto from Rasselas, which it bears: "It is long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found."

The idea of the poem was suggested by reading the work of Johnson. It was begun while travelling in Greece in 1819, and after a time discontinued. It was resumed, and the plan remodelled at Torquay in 1832, and was finished at Rode Hall in the following year. The "Devotional Reflection" is a collection of hymns containing spiritual aspirations and meditations for each. day of the Christian year. Sir Archibald's taste and scholarship are finely displayed in his numerous translations, For his translations of "l'Immortalité," from Lamartine's "Méditations Poétiques," he received from that celebrated poet the following communication:—

"SIR,-The success the most flattering to a poet is to

see his works translated, especially by a man of real talent, as real talent always supposes an enlightened taste. You have procured me this success, and I thank you doubly for it. Your fine language-more rich and flexible than ours-has much embellished my too feeble poetry. I find all my thoughts and all my sentiments in your flowing lines, but I find them embellished and more highly coloured by a more picturesque style, and in words which render the images more lucid. Impassioned admirer of English poetry, I am highly gratified by perusing my own thoughts expressed in the language which Shakespeare, Milton, and Byron have fashioned and modulated to the highest tone of philosophy, and which yourself speak with so much force and elegance. Allow me, sir, to renew the assurance of my gratitude, and of my desire to express it to you personally on my next visit to Paris or to London. I have the honour to be, Sir, your humble servant, COMTE ALPHONSE DE LA MARTINE. "Château de . . ,, 15 Août, 1829."

The poetry of Sir Archibald Edmonstone has missed the mark of popularity, and the reason appears to lie on the surface. It is the poetry of culture and not the poetry of genius, There is no lack of poetic art; but there is a want of poetic warmth, an absence of imaginative elevation and fusion, The want of passion may be accounted for by considering the author's religious standpoint, but the heart, if occasionally touched, is seldom deeply and powerfully moved. And this should not have been with the subjects he chose to handle. All this being granted, it has still certain distinguishing merits which should preserve it from oblivion. It manifests a purity of feeling; it is pervaded with a

certain spiritual calmness and moral reflectiveness; it is wholly so elevated in tone, and it is here and there suffused with such a pure religious enthusiasm which well deserve it to be had in good remembrance of the learned and good of coming times, There will always be a class. to which it can minister, and who could be profited by its ministry. It would consequently be a matter of regret if its notes should fail in a sphere where many less rich and musical are preserved,

I append to this chapter a translation by Sir Archibald of a passage from the "Trionfo della Morte of Petrarch," cap. ii. :

"Non come fiamma che per forza è spenta,

Ma che per se medesma si consume,
Se n' andò in pace l'anima contenta;
A guisa d' un soave e chiaro lume,
Cui nutrimento a poco a poco manca
Tenendo al fin il suo usato costume.
Pallida nò; ma più che neve bianca
Che senza vento in un bel colle fiocchi
Parea posar come persona stanca :
Quasi un dolce dormir ne'suoi begli occhi
Essendo 'l spirito già da lei diviso.
Era quel che morir chiaman gli sciocchi,
Morte bella parea nel suo bel viso."

"Not like a flame that is by violence spent,
But rather of itself consumes away,
In peace the gentle spirit passed content;
Like to the waning light's soft, clear decay,
Which gradual failing of its nourishment

Still keeps its customed tenor to the last.
Not pale; but whiter than the flaky snows
Which motionless on the hillside are cast
Resting like one that seeks repose :

As if sleep hung upon these beauteous eyes
While the flown spirit dwells no longer there.

Fools say this is to die,-yet in the guise

Of one so lovely, death itself is fair,"

CHAPTER XVI.

WILLIAM H. BURNS-Two Kirk Session Meetings-Dun and Kilsyth-9th May, 1843-Character Sketch-At the Feet of Christ- Birth - Ordination-Work at Dun-Induction to Kilsyth-Presentation and "Call"-At the Grave of RobeW. C. Burns-The Memory of Rev. John Livingston-The Second Revival-The '43 Secession-A Long Bright SunsetRev. Robert BLACK-Family-Education-Church Building -Rev. W. Jeffrey.

THE minutes of Kilsyth Kirk Session show that the first meeting of which William Burns was moderator was held on the 24th December, 1820, and that the last at which he presided was dated the 9th May, 1843. So far as the business done at these two meetings of session was concerned, it was of an entirely routine and colourless character. Three and twenty years, however, is a long time in the life of any man, and in that of a clergyman it covers much more than the average period of ordination. Looking at these two sederunts of session now, after all those years, and comparing them together, we observe that these gentlemen held session with Dr. Burns at the first meeting-James Lang, Robert Shaw, Alexander Shaw, Alexander Aitcheson, George Young, James Goodwin, John Hay, William Wilson, Alexander Henderson, David Clelland, and Matthew Andersona goodly company of eleven elders. And these, with the moderator, formed the court of the 9th May, 1843: James Wilson, James Shaw, William Anderson, junior,

Andrew Clelland, John Findlay, and J. F. Walker. There were three members absent that night:- George Auchinvole, A. Marshall, and J. Paterson. Some of the old names survive, but the old bearers of them are all

THE FREE CHURCH.

gone. Of the elders Dr. Burns found about him when he was ordained to Kilsyth, the whole were changed during these twenty-three years he had been minister of the parish.

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