country can be instantaneously renovated into its former state of vigour. The great arrangements of society are slow and gradual, nor can they be accelerated, though they may be thwarted or retarded, by the contrivances of politicians. But although human affairs may not advance with so rapid a progress as we may think desirable, we may rest assured of this, that society contains, within itself, the true principles of perpetual improvement. That powerful motive which is continually impelling every man to exert himself for the bettering of his condition, will never allow human affairs to stand still; and trusting, therefore, to this principle, of sure and everlasting operation, we may, in the course of no very long period, rationally look forward to a state of progressive improvement in the condition of the country.

BORDER SKETCHES.

MR EDITOR,

DURING a late excursion through some of the Border districts, I jotted down a few brief notices of such things as struck me, at the time, as curious or interesting. Of these memoranda I now send you a sample, which, if not too trivial for the nature of your Miscellany, may perhaps serve to amuse some of your readers in the absence of more valuable materials.

Wormeden. This place, which is a sort of marshy hollow, or recess, in the north-east side of Greenlees Hill, (Roxburghshire,) is said to have formerly been the lair of a worme, or serpent, which has been celebrated by Dr Leyden in his Scenes of Infancy, and by Walter Scott in his notes to the ballad of Kempion. From this recess, (which, by the bye, retains striking vestiges of having once been forest ground,) the worme was wont to issue forth, as the story goes, to lay waste the country around, till at last it was destroyed by the adventurous "Laird of Lariston," who slew the monster by thrusting down its throat a fiery peat on the point of his spear. An ancient piece of rude sculpture on the church wall of Linton, still commemorates this notable achievment; another, and somewhat less exaggerated account of which may also be found in the "Memorie of the Somervilles."

John Leyden, father of the lamented Dr John Leyden, a most respectable and intelligent old man, related to me a curious tradition about another enormous worme which, in former times, is said to have infested the banks of the Oxnam Water, and which was also overcome and slain in single combat by a doughty Tinker or Gipsey, who, after the manner of the old Grecian worthies, attacked and destroyed it with a knotty club. May not the authority of these and innumerable other traditions of a similar description be received for the existence of large snakes in this country at a former period? or are we to suppose that all such legends are mere local variations of the old story of St George and the Dragon?

Traquair.-I was much disappoint ed here, when they pointed out to me the Bush aboon Traquair,—or rather what is called the New Bush; which is nothing else than an ugly square clump of Scotch firs, planted on the side of a bleak hill, at a distance from every thing in the landscape that is pleasing or poetical. The rest of the scenery, however, abundantly compensates for this piece of bad taste. The situation and appearance of the old mansion of Traquair is beautiful and interesting in the highest degree. But what very particularly struck me, was the wonderful resemblance in the whole aspect of the gateway, avenue, and house itself, to the semi-gothic bear-guarded mansion of Tulley-Veolan, as described by the author of Waverley. It is true, indeed, that, in place of the multitudinous representations of the Bear, so profusely scattered around the environs of Bradwardine, we have here only the single pair which adorn the gate at the entrance of the avenue,-and that the avenue itself cannot pretend to match the broad continuous shade through which Waverley approached the castle of the hospitable and redoubted Baron,

and also that several other important features are wanting to complete the resemblance; yet, if I be not altogether imposed upon by my own fancy, there is a likeness sufficiently strong to support the idea, that this scene formed the original study of the more finished and bold-featured picture of the celebrated novelist.

The Secret and True History of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the year 1678. By the Rev. Mr JAMES KIRKTON. 4to. Edinburgh, John Ballantyne, 1817.

ALTHOUGH few subjects are really more interesting than the history of the Reformation in Scotland, yet it is only of late that much attention has been paid to it, and that many who had taken it for granted that the reformers were foolish, and violent, and detestable enthusiasts, have, with some astonishment, discovered that they displayed, in their efforts to introduce the Protestant faith, an intrepidity, a zeal, and an elevation of principle, which we cannot too highly venerate. The Reformation in this country was, from its infancy, interwoven with political freedom. It was, at its commencement, strenuously opposed by the united energy of the monarch and the church; and it thus became necessary to gain the esteem and support of the people, in order to counterbalance the resistance which threatened to render its accomplishment impossible. It was, through the prudence of those who conducted it, gradually disseminated; and it at length was so extensively embraced, that it completed its triumph, by obtaining the sanction of the legislature. Still, however, much ground was left for diversity of sentiment; and various causes united in producing a state of the public mind which gave rise to the most memorable events, events which powerfully affected our civil condition, and the complexion of the national character.

