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joyed in those days, was THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DINNER, as it was called, which took place soon after my return from the west, or, on the 2d of February, being CANDLEMAS DAY—2 day, long accustomed to be set apart by our venerated teachers for juvenile pastime and frolic among their pupils, but which, on this occasion, was reversed, by their old scholars, or pupils of former times, giving a treat of merriment and rejoicing to them.

In this business I took a more active part, and stood in the capacity of prime mover, in a degree, which was not then, nor has since, previously to this announcement, been, I presume, generally known. That the original suggestion, however, came from me, I can with confidence appeal to my then worthy neighbour now at, who, it will be recollected, bore a conspicuous part in the business of carrying the measure into execution; or should the memory of that worthy gentleman have failed him, I have the corroborating circumstance of the original list of names still in my possession.

But much as I venerated, and much as I esteemed my quondam teachers, and much as I was gratified at the time by seeing the measure carried so fully into effect, it is not to be supposed that ever the matter should have been so started or suggested by me, or that I should have felt such gratification by its adoption, had I then, experienced any share of that deep gloom, almost amounting to despondency, which overshaded my mind a twelve month afterwards, or by the time, that the anniversary of that happy meeting, as it was universally acknowledged to be, came round in the following

year.

A record of this happy event, I took care to put down in the Chronological Table, at the end of the February number of my MONTHLY MONITOR, then in course of publication, under the head of The Grateful Scholars; but, in order to give it another, and perhaps a better, chance to be handed down to posterity, as an example worthy of imitation, and to record the names of my much-respected teachers; or, as my worthy correspondent, of former times, the author of Alphion, or the Country School-Boy, would have expressed himself:

"My honour'd friends, the patrons of my youth,
Beneath whose guiding eyes, in days of yore,
My opening mind first caught the rays of truth,
While toiling in the paths of classic lore."

I shall, with much pleasure, give the record a place in these pages also.

"THE GRATEFUL SCHOLARS.

"A very pleasant and gratifying spectacle was exhibited at Dunbar, on Thursday, the 2d instant, Candlemas day.

"A large party of gentlemen, many of whom had now families of their own, but who had formerly been the pupils of Mr JAMES WATTERSTON, (who had for some time back retired from his preceptorial labours, to a farm in the neighbourhood); Mr RICHARD COLTMAN, the present mathematical teacher; or, of Mr DAVID WHITE, Rector of the Grammar and English School;-dined together in Lorimer's inn, with these worthy gentlemen, as a commencement of an annual mark of respect.

"This, surely, was one of those scenes which the good and the wise must contemplate with pleasure, and is worthy of imitation throughout the kingdom: for, while it draws together more closely the companions of our early years in the bonds of amity and friendship, and does honour to the feelings of the scholars of former times, it cannot fail to beget a reciprocal affection in the breasts of the teachers; the good effects of which must be experienced by their present charge; who, also, may one day tread in the steps of their fathers, and not be unmindful of the days o' langsyne.”— See Monthly Monitor, for February 1815; or, page 115, vol. 1st.

It was, indeed, a pleasing and gratifying spectacle, as mentioned above, and it became the more interesting at the time, when viewed as the commencement of a series of such spectacles: or, the first of an annual mark of respect to the teachers by the taught. How Mr for the town, and for the country, did not avail themselves of the power committed to them, as Conveners of the next assem

Mr

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See Alphion; or, the Country School-Boy, page 285, vol. 1st, Cheap Magazine.

bly, by calling the members again together, on the following Candlemas, I know not; and my mind was, at that time, too much engrossed by other matters, to do any thing, by the way of stirring up their remembrance, and thus, a matter begun so auspiciously and apparently so much to the satisfaction of all present, was allowed to drop.*

Among other causes which may be supposed to have contributed, to the calm it appears I had enjoyed at this time, may be reckoned, perhaps, the satisfaction I must have felt in

This notice must, however, convince that highly-esteemed and much-res pected individual, Mr RICHARD COLTMAN, the only survivor of his respected fellow guests on the occasion, that the writer of this, so far as circumstances allow ed him, did, and has again done, his part of the highly becoming duty ; and if the repetition of the record, should be the means, of stimulating some other grateful scholars, to set such a business agoing, either in this or other quarters, it may readily be believed, that, by the circumstance, or circumstances, coming to his ears, the recorder shall not be without his reward. He acknowledges, with gratitude, the many obligations he lies under to that highly useful and respect. able body of men, the SCHOOLMASTERS, not only in his own neighbourhood, but over many of the parishes of Scotland, many of whom, have been of great ser vice to him, in the various publications in which he has been engaged.

If he can do any thing to promote, by this humble memorial, their comfort and happiness, he shall feel himself happy, as he considers it his duty, should he be enabled to do so.

