CHAPTER XIV.

The Necropolis--Jewish Burial Place-Monument to John Knox -Monuments of William Macgavin and Dr. Dick-Reminiscences-Character and Writings of Dr. Dick-Pollok and 'the Course of Time-Grave of Motherwell-Sketch of his LifeHis Genius and Poetry-'Jeanie Morrison.'-'My Heid is like to rend, Willie-'A Summer Sabbath Noon.'

EAST of the Cathedral, a few steps, lies the Necropolis, on the brow of a hill which overlooks the city and the surrounding regions. We pass over the "Bridge of Sighs," so named from its leading to the Cemetery, and consisting of a handsome arch. spanning the "Molendinar Burn," a brawling rivulet, whose waters, collected into a small basin, dash over an artificial cascade into the ravine below. The Necropolis covers the rocky eminence formerly crowned with dark firs, and supposed, in ancient times to have been a retreat of the Druids, who here performed their fearful rites. But how sweet and peaceful now, ornamented with fine trees and shrubbery, shady walks, and beautiful monuments, a serene retreat for the peaceful dead. In point of situation and appearance, the Necropolis is superior to " Pere la Chaise," though certainly inferior to "Greenwood" and "Mount Auburn,” in our opinion the most attractive burying-places in the world. Still, each of these has a beauty of its own, well fitted to soften and subdue those feelings

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of grief and horror naturally excited by death and the grave. Such sweet and attractive places of burial are in harmony with the genius of the Gospel. The ancient Greeks, from their very horror of death and their ignorance of futurity, endeavored to invest the tomb with festal associations. Why, then, should not we, upon whom the light of immortality has descended, lay those we love in scenes of quiet beauty, where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest?" Does not Holy Writ declare," Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ?" It is therefore meet to place their bodies only in scenes which remind us of rest, of hope, and of Heaven.

"The Dead cannot grieve,

Not a sob nor a sigh meets mine ear,

Which compassion itself could relieve.

Ah, sweetly they slumber, nor love, hope, or fear;
Peace! peace is the watchword, the only one here.”

Let affection, then, bury her dead and build her tombs amid the trees and the flowers, which preach to us of the resurrection-morn and the paradise of God,

"The first tabernacle to Hope we will build,
And look for the sleepers around us to rise!

The second to Faith which insures it fulfilled;
And the third to the Lamb of the great sacrifice,

Who bequeathed us them both when he rose from the skies!"

This cemetery was founded in 1831, and the first sale was to the Jews, who require a burying-place for themselves. It lies in the north-west corner The enclosure contains the requi

of the grounds.

site accommodations for washing the bodies before interment as required by the Jewish law, which also forbids one body to be deposited above another. The place is ornamented with excellent taste. On the left is a beautiful pillar, in imitation of Absalom's pillar in the "King's dale." On the front of this column, and immediately under its capital, is a piece of fret-work, formed of Hebrew letters, representing the words, "Who among the gods is like unto Jehovah?" On the shaft of the column are those touching stanzas from Byron's Hebrew Melodies, concluding thus:

"Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
When shall ye flee away and be at rest;

The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind his country-Israel but the grave."

On the lower part of the column is the following: "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me."

On the other side of the gateway are engraved the following verses:

"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."

"Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy."

"And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border."

And on the opposite pillar is the following:

"How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Sion with a cloud

in his anger, and cast down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and removed not his footstool in the day of his anger.”

"But though he caused grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."

On the summit of the hill, and towering above the rest, is the commanding monument of John Knox, intended to be commemorative of the Reformation. On a lofty square pedestal, stands the statue of the stern old Reformer, with the Bible in one hand, and the other stretched out, as if in the act of addressing the multitude. On one side of the pedestal is the following inscription:

To testify gratitude for inestimable services

In the cause of Religion, Education, and Civil Liberty,
To awaken admiration

Of that Integrity, Disinterestedness and Courage,
Which stood unshaken in the midst of trials,
And in the maintenance of the highest objects—
Finally,

To cherish unceasing reverence for the principles and blessings
of that Great Reformation, by the influence of which our
country, though in the midst of difficulties, has
risen to honor, prosperity, and happiness,

This Monument is erected by Voluntary Subscription,
To the Memory of
JOHN KNOX,

The chief instrument, under God, of the Reformation

in Scotland,

On the 22d day of Sept. 1825.

He died rejoicing in the faith of the Gospel, at Edinburgh, on the 24th of Nov. 1532, in the 69th year of his age.

On the other sides are the following:

"The Reformation produced a revolution in the sentiments of mankind, the greatest as well as most beneficial that has happened since the publication of Christianity."

"In 1547, and in the city where his friend George Wishart had suffered, John Knox, surrounded with dangers, first preached the doctrines of the Reformation. In 1559, on the 24th of August, the parliament of Scotland adopted the confession of faith, presented by the reformed ministers, and declared popery no longer to be the religion of this kingdom.

"John Knox beaame then a minister of Edinburgh, where he continued to his death, the incorruptible guardian of our best interests.

"I can take God to witness,' he declared,' that I never preached in contempt of any man, and wise men will consider that a true friend cannot flatter; especially in a case that involves the salvation of the bodies and the souls, not of a few persons, but of the whole realm.' When laid in the grave, the Regent said: 'There lieth he who never feared the face of man, who was often threatened with pistol and dagger, yet hath ended his days in peace and honor.'

"Patrick Hamilton, a youth of high rank and distinguished attainments, was the first martyr in Scotland in the cause of the Reformation. He was condemned to the flames in St. Andrews, in 1528, and the 24th year of his age.

"From 1530 to 1540, persecution raged in every quarter, many suffered the most cruel deaths, and many fled to England and the continent. Among these early martyrs were Jerome Russel and Alexander Kennedy, two young men of great piety and talent, who suffered at Glasgow. William Wishart returned to Scotland, from which he had been banished, and preached the Gospel in various quarters. In 1546, this heavenly-minded man, the friend and instructor of Knox, was committed to the flames at St. Andrews."

Let the thoughtful ponder these interesting memorials, and say whether the Reformation in Scotland was not a glorious event!

At a little distance from Knox's monument, is one to the memory of Mr. Macgavin, a banker in Glasgow, and author of "the Protestant;" and