From the connection which Knox had with Calvin and the other illustrious divines of Geneva, he was led, as soon as the ascendancy of the Reformation was secured, to give to the ecclesiastical polity, which was to be introduced, a popular form; and his views were carried fully into effect, after his death, by Melvil, who succeeded in overthrowing the modified system of Episcopacy which he found existing, and in establishing the Presbyterian discipline. To this discipline

James the Sixth gave occasionally a cold and reluctant support; but he did not conceal the jealousy with which he regarded it; and, although he did not, whilst he remained in Scotland, directly attempt its subversion, he exerted his influence in making such changes as, by restraining the honest and manly independence of some of the most eminent ministers, would, he trusted, render it subservient to the views and the designs of the court. After he had ascended the throne of England, and had been gratified with the obsequiousness of the bishops, who exhibited, to be sure, in this respect, a very marked, and to him a very delightful contrast, to the rugged plainness of his former ecclesiastics, he determined, as the most effectual mode of strengthening the prerogative, to introduce Episcopacy into his native kingdom; and, to attain his object, he had recourse to means which alienated the affections of a vast proportion of his subjects, which still more endeared to them the principles to which they had been previously attached, and inspired them with the conviction that it was a duty which it would be impiety to neglect, to defend, even against the sovereign himself, these principles.

His infatuated and unfortunate son, when he at length turned his attention to Scotland, resolved to go far beyond what his father had effected, and to compel his countrymen to submit to a perfect uniformity of faith and polity with their southern neighbours. The rashness with which he made the attempt, his disregard of the plainest indications of aversion to his measures, the violence of the bishops whom he selected, and the disgust of the nobility excited by his marked partiality to the prelates, and his conferring upon them some of the most splendid civil offices, soon formed a general resolution to oppose his innovations; the opposition was identified, in the public estimation, with religion itself, and by the most awful and striking oaths, administered with whatever could increase their efficacy, the enemies of Episcopacy bound them

selves to exterminate Prelacy, and to re-establish that form of polity which, from numberless associations, they regarded with the utmost reverence, and which they were prepared to defend with the most ardent zeal. The limits to which we must be confined, render it impossible to give even a faint sketch of the part which they acted in the civil commotions that terminated in the execution of the king; but it may be evident, from what has been already stated, that the feelings of the people must have been strongly excited, and it cannot be matter of wonder, that, accustomed as they were to consider their cause as the cause of God, almost constantly employed in those exercises of devotion in which they implored his blessing upon it, and stimulated by the homely but energetic addresses of their beloved pastors, many of them yielded to the fervour of a heated imagination, and were influenced by what, when the causes which produced it have ceased to operate, must appear to be the wildness of enthusiasm. This was the unavoidable effect of the circumstances in which they were placed,-it was the excess into which the weakness of our nature, under these circumstances, could scarcely fail to be betrayed; but wemust penetrate through it to appreciate their character, and we shall find, that the great body of them were actuated by the most heroic attachment to freedom, and by the firmest determination not to bow their necks to the crushing oppression of the most savage despotism. During the period which elapsed between the death of Charles and the restoration of his son, they split, as might have been anticipated, into parties, and there was certainly, amongst many of those who assumed the appellation of protesters, a degree of fanaticism which bewildered their understandings, and which, when aggravated, as it afterwards was, by the horrors of persecution, did lead to the most lamentable departure from duty and from humanity; but this, under a gentle administration, would have gradually yielded to the milder spirit of their brethren, whilst the activity and earnestness which distinguished their ministy might have remained.

Charles the Second, although he

declared his purpose of supporting the religion established by law, in language, about the meaning of which no honest man could hesitate, and which, if it were extended to deceive, fixes indelible infamy both upon the king and the men who advised him, soon directed against presbytery the fury of an iron government; he abolished its judicatories, and by virtue of his prerogative, forced episcopacy in a form much more obnoxious than it had previously assumed in Scotland, upon a nation penetrated with the conviction, that submission to it was impiety, and little disposed to venerate authority which had not scrupled to contaminate itself by hav ing recourse to the meanest dissimulation, and by forming an union with the basest apostacy. We must read the history of the dire persecutions, must read the shocking details which, in sad abundance, have been transmitted, and which are so authenticated that prejudice and scepticism must admit their reality, to have an ade quate conception of the profligacy, the cruelty, and the vile oppression which prevailed in Scotland; the heart sickens at the dismal narration, and we must have extinguished every feeling of humanity and patriotism, if we do not sympathize with the unhappy Presbyterians and Covenanters, who were tortured, because they would not abjure a cause implicated with the freedom of their country, and, as they were satisfied, with the eternal salvation of its inhabitants. It is to a considerable part of this melancholy period that the work now before us relates; the author, after a concise and fair sketch of the earlier stages of the Reformation, entering fully upon what happened between the Restoration and the sixteen hundred and seventy-eight, or upon the miseries in which he saw those whom he venerated involved, and of which he was doomed to have an ample portion.

