all the experience of former voyages, she dashed on this fatal bar. The stoutest were dismayed; and many talked of taking to the fragments, and, one by one, trying for the nearest shore; when, calmer because of the turmoil, and with the exultation of one who saw safety a-head, the voice of this dauntless veteran was heard propounding his confident scheme. Cheered by his assurance, and inspired by his example, they set to work; and that dreary winter was spent in constructing a vessel with a lighter draught and a simpler rigging, but large enough to carry every true-hearted man who ever trod the old ship's timbers. Never did he work more blithely, and never was there more of athletic ardour in his looks, than during the six months that this ark was a-building, though every stroke of the mallet told of blighted hopes, and defeated toil, and the unknown sea before him. And when the signal-psalm announced the new vessel launched, and leaving the old galley high and dry on the breakers, the banner unfurled, and showing the covenanting blue still spotless, and the symbolic bush still burning, few will forget the renovation of his youth, and the joyful omen of his shining countenance. It was not only the rapture of his prayers, but the radiance of his spirit, which repeated, "God is our Refuge." It is something heart-stirring to see the old soldier take the field, or the old trader exerting every energy to retrieve his shattered fortunes; but far the finest spectacle of the moulting eagle was Chalmers with his hoary locks beginning life anew. But, indeed, he was not old. They who can fill their veins with every hopeful healthful thing around them,-those who can imbibe the sunshine of the future, and transfuse life from realities not come as yet, their blood need never freeze. And his bosom heaved with all the newness of the Church's life, and all the bigness of the Church's plans. And, best of all, those who wait upon the Lord are always young. This was the reason why on the morning of that Exodus he did not totter forth from the old Establishment a blank and palsy-stricken man, but, with flashing eye, snatched up his palmer-staff, and, as he stamped it on the ground, all Scotland shook, and answered with a deep God-speed to the giant gone on pilgrimage.

Of all the tributes to the memory of Chalmers which we have yet seen, one of at once the ablest and most generous is that by Dr Alexander of this city. Belonging to a different family of the Church catholic from that whose principles the illustrious deceased maintained and defended, and at issue with him on points which neither deemed unimportant, the

A Discourse on the Qualities and Worth of Thomas Chalmers, D.D. LL.D. &c. &c. By William Lindsay Alexander, D.D.

Doctor has yet come forward, in the name of their common Christianity, to record his estimate of his character and his sorrow for his loss. It was one of the points worthy of notice in Chalmers, that none of his opponents in any controversy settled down into personal enemies. We saw, among the thousands who attended his funeral, Principal Lee, with whom he had the controversy regarding the Moderatorship; Dr Wardlaw, his opponent in the great controversy on Establishments; and the carriage of the Lord Provost, as representative of the Provost himself, with whom he had the controversy regarding the Edinburgh churches and their amount of accommodation, and who was on business in London at the time. And to this trait, and to what it indicated, Dr Alexander finely refers. The Doctor was one of Chalmers' St Andrew's pupils; and his opportunities of acquaintanceship at that period furnish one or two singularly interesting anecdotes illustrative of the character of the

man:

"Sometimes it was my lot to be his companion," says the Doctor, "to some wretched hovel, where I have seen him take his seat by the side of some poor child of want and weakness, and patiently, affectionately, and earnestly strive to convey into his darkened mind some ray of truth, that might guide him to safety and to God. On such occasions it was marvellous to observe with what simplicity of speech that great mind would utter truth. One instance of this I must be allowed to mention. The scene was a low, dirty hovel, over whose damp and uneven floor it was difficult to walk without stumbling, and into which a small window, coated with dust, admitted hardly enough of light to enable an eye unaccustomed to the gloom to discern a single object. A poor old woman, bed-ridden and almost blind, who occupied a miserable bed opposite the fire-place, was the object of the Doctor's visit. Seating himself by her side, he entered at once, after a few general inquiries as to her health, &c. into religious conversation with her. Alas! it seemed all in vain. The mind which he strove to enlighten had been so long closed and dark, that it appeared impossible to thrust into it a single ray of light. Still, on the part of the woman there was an evident anxiety to lay hold upon something of what he was telling her; and, encouraged by this, he persevered, plying her, to use his own expression, with the offers of the

gospel, and urging her to trust in Christ. At length she said, 'Ah, Sir, I would fain do as you bid me, but I dinna ken how: how can I trust in Christ?' 'O, woman,' was his expressive answer, in the dialect of the district, 'just lippen to Him.' 'Eh, Sir,' was her reply, and is that a'?' 'Yes, yes,' was his gratified response; 'just lippen to Him, and lean on Him, and you'll never perish.' To some, perhaps, this language may be obscure; but to that poor blind dying woman it was as light from heaven; it guided her to the knowledge of the Saviour; and there is good reason to believe it was the instrument of ultimately conducting her to heaven."

