bell, that in the correspondence which immediately followed his May-day "honors," he bestows only a few words on the subject, and takes no credit to himself for any personal distinction in the classes. But it is evident that he was much gratified by the result, and meditated another victory.

In this soothed and cheerful state of mind-so different from the depression under which he had suffered during the winterhe appears to have given way, in one or two instances, to that spirit of frolic which now and then relieved the monotony of a studious life. Those who have never felt what that monotony is, may censure the following anecdote, as "a sinking in poetry-" unworthy of one who was a man in intellect, though still a boy in years. But I cannot resist telling what the Poet himself has often told-namely, his "last spree" at the University.

A respectable apothecary, named Fife, had a shop in the Trongate, with this notice in his window, printed in large letters" Ears pierced by A. Fife,"-meaning the operation to which young ladies submit for the sake of wearing earrings. Mr. Fife's next-door neighbor was a worthy citizen of the name of Drum, a spirit-dealer, whose windows exhibited various samples of whiskey, rum, and other stimulating liquors. These two industrious tradesmen had long lived upon terms of mutual goodwill; but very shortly before this epoch, jealousy in trade appeared to have made them rather shy in their intercourse. More customers were caught by the palate than by the ear; and this did not escape Mr. Fife's observation. They were both well known to the students; and every one wished to see them once more united in the bonds of good neighborhood. Campbell affirmed, in spite of appearances, that they were naturally inseparable. This opinion he broached to his brother Daniel; and so much were both interested in the matter, that they went into the Trongate, and took a more than common interest in looking at the spirit and drug shops. They were soon joined by a third party afterwards a most grave and learned Senator, -who entered warmly into their feelings, and gave them some friendly hints. A thin fir deal was then found by Daniel, on his father's premises, and prepared, by a rather hasty process, for the end in view. Thomas, even then, had a turn for printing, and to him was confided the task of imparting to the timber certain letters and words, which were to be expressed in dramatic language.

By twelve o'clock the same night their plan was ready for execution, and they stepped quietly into the street, carrying the

ET. 17.] FIFE AND DRUM-last spree at college.

119

plank with them. Even then it was scarcely dark; but there were no gas-lights, and few lanterns in those old-fashioned nights, and they proceeded without molestation to the Trongate. The only man who could have seen them was Duncan M'Alpin-but Duncan was only a "watchman," and not obliged to see those who had no wish to be seen.

Next morning, by five o'clock, there was quite a mob of the early population in the Trongate-many of them laughing heartily, and pointing to the shop of Mr. Drum, and that of his next neighbor, Mr. Fife. Among the crowd, Campbell and his two associates were enjoying the scene, and the complete success of their night's adventure. One head after another was popped out of the casements opposite, till at last Mr. Drum himself, and then Mr. Fife, opened their doors, to ascertain the cause of all the laughter and talking. The cause was soon manifest-for, advancing a few steps into the street, and looking up they saw a long sign-board, stretching from window to window of the two contiguous shops, with this inscription from "Othello," in flaming capitals:

"THE SPIRIT-STIRRING DRUM, TH' EAR-PIERCING FIFE."

Hitherto, indeed, they had pursued very distinct callings; but, to their utter surprise, a sudden co-partnership had been struck during the night, and Fife and Drum were now united in the same martial line. A great sensation was produced-the partnership was dissolved on the spot; the false standard was demolished, and diligent search made for the sign-painter. A grave charge was set up: Campbell was at last found, and openly accused as principal in the "lettering;" and all three were menaced with fine and imprisonment. The sentence, however-which caused no little mirth even among those who pronounced it was commuted to a severe reprimand; and, when it was finished, Campbell muttered with Parolles :

"I'll no more drumming: a plague of all Drums!" The following letter announces his immediate departure to the Hebrides :-

MY DEAR FRIEND,

TO MR. THOMSON.

Yours I received a few days ago. you speak of so warmly-that accrues friend, I can assure you, I felt in its

GLASGOW, May 17, 1795.

The pleasure-which from the letter of a full force; but it was

heightened, in no small degree, by this circumstance—that, previous to the reception of your letter, I had been entirely miserable in the idea that you had not received my first letter, and that my second had also been impeded in its progress to you. A thousand notions and suppositions entered my brain, which it were needless now to detail; suffice it to say that your kind favor was a "Doctor" to them all. I am, my dear friend, glad that our correspondence is again renewed; and this is all my time permits me to say. The post is just going off for London, and your humble servant sets off to-morrow morning for the Island of Mull-that spot in the Hebrides so celebrated by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell.

