-a monument alike worthy of those heroes, and of their grateful country. The design met at first with so much encouragement that its immediate promoters considered it as affording an opportunity of restoring, on the Calton Hill of Edinburgh, the most beautiful of all the structures of Greece-the noble Parthenon itself. It was calculated that the work might be completed for £60,000, and for a time contributions were rendered with such liberality, not only in Scotland, but in every place where Scotsmen were to be found, that the strongest hopes were entertained of speedily obtaining the necessary sum. On the 27th of August, 1822, while King George the Fourth was in Edinburgh, the foundation-stone was laid, his majesty contributing, we believe, a thousand guineas towards the undertaking. Years passed on, and the design seemed in some danger of being neglected, when its managers unfortunately determined to commence the work with what money they had already collected, trusting that the appearance of the building, even in its first lineaments, would be the best means of drawing further contributions from the public. Twelve massive and beautiful columns, intended to form merely the support of the western pediment, were accordingly erected, at an expense of £13,000, and there the work stopped for want of funds. These twelve pillars of the National Monument form at least a noble ruin, situated on the crest of the hill. to give the advancing lines of the central pediment and wings a peculiarly airy effect. After the High School the Calton Hill was adorned further by the monuments of Dugald Stewart and his friend Robert Burns. The monument of Dugald Stewart is the elegant circular temple immediately above the western wing of the High School. It was erected in 1831, after a design by Mr. Playfair, and is somewhat after the manner of an Athenian building known as the Lantern of Demosthenes. In the open circle within the columns there is a simple cinerary vase. Burns' Monument was finished in 1832, being from a design by Mr. Hamilton. It occupies a capital situation on a lower shoulder of the hill, where it is strikingly conspicuous in all directions except towards the north. This monument is in the form of a circular Grecian temple. The building is lighted in an ingenious manner, and within it was placed for many years Flaxman's statue of the poet, which is now in the National Gallery. Seen from almost any place around Edinburgh, the Observatory, the High School, the National and the other monuments, give the whole scenery a Grecian aspect, calculated to remind the spectator of the temple-crowned steeps of Achaia. A POT OF GOOD ALE.1 cause, AN OLD ENGLISH SONG. That all the year eats neither partridge nor quaile, But sets up his rest, and makes up his feast, With a crust of brown bread and a pot of good ale. And the good old clarke, whose sight waxeth dark, The High School, erected on the lower part of the hill, is an institution of some antiquity (dating, we believe, from 1578); and its respectability as a seminary of classical instruc- The poor man will praise it, so hath he good tion is coeval with the dignity of the city itself. When it is considered that many of the greatest men of the country have received the rudiments of their education at this school for the last two centuries, a sufficient idea must be formed of its pretensions to general consideration. The High School was formerly situated in an obscure and inconvenient part of the town. The present structure was commenced in 1825, and completed in 1829, part of the cost being contributed by individuals who had received their education at this seminary. The building was designed by Thomas Hamilton, architect, and is greatly admired as a work of art. Overlooking minor beauties, its charm decidedly lies in the bold mixture of light and shade produced in front. There is much also in the felicitous adaptation of the style to the situation, and something in the circumstance that the building is chiefly seen from a lower level than its base, which tends VOL. II. And ever he thinks the print is too small, He will see every letter, and say service better, If he glaze but his eyes with a pot of good ale. The poet divine that cannot reach wine, Will hit on the vein to make a good strain, 1 From An Antidote against Melancholy, 1661. Edited by Payne Collier. 38 THE ASTRONOMICAL ALDERMAN. The pedant or scholastikos became The butt of all the Grecian jokes; Of blunders made by other folks; Or Mr. Miller's, commonly call'd Joe. One of these turtle-eating men, Meaning thereby, more phool than nave, His "double double toil and trouble," And bustling noisy emptiness, Had christen'd him Sir Hubble Bubble. This wight ventripotent was dining Inflicting many a horrid gash, To talk astronomy. "Sir," he exclaim'd between his bumpers, "Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, And all those chaps have had their day; "But," quoth his neighbour, "when the sun "Ho! there's a pretty question truly!" So much his triumph seem'd to please him; "Why, blockhead, he goes back at night, And that's the reason no one sees him." HORACE SMITH. GETTING