TO THE READER.

My “Cairn” is principally raised by the hands of many friends whose honoured names are now with the dead, whose kind sympathies have cheered my checquered existence, and whose intercourse has often corrected and enlightened my mind, leading it to seek in occupation a refuge from painful feeling. These contributions, together with original thoughts, and the gleanings of my own reading, I presume to offer to the public; with the hope that where criticism finds ample cause to condemn, my acknowledged weakness may plead for indulgence. Several pages bear the record of memories associated with those dear to me, and of events long past. I presume to believe, that the perusal of the “Cairn,” cannot injure, and may not fruitlessly occupy or amuse an idle hour.

A Soldier’s Daughter.

CONTENTS.

Page
Joy and Sorrow[1]
Anne of Austria[2]
Maternal Love[2]
Anecdote of Cardinal d’Estrées[3]
The Cemetry at Pisa[3]
Lady Vane[4]
Benevolence[5]
Woman’s Pride[5]
Sir Walter Raleigh[5]
Poverty[6]
Atheism[6]
Detraction—Montesquieu[6]
Temper[7]
Set forms of expression—Philips[7]
Henri Quatre[8]
A Parliament Heel[9]
On a new-born Child—Sir W. Jones[9]
Speech of Mr. Cuffe[9]
Woman’s Devotion[10]
Savage the Poet[11]
A Fable—The Hon. Henry Erskine, late Lord Advocate of Scotland[11]
Poverty[17]
Charity twice blessed[18]
Portrait of Charles I.[18]
The Ballad[19]
On a Lady not celebrated for cleanliness—The late Lord Chancellor, The Lord Erskine[19]
Lady M. W. Montague[20]
Inscrutable Providence[20]
The Mother of the Cagot[21]
Virtue of Absence[21]
Overstrained Feeling[21]
The Essex Ring[22]
A Prayer[23]
Letter from his late Majesty, King William IV.[24]
Joan of Arc[25]
Bear and forbear[26]
A Gentleman[26]
The awakened Idolater[27]
Henry IV. of France[28]
Time[30]
Charles I.[30]
Merit and good Fortune[31]
The Petition of a Monkey—Lord Erskine, late Chancellor[32]
Taste and Custom[35]
Filial Duty[36]
King of Prussia and Voltaire[36]
To a Daughter, on her Marriage[37]
James I.[37]
On the Death of the Hon. John Gore[38]
Abraham to Isaac[39]
Zarapha to Rebecca[39]
The Mansion of Rest[40]
National Taciturnity[42]
Election by Balls[42]
Anecdote of Robespierre[43]
The Old Woman and her Ass—The Hon. Henry Erskine, Lord Advocate of Scotland[44]
Life a mingled Yarn[46]
Henry VIII. and Francis I.[47]
Anecdote of Torregiano[47]
Decline of Families[48]
Robert Bruce[49]
How to meet Afflictions[49]
Soho[50]
Loss of a Parent[51]
Fruit[51]
Anecdote of Frederick the Great[52]
Equity[53]
Mussulman[54]
Matthias, Count Thurnes[54]
Sir Thomas More[55]
Key to Happiness[55]
John de Pelham[56]
Prayer on the Prospect of Death[57]
Whitehall[58]
Adieu[59]
Indifference[59]
Unrequited Love[60]
The Cross[60]
Solitude[60]
Prayer—Voltaire[61]
Method of preserving a Plant[61]
Misfortune a Crime[61]
Grecian Tablets[62]
Christmas Day[62]
George IV.[62]
Ton of the French[63]
Frederick the Great[63]
The Widow of Barnevelt[64]
Filial Love[64]
Submission to Providence[66]
A Gentleman[66]
Love silent[66]
The Wandering Jew[67]
Statues[67]
Charles, Prince of Wales[68]
Affliction[68]
Philadelphia[69]
Tradition[72]
Sicilians[73]
Ancient Poetry[74]
The Hottentots[74]
Sedley[75]
On the Loss of a Watch—Lord Erskine[75]
L’amicale Persévérance[77]
Epigram[77]
To the May Fly[78]
From my Mother[79]
To revive a Flower[80]
Scenes from the Life of Titian[81]
Trees for my Cottage[93]
The Hand of Heaven[94]
Effects of Sorrow on the Mind[94]
Bayle and his Mother[94]
Traditions[95]
The Graves of the Departed Loved[96]
Eyes of the Mind[96]
Philosophy[96]
Refinement[97]
Sea Bathing[97]
Effect of Scenery[98]
Inscription on a Sun Dial[99]
Law of Jury[99]
Tradition[100]
Tobacco[100]
Duchess d’Abrantes[101]
Philip II. of Spain[102]
Beauty[102]
Jacobite Poetry[103]
Ill-placed Confidence[104]
Charity of Mind[104]
Bells[104]
La Mélancolie[105]
A Fire Screen[105]
Banquo’s Son[106]
Uncertainty[106]
The Drowning Fly[107]
The Mulgrave Family[107]
Le Bonheur[108]
Catherine de Medicis[109]
Epitaph[109]
Prosperity and Adversity[110]
The great Condé[110]
Resignation[110]
Le Tems[111]
A Reflection—Seneca[111]
Maréchale de Luxembourg[112]
The Spider[112]
On Fenelon[112]
Flowers[112]
To-morrow[113]
