broom. And as an introduction and preparation towards this very desirable consummation, permit me to give you a few notices, historical and anecdotical, respecting the noble and truly Scottish game of Curling. Curling has long been practised in the southern and western districts of Scotland, in particular. Our forefathers used to thrash their corn before day-light, and then master and servant adjourned cheek for jowl to the ice. It was then, and, indeed, still is, a kind of " Saturnalia;" for freedom of conversation and remark has ever been considered as one of the Curler's most indisputable privileges. Of all the contests, however, in which Curlers have been known to engage, the most agitating and keenly contested by far have been " Parish Spiels." In many instances, the inhabitants of one county or dale have migrated, as it were, and sojourned into another, bag and baggage,-with the view of contesting and determining their curling superiority. And I verily believe that no calamity could have been more severely felt, and lamented, than the loss of such a contest. I have known swine's bristles placed in the hats of those who had been sutored, as it is termed, on such occasions, and once saw both fife and drum upon the ice, for the purpose of celebrating, in due form, the victory. There was one other purpose to which this bewitching amusement was occasionally rendered subservient. In seasons of dearth, or of particular severity, coals and meal were occasionally played for at these parish contests; and whilst the curler's hearts were made happy over beef and greens, with a brimming bowl of whisky-punch,-the church-officers and elders were often employed in distributing food and elding amongst the poorer classes. This was, indeed, mixing the "utile" with the "dulci ;" and, pity it is, that even in seasons which are favourable for the sport, so humane and well-timed a liberality should be discontinued. Nothing could exceed the anxiety and expectation with which the day set apart for such parish fetes was anticipated. I have often been sent out by my own father, who was remarkably fond of the sport, with a wet pocket handkerchief, which I hung upon the garden-hedge, returning it every now and then to his grasp, that he might know by the stiffening, whether the night was freezing or not. A cloud in the west-the wind blowing southerly-the shooting and tremulous motion of the stars-with a certain suspicious sugh of the wind through door-ways and creviceswere all unfavourable symptoms,whilst a ringing earth and a ringing air,-a whole host of stars, with "no a clud in a' the sky," were as decidedly favourable appearances. Nor was Curling confined, in former and more remote times, to the human race exclusively; it was even adopted, not by the water-kelpy, as might reasonably have been anticipated, but by the more airy inhabitants of the knowe and the glen, as not unworthy of their ethereal natures. Fairies have been known, even within my own remembrance, to occupy particular lochs, and to indulge themselves occasionally of a Sabbath afternoon, in a fair set-to. I remember, whilst yet a boy, my passing, upon a Sabbath, Loch Etterick, in Dumfries-shire. The day was misty, but it still continued to freeze, and I heard, or thought I heard, most distinctly, the sound of curling-stones on the ice. Although I now know that in all probability the sound was occasioned by the sinking, and, consequent rending of the ice, yet such is the power of previous association, in consequence of previous belief, that at this moment I am half persuaded that I heard the stones strike against each other, and the curlers employing their besoms. A pedlar, well known in Dumfriesshire, whose love of gain was generally considered as an overmatch for his conscience, but who was withal very fond of the amusement of Curling, chanced to pass Loch Etterick with his pack on his back, upon a Sabbath morning. The ice was evidently in fine order, and there were a few curling-stones lying on the banks of the loch, with which the shepherds of those mountainous districts had been in the habit of occasionally amusing themselves. Watty hesitated a little, and propping up his pack, according to use and wont, with his staff from behind, took out his snuff-mill, and began a process of what is commonly called ratiocination, but which Watty termed "thinking wi' himsel." On the one hand, there was the " Lord's day," and the sin, and so forth; but then, on the other side, appeared the stones, lying quite ready; the fine board of ice, made and 176 Curliana. constructed by God himself, together with the absence, for the present, of all human eyes. In a word, the result of this deliberation was an advance made by Watty into the middle of the loch, where he quietly deposited his pack, and had recourse to a pair or two of the best stones he could select. Everybody who understands the game knows quite well how Watty would proceed. He would just set a stone upon each tee, and then try to hit it off. The sport, no doubt, was imperfect without a