But a still more amusing specimen of this figure of speech was supplied by an honest Highlander, in the days of sedan chairs.  For the benefit of my young readers I may describe the sedan chair as a comfortable little carriage fixed to two poles, and carried by two men, one behind and one before.  A dowager lady of quality had gone out to dinner in one of these “leathern conveniences,” and whilst she herself enjoyed the hospitality of the mansion up-stairs, her bearers were profusely entertained downstairs, and partook of the abundant refreshment offered to them.  When my lady was to return, and had taken her place in the sedan, her bearers raised the chair, but she found no progress was made—­she felt herself sway first to one side, then to the other, and soon came bump upon the ground, when Donald behind was heard shouting to Donald before (for the bearers of sedans were always Highlanders), “Let her down, Donald, man, for she’s drunk.”

I cannot help thinking that a change of national language involves to some extent change of national character.  Numerous examples of great power in Scottish Phraseology, to express the picturesque, the feeling, the wise, and the humorous, might be taken from the works of Robert Burns, Ferguson, or Allan Ramsay, and which lose their charms altogether when unscottified.  The speaker certainly seems to take a strength and character from his words.  We must now look for specimens of this racy and expressive tongue in the more retired parts of the country.  It is no longer to be found in high places.  It has disappeared from the social circles of our cities.  I cannot, however, omit calling my reader’s attention to a charming specimen of Scottish prose and of Scottish humour of our own day, contained in a little book, entitled “Mystifications” by Clementina Stirling Graham.  The scenes described in that volume are matters of pleasing reminiscence, and to some of us who still remain “will recall that blithe and winning face, sagacious and sincere, that kindly, cheery voice, that rich and quiet laugh, that mingled sense and sensibility, which met, and still to our happiness meet, in her who, with all her gifts, never gratified her consciousness of these powers so as to give pain to any human being[53].”  These words, written more than ten years ago, might have been penned yesterday; and those who, like myself, have had the privilege of seeing the authoress presiding in her beautiful mansion of Duntrune, will not soon forget how happy, how gracious, and how young, old age may be.

     “No fears to beat away—­no strife to heal;
     The past unsighed for, and the future sure.”