June 25.—­Another melting day; thermometer at 78 deg. even here. 80 deg. was the height yesterday at Edinburgh.  If we attempt any active proceeding we dissolve ourselves into a dew.  We have lounged away the morning creeping about the place, sitting a great deal, and walking as little as might be on account of the heat.

Blair-Adam has been successively in possession of three generations of persons attached to and skilled in the art of embellishment, and may be fairly taken as a place where art and taste have done a great deal to improve nature.  A long ridge of varied ground sloping to the foot of the hill called Benarty, and which originally was of a bare, mossy, boggy character, has been clothed by the son, father, and grandfather; while the undulations and hollows, which seventy or eighty years since must have looked only like wrinkles in the black morasses, being now drained and limed, are skirted with deep woods, particularly of spruce, which thrives wonderfully, and covered with excellent grass.  We drove in the droskie and walked in the evening.

June, 26.—­Another day of unmitigated heat; thermometer 82; must be higher in Edinburgh, where I return to-night, when the decline of the sun makes travelling practicable.  It will be well for my work to be there—­not quite so well for me; there is a difference between the clean, nice arrangement of Blair-Adam and Mrs. Brown’s accommodations, though he who is insured against worse has no right to complain of them.  But the studious neatness of poor Charlotte has perhaps made me fastidious.  She loved to see things clean, even to Oriental scrupulosity.  So oddly do our deep recollections of other kinds correspond with the most petty occurrences of our life.

Lord Chief-Baron told us a story of the ruling passion strong in death.  A Master in Chancery was on his deathbed—­a very wealthy man.  Some occasion of great urgency occurred in which it was necessary to make an affidavit, and the attorney, missing one or two other Masters, whom he inquired after, ventured to ask if Mr. ------ would be able to receive the deposition.  The proposal seemed to give him momentary strength; his clerk sent for, and the oath taken in due form, the Master was lifted up in bed, and with difficulty subscribed the paper; as he sank down again, he made a signal to his clerk—­“Wallace.”—­“Sir?”—­“Your ear—­lower—­lower.  Have you got the half-crown?” He was dead before morning.

[Edinburgh,] June 27.—­Returned to Edinburgh late last night, and had a most sweltering night of it.  This day also cruel hot.  However, I made a task or nearly so, and read a good deal about the Egyptian Expedition.  Had comfortable accounts of Anne, and through her of Sophia.  Dr. Shaw doubts if anything is actually the matter with poor Johnnie’s back.  I hope the dear child will escape deformity, and the infirmities attending that helpless state.  I have myself been able to fight up very well, notwithstanding my lameness, but it has cost great efforts, and I am besides very strong.  Dined with Colin Mackenzie; a fine family all growing up about him, turning men and women, and treading fast on our heels.  Some thunder and showers which I fear will be but partial.  Hot—­hot—­hot.