companion, and so Watty felt it to be. He gave a glance or two to the surrounding hills, as if half desirous that "Will Crosby," a rattling, reckless body, might heave in sight, and bear a hand; but there was no human creature within view; so Watty behoved to give up his favourite sport altogether, or otherwise to continue the marking and striking system, as he had begun. At last, however, the play became tiresome, and Watty, in order to rest and resolve upon future measures, seated himself quite at his ease upon his pack. No sooner had he done this, however, than with a boom and a roar, that made all the ice shake and sink beneath him, an invisible, and consequently a fairy curling-stone, came full drive apparently against Watty's shins. "Reason's progressive," says the poet, "instinct is complete." The rule of instinct, or care of self-preservation, restored Watty immediately to his legs, and in the course of a certain number of rather hasty strides, to the adjoining bank. This was doubtless a visitation upon him for his profanation of the Sabbath, and for his regretting, at the same time, the want of company; so what was to be done? The pack was in the power, at least within the dominion, of the "Fairy queen," and to contest the possession upon her own element, seemed little short of madness. At this instant another fairy stone made its presence audible, and Watty, unable any longer to resist his terrors, fled. He fled to a shieling about four miles off, and with the assistance of "Will Crosby," whose faith was not much stronger than Watty's, possessed himself next morning of his lost goods. The story I have often heard him tell with a serious countenance; nor have I the smallest doubt that he believed every word which he said. The story, of course, became current, and is still re membered by many old people of that [Feb. district. Be this as it may, the amusement of Curling is evidently from this, as well as from similar anecdotes, of terday; and I verily believe that had great antiquity. Fairies are not of yesCurling in particular, these green-coatit not been for their taste for Sabbath disappeared at least half a century eared tenants of the knowes and glens had lier than they actually did. I am a great advocate for every enterprizing individual in this age of X. THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR. CLASS IV. Dogs. THERE being no adage more generally established, or better founded, than that the principal conversation of shepherds meeting on the hills is either about Dogs or LASSES, I shall make each of these important topics a head, or rather a snag, in my Pastoral Calendar, whereon to hang a few amusing anecdotes; the one of these forming the chief support, and the other the chief temporal delight, of the shepherd's solitary and harmless life. Though it may appear a singular perversion of the order of nature to put the dogs before the lasses, I shall nevertheless begin with the former. I think I see how North will chuckle at this, and think to himself how this is all of the Shepherd being fallen into the back ground of life, (by which epithet he is pleased to distinguish the married state,) for that he had seen the day he would hardly have given angels the preference to lasses, not to speak of a parcel of tatted towsy tykes! I beg your pardon, sir, but utility should always take precedency of pleasure. A shepherd may be a very able, trusty, and good shepherd, without a sweetheart-better, perhaps, than with one. But what is he without his dog? A mere post, sir-a nonentity as a shepherd-no better than one of the grey stones upon the side of his hill. A literary pedlar, such as yourself, Sir Christy, and all the thousands beside who deal in your small wares, will not believe, that a single shepherd and his dog will accomplish more in gathering a stock of sheep from a Highland farm, than twenty shepherds could do with out dogs. So that you see, and it is a fact, that, without this docile little animal, the pastoral life would be a mere blank. Without the shepherd's dog, the whole of the open mountainous land in Scotland would not be worth a sixpence. It would require more hands to manage a stock of sheep, gather them from the hills, force them into houses and folds, and drive them to markets, than the profits of the whole stock were capable of maintaining. Well may the shepherd feel an interest in his dog; he is indeed the fellow that earns the family's bread, of which he is himself content with the smallest morsel; always grateful, and always ready to exert his utmost abilities in his master's interest. Neither hunger, fatigue, nor the worst of treatment, will drive him from his side; he will follow him through fire and water, as the saying is, and through every hardship, without murmur or repining, till he literally fall down dead at his foot. If one of them is obliged to change masters, it is sometimes long before he will acknowledge the new one, or condescend to work for him with the same avidity as he did for his former lord; but if he once acknowledge