Those who become acquainted with the apostolic church of Scotland through the medium of the handsome fanes which she has reared of late years in the principal towns, know in general little of the humble circumstances in which she exists in the various rural districts, where a remnant of her communion has been left. Mr Skinner's parsonage at Linshart, in the neighbourhood of the village of Longside, was simply a thatched cottage of the usual appearance. The fire-places, according to the usage of Buchan, contained no grates, the fires, composed of peats, were kindled on the hearth. So lately as 1826, when the present writer visited the house, and found it occupied by Mr Skinner's grandson and successor, the Rev. Mr Cumming, it remained in this condition,-a striking and even affecting memorial, not only of the poet, but of the depressed Christian body to which he belonged. The bed and other chief articles of furniture were the same which had served Mr Skinner during his long tenancy of the house; and the walls were still ornamented with a set of family portraits, in chalk, the work of some wandering artist. It may be mentioned that the portrait representing himself, in that set, has furnished the basis of the present likeness, which is the only one ever published, and is allowed by his surviving friends to be a faithful representation. The early part of Mr Skinner's career was chequered by evils much more severe than any which could arise from limited resources and a humble home. Although he was not personally a friend of the house of Stuart, he could not help being involved in the persecution which the unhappy insurrection of 1745-6 brought upon the Scottish episcopal communion. A military party came to his house when his wife was on child-bed, turned his family to the door, took away every thing that was valuable, or which could be conveniently carried, and demolished the little chapel in which he officiated. On one occasion, he was seized, and imprisoned in the jail of Aberdeen, for no other offence than that of preaching to more than four persons. During this residence in a common jail, and suffering all the hardships of a close confinement, next to a humble trust in the Divine goodness, his chief resource lay in the conversation of a few worthy friends, at the hours when they were allowed to visit him, and in the liberal supply of books which they had the means of procuring for him. These were his constant companions when all others were excluded; and he has been often heard to say, that no six months of his life ever passed away with so little interruption to his studies as the term of his legal imprisonment. The activity of his mind seemed to increase in proportion to his want of bodily exercise: and though he amused himself now and then with some lighter productions of a poetical turn; yet the general bent of his thoughts lay towards more grave and serious subjects, and he even employed himself, with philosophic tranquillity, in writing a treatise on the Hebrew Shechinah. For many years, in consequence of the severity of the statutes against Episcopacy in Scotland, he was obliged either to officiate to his congregation in fours, or to take four within doors, and allow the rest to overhear him, as they best might, through the open doors and windows. The following extract, from the biographical memoir prefixed to the posthumous edition : of his works, conveys a delightful picture of the simplicity of his professional life :"Would the reader therefore wish to see that reciprocally genuine attachment and regard, which ought to subsist between the christian pastor, and his flock, happily exemplified, he must be introduced to an Easter-day scene, in the humble Linshart Parsonage. Aware of the length of the sacred service on that solemn occasion, and many of them residing at such a distance, as to prevent them getting any refreshment at home, the good people of the congregation never failed, during the preceding week, to pour in upon the much loved Spouse of their venerable Pastor, such a quantity of provisions, as employed the house-maids for several days in preparing for the expected guests. And no sooner was the Morning Service of the festal day concluded, than every room in the house was filled with people from the chapel, to all of whom, without distinction, the utmost attention was shown, and plain, substantial fare of every kind distributed by two or more persons, in each apartment, whose office it was to see that every one of them did take a little. At this sober and serious entertainment, it is needless to say, what mutual love and harmony prevailed; and in what veneration all present seemed to hold the occasion of their thus assembling, as well as the worthy pair, under whose roof they were assembled! The countenance of the entertainer, when with brimful eyes he went from room to room, welcoming his people, and wishing them all the spiritual comforts of the season, bespoke him to have put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, and that charity, which is the very bond of perfectness.' The countenances of the entertained showed, that, from his 'ruling well, and labouring in the word and doctrine, they accounted their pastor worthy of double honour:' while both, when studied, as they deserved, would have served to melt the stony heart of unbelief, and to convey to the heavenly-minded christian a foretaste of that harmony, benevolence, piety, gratitude, and mutual love and esteem, which shall one day be found to pervade 'the general assembly, and church of the first-born."" Long before the close of his own professional career, his eldest son had become the bishop of his diocese, and a son of that gentleman had also taken holy orders. On one occasion, the three-grandfather, father, and son-officiated together in the chapel at Longside. Mr Skinner lost his wife in 1799, and when his son some years after met a similar misfortune, it was proposed that the old man should withdraw from the scene of his duties, and spend the remainder of his days with his son at Aberdeen. Accordingly, in June, 1807, he bade a tearful adieu to a flock over which he had presided for the greater part of a century, and which did not contain one individual whom he had not baptized. But the term of his life was approaching, and on the 16th of the same month he gently expired in his chair, after dining happily with three generations of his descendants. He was buried at Longside, where a handsome monument has been erected to him. His miscellaneous works, including a variety of poems and songs, in Scotch, English, and Latin, were soon after published. He was also the author of an Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, and of various theological works, one of which attracted the praise of Bishop Sherlock. K SCENE ON THE GIRVAN. BURNS, in one of his songs, has this verse, "Now bank an' brae are claith'd in green, An' scatter'd cowslips sweetly spring; By Girvan's fairy-haunted stream The epithet is no more than due to this beautiful vale, which intersects the brown region of Carrick like a green silken baldrick over a russet dress. In some vales, as those of the Clyde and the Ayr, there is such an extent of scarcely sloping country that the eye does not recognise them as vales at all. But the vale of the Girvan is one of that comparative narrowness, which comes before the eye at once as what it is. From the village of Girvan, where it falls into the Frith of Clyde, upwards by Dailly, Dalquharran, and Kilkerran, to Blairquhan, it is one uninterrupted scene of beauty, consisting of bold woody slopes, green holms, and hazel-embowered banks, under which the stream steals along in glancing rapids, or in dark foam-mottled pools. A view, taken in the park of Blairquhan, the seat of Sir David Hunter Blair, Baronet, has been selected as a characteristic specimen of this fine region, the pride of southern Ayrshire. TARBOLTON. BURNS became connected with the parish of Tarbolton, in his nineteenth year (Whitsunday, 1777), when his father removed from the farm of Mount Oliphant to that of Lochlea. The latter farm, where the family continued for six and a half years, being in the parish of Tarbolton, the village of the same name was to him, during all that time, a place of great importance; the resort on Sundays for attendance on public worship, on other days for business or for convivial enjoyments; the scene of his chief loves and friendships; in short, the centre of the little social vortex in which he moved. In the latter part of the year 1780, when in his twenty-second year, he established in this village the Bachelors' Club, consisting of himself, his brother, and other five young men, and the object of which was to hold monthly meetings for mental improvement, by means of a debate on some particular subject, in which all could take an interest. David Sillar, and four or five others, were afterwards added to this fraternity, which met in a humble public house, and was limited, in the matter of liquor, to an expenditure of threepence each. The house, and two members of the club, Messrs Wright and M'Gavin, * The period of his life, when this event took place, has been strangely misstated, Gilbert Burns making it his seventeenth, and Mr Lockhart his sixteenth year. |