Letter of Marian Delorme[113]
Physiognomy[116]
A Father’s Death Bed[117]
The Plague[118]
Trifles[121]
Margaret of Anjou and Renè of Sicily[122]
To Julia[123]
Good Nature[123]
Welsh Air[124]
Lines by Henry VI.[124]
Manner[124]
Lines by Raleigh[125]
Speech of a Shawanese Chief[125]
Greek Costume[126]
On a Rose growing in a Skull—Gen. Carrol[127]
A fearful Witness[127]
Thirteenth Century[128]
Game of Cassino[128]
Local Associations[128]
On the Choice of a Wife[129]
Henry IV.[129]
Prayer by Mary Queen of Scots[129]
Anecdote of the Duke of Suffolk[130]
To the Memory of Sir Thomas Picton[130]
True Magnanimity[131]
On a Music Master—The Hon. H. Erskine[131]
The Emperor and the Opera Dancer[131]
Gibbon[135]
Herveys[135]
Coquetry[135]
Charles V.[136]
Family MSS.[136]
Dirge[137]
Sir Thomas More[141]
Providence—Felicaii[142]
Cromwell[143]
Spanish Proverb[143]
Epigram—The Hon. H. Erskine[144]
Hyder Ali—Burke[144]
The Seal[148]
Thought[148]
Pride of Birth[149]
The Pretender[150]
Chloe—The Hon. H. Erskine[150]
Thought[150]
Duke of Buckingham[151]
A Portrait[152]
Churchyards in Denmark[152]
Machiavelli[153]
Dante[153]
Petition of the Wife of an Indian Chief[154]
Volcanos[157]
Saint George[157]
Poem[157]
Queen of Bohemia—Sir H. Wootton[158]
Thought[159]
Fire from Heaven[159]
Origin of Coats of Arms[160]
Lord Bacon[160]
Bells[160]
Arthur’s Round Table[161]
Sir Walter Raleigh[162]
Saint George[163]
Duelling[163]
Delight in Disorder—Herrick[164]
Lord Strafford’s Meditations[164]
Time[167]
Lamentations selfish[167]
Thought[167]
Lines from the Spanish[168]
Phrenology[168]
Stoves[169]
Christina, Queen of Sweden[170]
Sir Benjamin Rudyerd[172]
King of Prussia’s Guard[174]
Premature Judgment[174]
Benvenuto Cellini[175]
Thought[176]
Mind and Body[176]
Love[179]
Wedding Rings[179]
Hope and Grief—W. Maddocks[180]
Unjust Suspicion[181]
Thought[181]
Capucine Friars[181]
Arms of the House of Medici[182]
Michael Angelo[182]
Sir Sidney Smith[192]
Bees[192]
Bayonets[194]
Hope[194]
Oliver Cromwell[195]
Sandwiches[196]
Catherine, Empress of Russia[196]
The Milk Score[197]
Duke of Monmouth[197]
Death[199]
Origin of the Title of Earl[200]
Thought[201]
James II.[202]
Thought[202]
Thought[202]
Thought[202]
Sea-fire[203]
Lisez et Croyez[203]
To a Lady[204]
Troubadours[204]
Thought[204]
Letter from Mde. Du Duffand[205]
Thought[205]
Pride and Humility[205]
Thought[206]
Thought[206]
Voltaire[206]
Antipathies[208]
Anne of Austria[209]
The MSS.[213]
Thought[213]
The Nursing of Love—Hon. W. Spencer[214]
An Opera[215]
Calumny and Detraction[215]
Goût and Gout—Lord Erskine[215]
Les Lazzaroni[216]
Louis XVIII.[217]
Directions to a Porter[218]
Title of Sforza[219]
Duke of Calabria[219]
Love and Reason[220]
Clocks[222]
Tea and Coffee[222]
French and English[223]
Scandal[223]
Thought[223]
Thought[224]
Personal Beauty[224]
Daguerrotype[224]
Thought[224]
Thought[224]
Pyramids[225]
The Congress[225]
Sketch of our Saviour’s Person—Josephus[226]
Ennui[227]
Thought[227]
On an Infant[228]
English, French, and Germans[228]
Hôtel à Paris “à vendre, ou à louer”[228]
Epigram[228]
Russian Anecdote[229]
Russian Anecdote[230]
Hospitality of the remote Ages[231]
Turkish Anecdote[231]
Thought[231]
Anti-Moine, or Antimony[232]
Extract from Dr. Johnson’s Correspondence[232]
Earl of Buchan[233]
The State of Man[233]
Parfilage[233]
Taste[234]
Les Riens[234]
A Cottage in Scotland[235]
Linnæus[237]
Hortensia, or Hydranger[237]
Filial Affection[237]
Vestige of ancient Saxon Dialect[239]
The Torpedo[240]
Thought[240]
Wait and Hope[240]
Mother and Child[241]
Louis XVIII.[241]
Education[242]
Dr. Johnson on the loss of his Mother[243]
Recollections in the Cathedral at Malines or “Mechlin” in Belgium[243]
`A Madame Warner[244]
To change the Colour of a Rose[244]
Wholesome Truth[245]
Sir Sidney Smith[245]
Lines by Maucroix[245]
The Prisoner of St. Helena[246]
Children’s Shoes[246]
Brantome[246]
Hopelessness[247]
The Coffee Tree[247]
A Portrait[247]
A Key to the Thoughts[248]
Old China[248]
The Indulgence of Providence[248]
Les Assassins[249]
Pausilippo[250]
Gesner[251]
Futurity[251]
Death[252]
Ambergris[252]
Quinquina, or Peruvian Bark[253]
Critique on David’s Picture of the Deluge[253]