him, he continues attached to him till death; and though naturally proud and high-spirited, in as far as relates to his master, these qualities (or rather failings) are kept so much in subordination, that he has not a will of his own. Of such a grateful, useful, and disinterested animal, I could write volumes; and now that I have got on my hobby, I greatly suspect that all my friends at Ambrose's will hardly get me off again. I once sent you an account of a notable dog of my own, named Sirrah, which amused a number of your readers a great deal, and put their faith in my veracity somewhat to the test; but in this district, where the singular qualities of the animal were known, so far from any of the anecdotes being disputed, every shepherd values himself to this day on the possession of facts far outstripping any of those recorded by you formerly. With a few of these I shall conclude this paper. But, in the first place, I must give you some account of my own renowned Hector, which I promised long ago. He was the son and immediate successor of the faithful old Sirrah; and though not nearly so valuable a See the Mountain Bard. dog as his father, he was a far more interesting one. He had three times more humour and whim about him; and though exceedingly docile, his bravest acts were mostly tinctured with a grain of stupidity, which shewed his reasoning faculty to be laughably obtuse. I shall mention a striking instance of it. I was once at the farm of Shorthope, on Ettrick head, receiving some lambs that I had bought, and was going to take to market, with some more, the next day. Owing to some accidental delay, I did not get final delivery of the lambs till it was growing late; and being obliged to be at my own house that night, I was not a little dismayed lest I should scatter and lose my lambs, if darkness overtook me. Darkness did overtake me by the time I got half way, and no ordinary darkness for an August evening. The lambs having been weaned that day, and of the wild black-faced breed, became exceedingly unruly, and for a good while I lost hopes of mastering them. Hector managed the point, and we got them safe home; but both he and his master were alike sore forefoughten. It had become so dark, that we were obliged to fold them with candles; and after closing them safely up, I went home with my father and the rest to supper. When Hector's supper was set down, behold he was wanting! and as I knew we had him at the fold, which was within call of the house, I went out, and called and whistled on him for a good while, but he did not make his appearance. I was distressed about this; for, having to take away the lambs next morning, I knew I could not drive them a mile without my dog, if it had been to save me the whole drove. The next morning, as soon as it was day, I arose and inquired if Hector had come home. No; he had not been seen. I knew not what to do; but my father proposed that he would take out the lambs and herd them, and let them get some meat to fit them for the road; and that I should ride with all speed to Shorthope, to see if my dog had gone back there. Accordingly, we went together to the fold to turn out the lambs, and there was poor Hector sitting trembling in the very middle of the fold door, on the inside of the flake that closed it, with his eyes still stedfastly fixed on the lambs. He had been so hardly set with them after it grew dark, that he durst not for his life leave them, although hungry, fatigued, and cold; for the night had turned out a deluge of rain. He had never so much as lain down, for only the small spot that he sat on was dry, and there had he kept watch the whole night. Almost any other colley would have discerned that the lambs were safe enough in the fold, but honest Hector had not been able to see through this. He even refused to take my word for it, for he durst not quit his watch though he heard me calling both at night and morning. Another peculiarity of his was, that he had a mortal antipathy at the family mouser, which was ingrained in his nature from his very puppyhood; yet so perfectly absurd was he, that no impertinence on her side, and no baiting on, could ever induce him to lay his mouth on her, or injure her in the slightest degree. There was not a day, and scarcely an hour passed over, that the family did not get some amusement with these two animals. Whenever he was within doors, his whole occupation was watching and pointing the cat from morning to night. When she flitted from one place to another, so did he in a moment; and then squatting down, he kept his point sedulously, till he was either called off or fell asleep. He was an exceedingly poor taker of meat, was always to press to it, and always lean; and often he would not taste it till we were obliged to bring in the cat. The malicious looks that he cast at her from under his eyebrows on such occasions, were exceedingly ludicrous, considering his utter incapability of wronging her. Whenever he saw her, he drew near his bicker, and looked angry, but still he would not taste till