We had marked for quotation various passages in this admirable discourse, unequalled, we hold, by aught that has yet appeared, as an analysis of the mental and moral constitution of him whom Dr Alexander at once eloquently and justly describes as a man of brilliant genius, of lovely character, of sincere devotion, of dignified and untiring activity, the most eminent preacher our country has produced, the greatest Scotchman the nineteenth century has yet seen." We have, however, much more than exhausted our space, and so must be content for the present with recommending to our readers an attentive perusal of the whole. One passage, however, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of extracting. It meets, we think, very completely, a frequent criticism on one of the peculiarities of Chalmers; and shows that what has been often instanced as a defect was in reality a rarely attainable excellence :

"In handling his subjects Dr Chalmers displayed vast oratorical power. He usually selected one great truth or one great practical duty for consideration at a time. This he would place distinctly before his hearers, and then illustrate, defend, and enforce it throughout his discourse, again and again bringing it up before them, and urging it upon them. By some this has been regarded as a defect rather than a merit, in his pulpit addresses; and it has been ascribed to some peculiarity of his mind, in virtue of which he has been supposed incapable of turning away from a subject when once he had hold on it, or, rather, it had laid hold on him. I believe this criticism to have been quite erroneous. That his practice in this respect was not an accidental result of some mental peculiarity, but was purposedly and designedly followed by him,

I know from his own assurance; indeed, he used publicly to recommend it to his students as a practice sanctioned by some of the greatest masters in oratory, especially the great Parliamentary orator, Charles James Fox; and the only reason, I believe, why it is not more frequently adopted is, that it is immeasurably more difficult to engage the minds of an audience by a discourse upon one theme, than by a discourse upon several. That it constitutes the highest grade of discourse, all writers on oratory, from Aristotle downward, are agreed. But to occupy it successfully requires genius and large powers of illustration. When the speaker has to keep to one theme, he must be able to wield all the weapons of address. He must be skilled to argue, to explain, to persuade, to apply, and, by a fusion of all the elements of oratory, to carry his point whether his audience will or no. Now these requisites Dr Chalmers possessed in a high degree. He could reason broadly and powerfully; he could explain and illustrate with exhaustless profusion; he could persuade by all the earnestness of entreaty, all the pathos of affection, and all the terrors of threatening; he could apply, with great skill and knowledge of men's ways, the truth he would inculcate; and he could pour, in a torrent of the most impassioned fervour, the whole molten mass of thought, feeling, description, and appeal, upon the hearts and consciences of his hearers. Thus singularly endowed, and thus wisely using his endowments, he arrived at a place of the highest eminence in the highest walk of popular oratory."—August 21, 1847.

GLEN TILT TABOOED.

A RENCOUNTER of a somewhat singular character has taken place in Glen Tilt between the Duke of Atholl, backed by a body of his gillies, and a party of naturalists headed by a learned Professor from Edinburgh. The general question regarding right of way in Scotland seems fast drawing to issue between the people and the exclusives among the aristocracy, and this in a form, we should fain hope, rather unfavourable to the latter, seeing that the popular cause represents very generally, as in this case, that of the sentiment and intellect of the country, while the cause of the exclu

sives represents merely the country's brute force,-luckily a considerably smaller portion of even that than falls to the share of even our physical-force Chartists. Should thews and muscles come to bear sway among us, the regime must prove a very miserable one for Dukes of Leeds and of Atholl.

From time immemorial the public road between BlairAthole and Braemar has lain through Glen Tilt. In most questions regarding right of roadway witnesses have to be examined; the line of communication at issue is of too local and obscure a character to be generally known; and so the claim respecting it has to be decided on the evidence of people who live in the immediate neighbourhood. Not such, however, the case with Glen Tilt. There is scarce in the kingalom a better-known piece of roadway than that which runs through the glen ; and all our ampler Guide-Books and Travellers' Companions assume the character of witnesses in its behalf. Here, for instance, is the Guide-Book of the Messrs Anderson of Inverness,―at once one of the most minute and most correct in its details with which we are acquainted, and which has the merit of being derived almost exclusively from original sources. It does not indicate a single route which the writers had not travelled over, nor describe an object which they had not seen and examined. And in it, as in all the other works of its class, we find the road running through Glen Tilt which connects Blair-Athole and Braemar laid down as open to the tourists, equally with all the other public roads of the country. The reader will find it marked, too, in every better map of Scotland. In the "National Atlas,"-a work worthy of its name, it may be seen striking off, on the authority of the geographer to the Queen, Mr A. K. Johnston, at an acute angle from the highway at Blair-Athole; then running on for some twelve or thirteen miles parallel to the Tilt; and then, after scaling the heights of the upper part of the glen, deflecting into the

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