ON.1 [Andrew Kennedy Hutchinson Boyd, D.D., born at Auchinleck, Ayrshire, November, 1825; educated at the university of Glasgow, and in 1851 appointed by the crown to the ministry of St. Andrews (Scotland) Although actively employed in parochial duties, other valuable preferments in the church, are frequently the same as the name of the bishop of the diocese. I do not complain of that. It is the plain intention of Providence that the children should suffer for their fathers' sins, and gain by their fathers' rise. It is utterly impossible to start all human beings for the race of life on equal terms. It is utterly im he found time to contribute to Fraser's Magazine, under possible to bring all men up to a rope stretched the signature A. K. H. B., a series of papers which have placed their author amongst the foremost of modern essayists. His essays are distinguished by a simple earnestness which is often eloquent, always attractive and impressive. He can "counsel and charm," as he says of the author of Friends in Council; and his works are deservedly popular here and in America. An excellent edition of his essays in thirteen volumes has been recently issued by Longmans. Recreations of a Country Parson, The Commonplace Philosopher, The Graver Thoughts of a Country Parsm, Leisure Hours in Town, Lessons of Middle Age, Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit, and Changed Aspects of Unchanged Truths are the titles of his chief works.] It is interesting to look at the various arts and devices by which men have Got On. Judicious puffing is a great thing. But it must be very judicious. Some people irritate one by their constant stories as to their own great doings. I have known people who had really done considerable things, yet who did not get the credit they deserved, just because they were given to vapouring of what they had done. It is much better to have friends and relatives to puff you, to record what a splendid fellow you are, and what wonderful events have befallen you. Even here, if you become known as one of a set who puff each other, your laudations will do harm instead of good. It is a grand thing to have relations and friends who have the power to actually confer material success. Who would not wish to be DoWB, that so he might be "taken care of?" You have known men at the bar, to whom some powerful relative gave a tremendous lift at starting in their profession. Of course this would in some cases only make their failure more apparent, unless they were really equal to the work to which they were set. There is a cry against Nepotism. It will not be shared in by the Nepotes. It must be a fine thing to be one of them. Unhappily, they must always be a very small minority; and thus the cry against them will be the voice of a great majority. I cannot but observe that the names of men who hold canonries at cathedrals, and 1 From The Commonplace Philosopher in Town and Country. By the author of The Recreations of a Country Parson, &c. London: Longmans & Co. across the course, and make all start fair. If a man be a drunken blackguard, or a heartless fool, his children must suffer for it, must start at a disadvantage. No human power can prevent that. And on the other hand, if a man be industrious and able, and rise to great eminence, his children gain by all this. Robert Stephenson had a splendid start, because old George his father got on so nobly. Lord Stanley entered political life at an immense advantage, because he was Lord Derby's son. And if any reader of this page had some valuable office to give away, and had a son, brother, or nephew who deserved it as well as anybody else, and who he could easily think deserved it a great deal better than anybody else, I have little doubt that the reader would give that valuable office to the son, brother, or nephew. I have known, indeed, magnanimous men who acted otherwise; who in exercising abundant patronage suffered no nepotism. It was a positive disadvantage to be related to these men; they would not give their relatives ordinary justice. The fact of your being connected with them made it tolerably sure that you would never get anything they had to give. All honour to such men! Yet they surpass average humanity so far, that I do not severely blame those who act on lower motives. I do not find much fault with a certain bishop who taught me theology in my youth, because I see that he has made his son a canon in his cathedral. I notice, without indignation, that the individual who holds the easy and lucrative office of associate in certain courts of law bears the same name with the chief-justice. You have heard how Lord Ellenborough was once out riding on horseback, when word was brought him of the death of a man who held a sinecure office with a revenue of some thousands a year. Lord Ellenborough had the right of He instantly reappointment to that office. solved to appoint his son. But the thought struck him that he might die before reaching home; he might fall from his horse, or the like. And so the eminent judge took from his pocket a piece of paper and a pencil, and then and there wrote upon his saddle