Meantime, he will conclude this note, by communicating to the Parochial Schoolmasters throughout Scotland generally, a piece of information, which, in this age of mysterious divulgements, will, no doubt, surprise some of them, as much, as the declaration of the author of Waverley, did, the band of comedians and others assembled around him, on a certain memorable occasion; although, in the declaration now about to be made, the writer lays no claim to any merit, whatever, in the business, farther than affording house-room to the gentlemen who assembled on the occasion, and that is, that it was in the LITTLE ROOM, off his back-shop, the same now occupied by his son, over the way, and nearly opposite to his present residence, on a Saturday afternoon, that the small coterie of Country Schoolmasters met, and deposited, in 1797, that little grain of mustard-seed, which, as is now well known to most of them, has become, in the year in which I write, " a great tree," under the designation of the "Fund for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Burgh and Parochial Schoolmasters in Scotland;" now affording a comfortable lodgment for many of such, amongst its numerous and still spreading branches.

Of the gentlemen who then met, the only survivor now, is Mr JOHN COCKBURN, my good old worthy acquaintance, the Schoolmaster of SPOTT, in our neighbourhood; the others were, Mr James Archibald, who died lately, schoolmaster of Gladsmuir, near Haddington, then of Whittingham, in Dunbar Presbytery;-Mr James Inglis, late schoolmaster of Innerwick; Mr William Welch, late of Stenton; and Mr George Fulton, late of Bowmore, in the Island of Islay, but who, at that time, taught the Dunbar Parochial side-school in the village of East Barns-a most worthy man, whose memory must ever stand high in my estimation; and whose settlement of the account for printing 900 copies of the first circular, as it appears in my books in December 1797, must ever be held as a corroborating proof, that I am not mistaken as to the time. The business, afterwards, I think, went into the hands of Mr Cooper, of Dalmeny, who, of course, would employ his own printer.

bringing the task of the Cheap Magazine to a completion, followed by so many encouraging and flattering testimonies, against the influence of which, it is no easy matter for the human mind, whether well or badly constituted, to be sufficient proof; for, while minds of a certain description are susceptible of flattery, or that praise and fulsome adulation, to which, a little looking homewards, would convince them, they were not entitled, or had any right;-so there are others who must be conscious, from the uprightness of their motives, and the purity of their intentions, that the praise applied to them is neither unwarranted, nor ill-timed; and to affect insensibility, or the non-existence of the universal passion in their breast, upon such occasions, is certainly going too far on the other extreme. Be this as it may, and whether I deserved it or not, I frankly confess, that, it was not without much pleasure and gratification, that I found my labours rewarded by so many pleasing testimonials; and, when I found among the number, a person, whose name was, at that period, so extensively known, and stood so high in the literary and scholastic world, as the highly respected, for his literary abilities, and justly-esteemed, for the amiable qualities of his heart, the late LINDLEY MURRAY, who, in speaking of the above-mentioned publication, is thus pleased to express himself:-"It appears to him to be well adapted to promote instruction and improvement among the lower orders of people; and he hopes the Editor will reap the reward in his own bosom, not only from a consciousness of his benevolent intentions, but from assured information that the books have been actually beneficial to many.”—That I had been as sured from various quarters, that my volumes had been "beneficial to many," I need not here repeat; and when, to crown all, 1 had just received the following short, but pithy, testimonial, of date the 8th February, from the reverend gentleman, who, as Moderator at the time, signed the minute of the reverend the Presbytery of Dunbar, of date 3d February 1813, which I have availed myself of, among my printed testimonials, as the first given in my favour, it would, indeed, be too much for me to affect to say, that I did not feel somewhat elated.

"You have completely obtained the object you had in view, in the whole of the publication, and the manner you have conducted it, redounds very much to your credit."

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But, as the mere prospect of a state of quietude, or rest from my labours, even when attended with such comfortable reflections, as a consideration of the above, must have produced, could not be supposed to have any great effect upon a mind, so ardent, and habituated to activity, as mine had been, I do not think it would be going too far to say, that the contemplated possibility of my soon embarking more largely in the general publication line, about which, it will have been observed, I had already been making some enquiries, if not preparations, in my journey to the West,-might have rather the effect of raising, than depressing, my spirits, when there were so many golden prospects in the distance, in case they were not already sufficiently so, by the congeniality of the new task, I had now entered upon, to my accustomed habits, and long-established way of thinking, in the Monthly Monitor, which, as coming more particularly among the things of 1815, requires a little more notice, than, in this chapter, I have room to take, and shall, therefore, defer a consideration of it to the next.

CHAPTER X.-1815 (CONTINUED.)

The Monthly Monitor, or Philanthropic Museum, may be viewed in the light of a continuation of the Cheap Magazine-Extracts from its title and from my original address.-Opinion of Mr James Graham, late of Berwick-uponTweed.-Lines to his memory. The conducting of such a work as the Monthly Monitor, must have been a pleasing task. Several circumstances must have conspired and contributed to my serenity of mind at this time.-My worldly affairs prosperous and flourishing. My acquaintances and correspondents of the truly great and illustrious kind.-Other motives for pleasing re flection in the Spring of 1815.

THE MONTHLY MONITOR, OF PHILANTHROPIC MUSEUM, which followed in the wake of the Cheap Magazine, by being pub

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