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his discourses were justly prized for the impressive vigour of their style, the originality and beauty of the illustrations, which arrested and fixed the attention, and for the sound and rational piety which they breathed." On the whole he was not, however, an acceptable preacher, nor was his heart fully set to the profession that his parents were so anxious for him to adorn.

Leyden loved literary work and literary society, and the other characteristic of his mind at this time was an ardent longing for travel, for studying on the spot those languages which he had formed a wish to acquire. His desires were, when at St. Andrew's, very much inflamed by the publication of Mungo Park's Travels in Africa, and the fame which that distinguished traveller had acquired for himself by those discoveries. His feelings found vent, first of all, in an attempt to collect all the information which had been gathered previous to his time regarding that mighty continent. His imagination was filled with the tales told of it, and much of his waking time spent in dreams regarding it. It was then to the learned of Europe very much what India had been to the Greeks of old-the land of myths and monsters, of tribes whose manners were as strange as their habits were barbarous. The imagination of the boy, that had been impressed by the grand and gloomy scenery of Ruberslaw and the Teviot, and had brooded over the tales and traditions of Border story, found now in the unknown and the horrible connected with Africa a wide field for its delighted exercise. After some hasty reading he issued his first literary work-a work which, like some of the early productions of Sir William Jones, foreshadowed his future as it expressed his longings-" A Historical and Philosophical Sketch of the Discoveries and Settlement of the Europeans in Northern and Western Africa." It was well received on its publication, for a vein of interesting story and also of the wonderful ran throughout it. It brought him into contact with the admirers of Mungo Park in a strange fashion. Sir Walter Scott thus tells the story :

"Among Leyden's native hills, however, there arose a groundless report that his work was compiled for the purpose of questioning whether the evidence of Mungo Park went the length of establishing the western course of the Niger. This unfounded rumour gave offence to some of Mr. Park's friends, nicely jealous of the fame of their countrymen, of whom they had such just reason to be proud. And thus, what would have been whimsical enough, the dispute regarding the course of the Niger in Africa had nearly occasioned a feud upon the Scottish Border. For John Leyden happening to be at Hawick while the upper troop of Roxburghshire Yeomanry were quartered there, was told, with many exaggerations, of menaces thrown out

against him, and advised him to leave the town. Leyden was then in the act of quitting the place; but, instead of expediting his retreat, in consequence of this friendly hint, he instantly marched to the marketplace, at the time when the corps paraded there, humming surlily, like one of Ossian's heroes, the fragment of a Border Song,

"I've done nae ill, I'll brook nae wrang,

But back to Wamphray I will gang."

His appearance and demeanour were construed into seeking a quarrel, with which his critics, more majorum, would readily have indulged him, had not friendly interposition appeased the causeless resentment of both parties."

In 1817, the well-known and industrious scholar and compiler, Hugh Murray, made good use of Leyden's work in his History of African Discoveries."

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Thus launched upon the sea of literature, he was not long in entering with full relish on the pleasures of that society of literary men, in which the Scottish metropolis at that time abounded. One now looks back almost with regret on these days, when the northern wits were no mean rivals of the southern, as he sees that the great have passed away and let their mantle fall on but few successors, who are no longer united, as their predecessors were, into a band of literary brothers. London is more attractive now than Edinburgh, and even as old Holyrood was stripped of her glories and her grandeur, when a Scotch King mounted the English throne, and now stands gloomy and desolate like a widowed queen, so is it with the University and her literary offspring. In the middle of the seventeenth century there were, in the famous" Select Society," Allan Ramsay, Principal Robertson, David Hume, Adam Smith, the Lord Chancellor Wedderburn, Lord Kames, John Home, Dr. Carlyle, Sir Gilbert Elliot,* Lord Alemoor and others. Of some of these, Gibbon said, a strong ray of philosophic light has broke from Scotland in our own times; and it is with private as well as public regard that I repeat the names of Hume, Robertson, and • Adam Smith." At the end of the century these men were succeeded by others, well worthy of them and of their achievements. Such names as Dugald Stewart, Thomas Brown, Sir. Walter Scott, Lord Woodhouselee, Henry Mackenzie, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, Leonard Horner, Henry Brougham, Dr. Alexander Murray, and Dr. Robert Anderson, with the associated talent of Sydney Smith and Richard Heber, are well fitted to cast a lustre on any country and any period. But, alas they were the last of their race. Great men there

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Afterwards Earl of Minto.

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were after them, but they stood isolated and alone. only approach to such another band was in the select circle that Professor Wilson gathered around him, the greatest of whom undoubtedly were Sir William Hamilton who has now passed away, and Thomas De Quincey, who still, from his quiet retreat near Edinburgh, occasionally delights the world with some specimen of his singular erudition and matchless style.