a formal appointment of his son to that wealthy place. And as it was a place which notoriously was to be given, not to a man who should deserve it, but merely to a man who might be lucky enough to get it, I do not know that Lord Ellenborough deserved to be greatly blamed. In any case, his son, as he quarterly pocketed the large payment for doing nothing, would doubtless hold the blame of mankind as of very little account. But whether you Get On by having friends who cry you up, or by having friends who can materially advance you, of course it is your luck to have such friends. We all know that it is "the accident of an accident" that makes a man succeed to a peerage or an estate. And though trumpeting be a great fact and power, | still your luck comes in to say whether the trumpet shall in your case be successful. One man, by judicious puffing, gets a great name; another, equally deserving, and apparently in exactly the same circumstances, fails to get it. No doubt the dog who gets an ill name, even if he deserves the ill name, deserves it no more than various other sad dogs who pass scot free. Over all events, all means and ends in this world, there rules God's inscrutable sovereignty. And to our view, that direction appears quite arbitrary. "One shall be taken, and the other left." "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated." "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" A sarcastic London periodical lately declared that the way to attain eminence in a certain walk of life was to "combine mediocrity of talent with family affliction." And it is possible that instances might be indicated in which that combination led to very considerable position. But there are many more cases in which the two things co-existed in a very high degree without leading to any advancement whatsoever. It is all luck again. A way in which small men sometimes Get On is by finding ways to be helpful to bigger men. Those bigger men have occasional opportunities of helping those who have been helpful to them. If you yourself, or some near relation of yours, yield effectual support to a candidate at a keenly contested county election, you may possibly be repaid by influence in your favour brought to bear upon the government of the day. From a bishopric down to a beadleship I have known such means serve valuable ends. It is a great thing to have any link, however humble, and however remote, that connects you with a secretary of state, or any member of the administration. Political rgiversation is a great thing. Judicious ing, at a critical period, will generally In a secure some one considerable reward. conservative institution to stand almost alone in professing very liberal opinions, or in a liberal institution to stand almost alone in professing conservative opinions, will probably cause you to Get On. The leaders of parties are likely to reward those who among the faithless are faithful to them, and who hold by them under difficulties. Still, luck comes in here. While some will attain great rewards by professing opinions very inconsistent with their position, others by doing the same things merely bring themselves into universal ridicule and contempt. It is a powerful thing to have abundant impudence, to be quite ready to ask for whatever you want. Worthier men wait till their merits are found out: you don't You may possibly get what you ask, and then you may snap your fingers in the face of the worthier man. By a skilful dodge A got something which ought to have come to B. Still A can drive in dignity past B, covering him with mud from his chariot-wheels. There was a man in the last century who was made a bishop by George III. for having published a poem on the death of George II. That poem declared that George II. was removed by Providence to heaven because he was too good for this world. You know what kind of man George II. was: you know whether even Bishop Porteus could possibly have thought he was speaking the truth in publishing that most despicable piece of toadyism. Yet Bishop Porteus was really a good man, and died in the odour of sanctity. He was merely a little yielding. Honesty would have stood in the way of his Getting On; and so honesty had to make way for the time. Many people know that a certain bishop was to have been made Archbishop of Canter bury, but that he threw away his chance by an act of injudicious honesty. On one occasion he opposed the court, under very strong conscientious convictions of duty. If he had just sat still, and refrained from bearing testimony to what he held for truth, he would have Got On much farther than he ever did. I am very sure the good man never regretted that he had acted honestly. Judicious obscurity is often a reason for advancing a man. You know nothing to his prejudice. Eminent men have always some enemies: there are those who will secretly hate them just because they are eminent: and no one can say how or when the most insignificant enemy may have an opportunity to put a spoke in the wheel, and upset the coach in which sa eminent man is advancing to what would have crowned his life. While nothing can be more |