Mull is to be my place of residence this summer! I go to stay with a young widow lady, a namesake and connexion of my own.- -Quare? would it be impossible to make an elopement from the Hebrides to Gretna Green in a coach and four? This is only a hint by the way. I expect, in Mull, a calm retreat for study and the muses. I shall write you as soon as I can from that place. May the muse assist me to please your ear! I am at present employed in packing up my trunk-but I could not set off without popping you these hurried linesforgive their inconsistency of style.-Write me soon. God bless you, my dear friend! You shall hear from me as soon as I can find an opportunity.

THOS. CAMPBELL.

ÆT. 17.]

RESIDENCE IN THE HEBRIDES.

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CHAPTER VI.

RESIDENCE IN THE HEBRIDES.

IN full anticipation of the romantic country now before him, and already familiar with their feudal history and poetic legends, a residence in the Hebrides seemed to the ardent mind of Campbell, to promise a new world of thought and observation. However uncongenial the duties upon which he was to enter might at first appear, they were to be only temporary; and after the lapse of a few months he would return to College-as he flattered himself with a vast fund of materials, fresh from the wild heaths and still wilder shores of Mull, which he could turn to good account among the periodical works of the day. He set out from Glasgow on the eighteenth of May, in the company of his old class-fellow, Joseph Finlayson, and took the road to Inverary. The journey abounds in interest, and that interest is greatly increased by being enabled to express it in the Poet's own words:-"I was fain, from my father's reduced circumstances, to accept, for six months, of a tutorship in a Highland family, at the farthest end of the Isle of Mull. To this, it is true, my poverty, rather than my will, consented. I was so little proud of it, that, in passing through Greenock, I purposely omitted to call on my mother's cousin, Mr. Robert Sinclair-at that time a wealthy merchant and first magistrate of the town, with a family of handsome daughters, one of whom I married some nine years afterwards. But, although I knew that the Sinclairs would have welcomed me hospitably, I did not like to tell my pretty cousins that I was going out in that capacity. I well remember spending a long evening-sub dio, for economy's sake-on the Greenock Quay, in company with my college friend, Joseph Finlayson*now a reverend minister of the Scottish Kirk-who was also going off to a Highland Tutorship. When the night came on, we repaired together to the little inn, where we had bespoken our beds; and there our famine overcame our frugality. Poor dogs! We had ate nothing since noon, and were ravenously *The late Rev. Joseph Finlayson, D. D.

VOL. I.-6.

sharp-set. In the course of the evening we had saved the life of a little boy, by plunging after him into the water; and we thought it hard that two such heroes should go supperless to bed. So we ordered a dish of beef-steaks. What the landlady chose to call a pound, was brought in, set upon the table, and vanished like smoke. Then came in another--then a third, together with a tankard of ale, that set us both singing and reciting poetry.

"I still retain the opinion that life is pleasanter in the real transition, than in the retrospect; but still I am bound to regard this part of my recollections of life as very agreeable. I was, it is true, very poor, but I was gay as a lark, and hardy as the Highland heather. After plunging into the sea, to save the urchin who would otherwise have been drowned, I continued in my wet clothes until they dried on my back, and felt no bad result from it.

"Finlayson and I crossed the Frith of Clyde, to Argyllshire-our trunks being sent by land to Inverary; and our whole travelling equipage, consisting of a few articles tied in our handkerchiefs, we slung on sticks over our shoulders. The wide world contained not two merrier boys. We sang and recited poetry throughout the long wild Highland glens. I had still a halfbelief in Ossian, and an Ossianic interest in the Gaelic people. To be sure, travelling in the Highlands, at that time, was about as comfortable as it is now, among the Arab tribes in Africa— with this difference in favor of Ossian, that it was not over safe to lay yourself down in a Highland bed, without being troubled with cutaneous sensations next morning-so my companion and I slept all night on chairs, by the side of a peat fire. The miracles of steam-boats and Highland hotels, were then unknown. When you came to an inn, the only bill of fare announced was-'Skatan agas, spuntat agas, usquebaugh'-which is to say-herrings and potatoes, and whiskey! Nevertheless, the roaring streams and torrents, with the yellow primroses, and chanting cuckoos on their banks-the heathy mountains, with the sound of the goats bleating at their tops, delighted me beyond measure. I felt a soul in every muscle of my body; and my mind was satisfied that I was going to earn my bread by my own labor.

"At last, after crossing Cowal, and reaching Inverary, we regained a spot of comparative civilization, where there was a high road, with mile-stones. On that road, I remember, we came up with a little boy, in a postman's dress, whose pony was left gra