Leyden was in the society of Scott and the others very much what Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd was with Wilson and the "Blackwood" coterie. Their peculiarities were much the same; while the former excelled as a Linguist, the latter was a true Poet. Leyden's first introduction to this circle was through Dr. Robert Anderson, with whom he became acquainted and formed a close intimacy so early as 1794. Dr. Anderson was the first to make a collection of the British poets. He was, of all men then in the north, perhaps the most literary, and his advice and aid were welcomed by Leyden. He was editor of the " Edinburgh Literary Magazine," and in it appeared several of his early attempts at poetry, the first being " An Elegy on the Death of a Sister." All his pieces bore the signature "J. L. Banks of the Teviot." They at once attracted the notice of Sir Walter Scott, and he felt a desire to know their author, which was soon gratified. Through Dr. Anderson Leyden became acquainted with Dr. Alexander Murray, who was a kindred spirit, and with whom he formed a warm friendship which was broken off by the death of the latter. He was a distinguished orientalist and linguist, and no man's society was more enjoyed by Leyden than his. He died soon after he had been appointed to the chair of Hebrew in the Edinburgh University. Leyden, in a letter to Dr. Anderson on the death of his friend, thus writes:-The extract is characteristic at once of the warmth of his nature and the philological bent of his mind. "When recently engaged in researches into the several affinities of certain languages in which he was extremely conversant, I felt an anticipation of pleasure from the thought that my enquiries would in due time come under his eye, and undergo the friendly correction of his learned judgment. Alas! this expectation was utterly vain, for the possibility of its being accomplished was already past!"

Another friend who had no little influence on his future life was was Richard Heber of Brasenose College, Oxford, famous enough as a scholar and antiquary, though not so well-known as his celebrated brother Reginald—the Bishop

of Calcutta. He had come to Edinburgh to pursue his antiquarian researches, and especially to make investigations into ancient Scottish literature. His introduction to him was characteristic of both parties. Like all students who are book-worms, he was accustomed to ransack the stalls of the many second-hand book-sellers who abounded in the neighbourhood of the University, and none more frequently than that of Archibald Constable.

Great as Constable afterwards was as a publisher, like Lackington in London, and the brothers Chambers in Edinburgh at the present time, he began life as the "keeper of a small book-shop." Heber was a frequenter of this shop as well as Leyden, and not only appreciated the collection of books, but their young possessor. On one occasion he was hunting for MSS. or books that might be of use to Sir Walter Scott in the publication, which he was then contemplating, of the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," and happening to fall into conversation with Leyden he discovered, to his amazement, that Border Ballads and traditions were what he was quite au fait in. He felt that he had found out what was superior to either MSS. or books-a veritable rough diamond, and was not long in making the discovery known to Scott. Recognising in him the "J. L." of the Edinburgh Magazine, he was anxious to form his acquaintance. This was speedily accomplished, and thus through Heber and Scott, our hero obtained the right of entrée into the highest literary circles of the Scottish metropolis. All the names we have already given as constituting it became well-known personally to him, as well as William Erskine from his own native district.

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Leyden's connexion with Sir Walter Scott was throughout a most pleasant one. Scott thus describes his introduction to him: "He became intimate in the family of Mr. Walter Scott, where a congenial taste for ballad-romance ' and Border Antiquities, as well as a sincere admiration of Leyden's high talents, extensive knowledge, and excellent heart, secured him a welcome reception." He gave great assistance to Scott in his literary pursuits, and with most enthusiastic zeal rendered him no slight service in the compilation of his " Minstrelsy." Lewis at this time (1801) was engaged in the publication of his "Tales of Wonder," and Leyden contributed to the collection his ballad " The Elf-King." To the Minstrelsy he contributed what Lockhart has called "those highly spirited pieces"-The Court of Keildar, Lord Soulis and The Mermaid. In the second volume, Scott acknowledges his obligations to him for great assistance in his Dissertation on Fairies. He had high ideas of the work that

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Scott projected, and when his printer Ballantyne thought that a single volume would be sufficient for the collection of old Ballads, Leyden burst forth in his usual style "Dash it, does Mr. Scott mean another thin thing, like Goetz of Berchilingen? I have more than that in my head myself; we shall turn out three or four such volumes at least." Scott tells a characteristic anecdote of him in this matter:

"In this labour, he was equally interested by friendship for the editor, and by his own patriotic zeal for the honour of the Scottish Borders, and both may be judged of from the following circumstance. An interesting fragment had been obtained of an ancient historical ballad, but the remainder, to the great disturbance of the editor and his coadjutor, was not to be recovered. Two days afterwards, while the editor was sitting with some company after dinner, a sound was heard at a distance like that of a whistling of a tempest through the torn rigging of the vessel which scuds before it. The sounds increased as they approached more near, and Leyden (to the great astonishment of such of the guests as did not know him) burst into the room, chaunting the desiderated ballad, with the most enthusiastic gestures. It turned out, that he had walked between forty and fifty miles, and back again, for the sole purpose of visiting an old person who possessed this precious remnant of antiquity."

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When Scott was engaged on his "Sir Tristem" and applied to Ellis for his opinion of it, he spoke thus of Leyden: These pages are transcribed by Leyden, an excellent young man of uncommon talents, patronized by Heber, and who is of the utmost assistance to my literary undertakings." In a subsequent letter to him he says, "Leyden has taken up a most absurd resolution to go to Africa on a journey of discovery. Will you have the goodness to beg Heber to write to him seriously on so ridiculous a plan, which can promise nothing ' either pleasant or profitable. I am certain he would get a church in Scotland with a little patience and prudence, and it gives me great pain to see a valuable young man of uncommon genius and acquirements fairly throw himself away."

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While most active in assisting Scott, he was not a little engaged with other undertakings. He had the opportunity, in 1800, of making a tour through the Highlands with two young foreigners, and occupied his leisure in hunting for original passages of the poems of Ossian. The result was that he was inclined to favour their authenticity, but the enthusiasm of his nature, no doubt, led him somewhat farther than his very scanty evidence warranted. The poetical fruits of his journey were seen in two Ballads published in the third volume of the "Minstrelsy"-Macphail of Colonsay and the Mermaid of Corrievrekin. When at Aberdeen he visited Pro

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