she was brought to it; and then he cocked his tail, set up his birses, and began a lapping furiously, in utter desperation. His good nature was so immoveable, that he would never refuse her a share of what he got; he even lapped close to the one side of the dish, and left her roombut mercy as he did ply! It will appear strange to you to hear a dog's reasoning faculty mentioned, as I have done; but, I declare, I have hardly ever seen a shepherd's dog do anything without perceiving his reasons for it. I have often amused my self in calculating what his motives were for such and such things, and I generally found them very cogent ones. But Hector had a droll stupidity about him, and took up forms and rules of his own, for which I could never perceive any motive that was not even farther out of the way than the action itself. He had one uniform practice, and a very bad one it was, during the time of family worship, and just three or four seconds before the conclusion of the prayer, he started to his feet, and ran barking round the apartment like a crazed beast. My father was so much amused with this, that he would never suffer me to correct him for it, and I scarcely ever saw the old man rise from the prayer without his endeavouring to suppress a smile at the extravagance of Hector. None of us ever could find out how he knew that the prayer was near done, for my father was not formal in his prayers; but certes he did know,-of that we had nightly evidence. There never was anything for which I was so puzzled to discover a motive as this; but, from accident, I did discover it, and, however ludicrous it may appear, I am certain I was correct. It was much in character with many of Hector's feats, and rather, I think, the most outré of any principle he ever acted on. As I said, his great daily occupation was pointing the cat. Now, when he saw us kneel all down in a circle, with our faces couched on our paws, in the same posture with himself, it struck his absurd head, that we were all engaged in pointing the cat. He lay on tenters all the time, but the acuteness of his ear enabling him, through time, to ascertain the very moment when we would all spring to our feet, he thought to himself," I shall be first after her for you all." He inherited his dad's unfortunate ear for music, not perhaps in so extravagant a degree, but he ever took care to exhibit it on the most untimely and ill-judged occasions. Owing to some misunderstanding between the minister of the parish and the session clerk, the precenting in church devolved on my father, who was the senior elder. Now, my father could have sung several of the old church tunes middling well, in his own family circle; but it so happened, that, when mount ed in the desk, he never could command the starting notes of any but one (St Paul's), which were always in undue readiness at the root of his tongue, to the exclusion of every other semibreve in the whole range of sacred melody. The minister, giving out psalms four times in the course of every day's service, consequently, the congregation were treated with St Paul's, in the morning, at great length, twice in the course of the service, and then once again at the close. Nothing but St Paul's. And, it being of itself a monotonous tune, nothing could exceed the monotony that prevailed in the primitive church of Ettrick. Out of pure sympathy for my father alone, I was compelled to take the precentorship in hand; and, having plenty of tunes, for a good while I came on as well as could be expected, as men say of their wives. But, unfortunately for me, Hector found out that I attended church every Sunday, and though I had him always closed up carefully at home, he rarely failed in making his appearance in church at some time of the day. Whenever I saw him a tremor came over my spirits, for I well knew what the issue would be. The moment that he heard my voice strike up the psalm, "with might and majesty," then did he fall in with such overpowering vehemence, that he and I seldom got any to join in the music but our two selves. The shepherds hid their heads, and laid them down on the backs of the seats rowed in their plaids, and the lasses looked down to the ground and laughed till their faces grew red. I despised to stick the tune, and therefore was obliged to carry on in spite of the obstreperous accompaniment; but I was, time after time, so completely put out of all countenance with the brute, that I was obliged to give up my office in disgust, and leave the parish once more to their old friend, St Paul. Hector was quite incapable of performing the same feats among sheep hat his father did; but, as far as his judgment served him, he was a docile and obliging creature. He had one singular quality, of keeping true to the charge to which he was set. If we had been shearing, or sorting sheep in any way, when a division was turned out, and Hector got the word to attend to them, he would have done it pleasantly, for a whole day, without the least symptom of weariness. No noise or hurry about the fold, which |