We have given this short view of the history of the Covenanters, because we conceive, that, without attention to it, we cannot justly estimate the merit and tone of Kirkton's book, and many of the sentiments and peculiarities of opinion which it contains. He was himself a Covenanter, and, from being a minister, he took an active part in the events which he witnessed. His work, upon this ac

count alone, would be interesting, because he must have been acquainted with circumstances which later historians might overlook; and because, writing from what was passing before him, he could scarcely fail to give a true delineation of the feelings and manners of the era which he records. But he does much more than this; he displays a vigorous and an observing mind;-he narrates the events which he was anxious to transmit in language, natural, perspicuous, and far from devoid of energy; and he does so in general, as his editor adinits, with a candour, which, considering his situation, reflects the highest credit upon him as a man and a historian. He has not, indeed, escaped from the influence of prejudices, which he would have been more than a human being had he surmounted: he sometimes gravely details, as matter of fact, what modern writers would reject as the delusions of superstition; he views his opponents through too dark a medium, attributing to them occasionally worse motives than those which actually swayed them; whilst he speaks with natural partiality of the friends with whom he acted, painting, in the fairest colours, the merit which they had, and reluctantly admitting, now and then not admitting at all, the errors and the, faults of which they were guilty. His book, therefore, should rather be considered as supplying valuable materials for history, than as history itself, as it would be unsafe to form, from it alone, our opinions of the age to which it relates, or of the men of that age. The following account of the state of the public mind as to episcopacy, at the period of the Restoration, will give some idea of the nature of the work.

"Episcopacy hade never been popular in Scotland, not in the dayes of ancient ignorance; but since the Reformation, in regarde Scotland was reformed by a sort of missionaries from Geneva, bishops were alwayes looked at with a frown. Indeed, the people of Scotland (leaving the arguments from Scripture and the testimonics of Jerom to schollars) used much to insist upon a sort of popular concrete arguments. The bishops hade almost all been both patrones of sin and paterns of profaneness; and if a man in repute turned bishop, it was observed he changed both frame and practice to the worse; and, as Beza had for told, bishops would introduce epicurisme and

atheism; so Scotland found godliness wi thered under their shadow, and wickedness overspread the land first and last. They had a sting for no man but a puritan or a presbyterian; beside, they knew well that the bishops, having perjured themselves gels did,--endeavour to corrupt mankind most solemnly, would do as the fallen anby involving all Scotland in their own sin, that so their personal sin might be excusable as being the sin of the times. They hade also seen a curse attend almost all the bishops' persons and families, and all that were active to introduce them were plagued as these that rebuilt Jericho, and such as these they loved not. It was also found by experience, that as episcopacy is a branch of popery, so it led alwayes to the were looked at root, and therefore bishops. the people of Scotland were heart enemies as the papists harbingers. So the body of to bishops; and even those of the ministry who joyned with the bishops in their pretended synods and presbyteries, protested themselves enemies to episcopacy, protesting they believed what they did inight well consist with the principles of a presbyterian, and they kept themselves in place only that they might be in condition to oppose the bishops' course, which they alleadged the ministers turned out could not so well doc."

We should have had much pleasure, had our limits admitted of it, iu presenting to our readers several more extracts, but we must go on to pay a little attention to the manner in which the secret History of the Church of Scotland has been given to the pub lic.

It might have been very naturally: supposed that the manuscript having fallen into the hands of some admirer of the Covenanters, he was anxious to favour the world with a document which he conceived likely to disseminate his admiration. But the case happens to be far otherwise. Mr K. S. is one of the old school in respect to the Reformation in Scotland,-he is quite satisfied that Knox was a li centious man, and as a preacher, was "almost totally devoid of sound doc trine, solid learning, and common sense," and that those who succeeded him were ignorant and deluded, and To establish all this, he has not not very well principled, enthusiasts. scrupled to repeat what he might have known was the contemptible tale of slander, not believed even when it was audaciously published; and when he does not go this length, he gives the lie to the author whom he has