CHAPTER XLIV.

"Oh, mother! the tempest yon oak is uptearing:
'Tis fearful indeed, thus to wander by night.
Oh, mother! you tremble, your looks are despairing;
But see, yonder cot will have succour and light."

THE STORM.

THE most dismal of all those on record, is the thirteen drifty days. This extraordinary storm occurred in the year 1620: and the mentioning of the thirteen drifty days to an old Scottish shepherd, in a stormy winter night, never fails to impress his mind with a sort of religious awe, and often sets him on his knees before that Being, who alone can avert such another calamity.

It is said, that during thirteen days and nights, the snow drift never once abated; the ground was covered with frozen snow when it commenced, and during all that time the cattle had nothing to eat. About the ninth and tenth days, the shepherd's began to build up large semicircular walls of their dead cattle, in order to afford some shelter for the remainder of the living; but they availed very little, for hunger caused them to tear one another with their teeth.

self to any other man: on the contrary, he ays looked out for the greatest number of the ti, and where they went he followed, regardless he individuals who would have sustained him by r particular kindness. In this manner, from scow, he reached Wilna, then traversing the rest Lithuania and Poland, the kingdom of Prussia, a t of Saxony, the States of the Confederacy of › Rhine, Bavaria, the Tyrol, and more than two Jusand five hundred English miles, Tofino again tered Milan, in the summer of 1813, in the rear a small body of the Veliti. How this poor Italian og had travelled through regions, and swam over reezing rivers, where the very horses of the country ad died, was a marvel to all who witnessed the ragical retreat. And," observed Agnes, "can only be accounted for by the strength of attachment which the poor dog bore to his master, and the hope of again meeting him, a hope which seems never to have forsaken Tofino until his arrival at Milan, when he went straight to the barracks which the Veliti had occupied, and, after waiting there some time, he trotted to the sentry-box, by the palacegate, where he had so often mounted guard with his master, and he never more moved a hundred yards from it! The first two or three days he was heard to howl and moan, but this sad mood passed, and he occupied his corner in the sentry-box in silence. The interesting anecdote reached the ears of the viceroy, Beauharnais, who ordered that poor Tofino

The years 1709, and 1772, were likewise notable years for severity, and for the losses sustained among the flocks of sheep. It is by these years that all subsequent hard winters have been measured. There is no scene more impressive than that of a family sequestered in a lonely glen during the time of a winter storm; and where is the glen in the kingdom of Scotland that wants such a habitation? There they are left to the protection of Heaven, and they know and feel it. Throughout all the wild vicissitudes of nature, they have no hope of assistance from man, but are conversant with the Almighty alone.

Before retiring to rest, the Scottish shepherd goes out to examine the state of the weather, and makes his report to his family within-nothing is to be seen but the conflict of the elements, nor heard but the raging of the storm-then his family all kneel around him, while he recommends them to the protection of Heaven; and though their little hymn of praise can scarcely be heard even by themselves, as it mixes with the roar of the tempest, they never fail to rise from their devotions with their spirits cheered, and their confidence renewed, and go to sleep with an exaltation of mind in which kings and conquerors have no share.

The retired and lonely situation of the inhabitants of the glens naturally impresses on their minds, that all their comforts are entirely in the hand of Him who rules the elements, and this feeling contributes

not a little to that firm spirit of devotion for which the Scottish shepherds are so distinguished.

CHAPTER XLV.

"I am his Highness' dog at Kew,
Pray, tell me, Sir, whose dog are you?"

THE REGIMENTAL DOG.

"To prove to you," said Agnes, "the force of education, even on the brute creation, I will relate a story to you about that faithful animal, the dog, which I read lately in the Wars of Europe.

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Hector, the name of the dog, was of the Newfoundland breed; he could with a stick go through his drills as well as many of the soldiers, who had been at drill for months. He was a great favourite both with officers and men, although he sometimes did naughty tricks, for which he generally, by the sentence of a duly organized court martial (for no one individual dared strike him) received the just reward of his crimes, being subject to martial law, the same as the men. He was never absent from parade-took his place in the file, behind the centre; but if the commanding officer walked down the ranks, for the purpose of looking at the men, Hector was sure to accompany him, stopped when he stopped,