Among the Royal writers are John Stewart, Duke of Albany, second son of James II. of Scotland; James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick, Marshal of France, and natural son of James II. of England; Marie Stuart, the ill-fated Queen of Scots; her son, James I. of England; Charles II.; James III., the Pretender; his son, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender; George II., George III., George IV., Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the late Duke of Albany, Francis I., King of France, 1515-47; his son, Henry II., King, 1547-59; Louis XIV., "the most magnificent of the Bourbon Kings"; Napoleon I. and Louis Phillippe, the Citizen King. Some of the soldiers are Colonel James Gardiner, killed at the battle of Prestonpans; Sir Ralph Abercromby, George Washington, Marshal Ney, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Clyde, and Garibaldi. The letters of Lord Nelson include a number addressed to Lady Hamilton, with the replies, and there are beside two very extraordinary epistles from the Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry, to his dearest Emma, Lady Hamilton, showing the intimate relations which existed between them.

Among the statesmen and politicians are-William Pitt, Charles James Fox, Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, John Wilkes, Henry Grattan, Daniel O'Connell, Lord Brougham, Joseph Hume, Earl Gray, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Gladstone, Prince Talleyrand, Lafayette, Mazzini, and Louis Blanc.

The portfolio Theatrical contains letters from many noted actors, actresses, and singers. John Philip Kemble and Mrs. Siddons are there, so are Charles Kean and Helen Tree, John Bannister, J. M. Bellew, Helen Faucit, Jenny Lind, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and Herman Vezin,

Some distinguished divines have contributed to the collection. Among others, the famous com

mentator, Matthew Henry; Bishop Heber, Dr. Thomas Chalmers, Bishop Wilberforce, Bishop Colenzo, Dr. Ralph Wardlaw, Archbishop Trench, Dean Stanley, Frederick Denison Maurice, Principal Tulloch, and Principal Caird.

Among the artists are Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Francis Chantry, John Flaxman, Benjamin R. Haydon, David Roberts, and Daniel Maclise.

The largest portfolio is that designated Literary. The principal writers of the last hundred years are numerously represented. One envelope contains a bond by David Hume for £130 in favour of his servant, Margaret Irvine, on account of her byegone wages; executed 2nd June, 1771. Some of the letters of Sir Walter Scott are exceedingly interesting. There is a series of letters which passed between him and Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe which in an odd way marks the progress of the intimacy between the two. Sir Walter begins his first letter with "Sir"; this soon lengthened into "Dear Sir," and then into "My Dear Sir"; another step and it reaches "Dear Sharpe," and the limit of friendly address is attained in "My Dear Charles." Scott's letter to Hood accepting the dedication of "Whims and Oddities" is a very kindly one; but full of a melancholy interest are his letters to the printers, Ballantyne and Constable, in whose commercial ruin he was so heavily involved. Quite a unique value attaches to a bundle of cashed cheques granted by Sir Walter on the bank of Galashiels in favour of his servants. A letter by Burns is always of great interest and is highly prized. The one in Mr. Guild's portfolio is accompanied by a poem which has never been published. We are sorry that the subject of the verses forbids their insertion here, as they are very witty. Within the same covers are letters written by Lord Byron, Shelley, Samuel Rogers, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Allan Cunning

ham, Robert Blair, Sir Alexander Boswell, Joanna Baillie, The Ettrick Shepherd, Rev. John Home (author of "Douglas "), Allan Ramsay, Robert Southey, Thomas Campbell, James Macpherson (of "Ossian" fame), Thomas Moore, James Montgomery, William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, E. L. Landon, Lord Houghton, D. M. Moir ("Delta"), William Morris, Ebenezer Elliot, Sheridan Knowles, Mrs. Grant of Laggan, Robert Gilfillan, W. E. Aytoun, Victor Hugo, Beranger, Eliza Cook, William Thom (of Inverurie), Sergeant Talfourd, Alaric A. Watts, William Motherwell, Barry Cornwall, Rev. George Crabbe, and Isa Craig.

Among the novelists are Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Thackeray, W. Harrison Ainsworth, Theodore Hook, Thomas Hardy, William Black, Thomas Hughes, Mrs. Gore, John Galt, G. P. R. James, Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley, Charles James Lever, Samuel Lover, Charles Reade, Horace Smith, Maria Edgeworth, Alexander Dumas, Jane Porter, Amelia Opie, Mrs. Oliphant, Hon. Mrs. Norton, Henry Mackenzie, Captain Marryat, Lord Lytton, Charlotte M. Yonge, William Beckford (“Vathek "), and Mrs. Henry Wood.

The writers on other subjects from whom epistles find a place here are many. Some of the best known are Tom Hood (father and son), Charles Lamb, Harriet Martineau, Mary Russell Mitford, Lady Morgan, Horace Mann, Lord Macaulay, Niebuhr, Macvey Napier, John Wilson Croker, Lord Cockburn, Lord Jeffrey, Charles Darwin, Thomas de Quincey, Hepworth Dixon, Isaac D'Israeli, James Anthony Froude, John Forster, Mary Somerville, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, Sydney Smith, Agnes Strickland, St. Beuve, Baron Von Humboldt, John Ruskin, William Roscoe, John Gibson Lockhart, George Henry Lewis, Charles Knight, William Jesse, William Jerdan, William Henry Ireland (Shakespeare forger),

Michael Faraday, Professor Huxley, William Godwin, Francis Grose, Guizot, James O. Halliwell, J. Payne Collier, Sir Arthur Helps, William and Mary Howit, David Hume, Leigh Hunt, Sir Archibald Alison, Lucy Aikin, Sir John Bowring, Dr. John Brown, Sir David Brewster, Thomas Carlyle, William Combe, Horace Walpole, Patrick Fraser Tytler, A. F. Tytler, William Cobbett, Sir John Lubbock, Professor Seeley, Henry Rogers, Captain Parry, Alexander Dyce, Thomas Frognall Dibdin, John Pinkerton, John Stuart Mill, Lord Holland, Lord Mahon, J. Herman Merivale, Chateaubriand, and Henry Home, Lord Kames.

One of the portfolios contains a packet of very important letters addressed by the beautiful Jane, Duchess of Gordon, to Francis Farquharson of Inveray and others in reference to her separation from her husband. Mr. Guild had these letters printed privately in a handsome quarto volume in 1864.

Other autographs of interest are those of Sir John Soane, Duncan Forbes, President of the Court of Session; Anna, Countess of Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyle, who was executed at Edinburgh; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Simon, Lord Lovat, executed in 1746 for complicity in the rebellion; John Sobieski Stuart, the Countess Guiccioli, Count d'Orsay, John Howard, Harry Erskine, Dr. Jenner, Sir Rowland Hill, Florence Nightingale, Father Mathew, Lord Chancellor Eldon, Miss Berry, and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.

It has given us no uncommon pleasure to visit and write of this magnificent collection of books, or rather collection of collections, tempered even though that pleasure was by the fear of being unable to give such an account of it as its size, wealth, and beauty demanded at our hands. In appearance it is beautiful; in literary treasure surpassing rich.

CHAPTER XV.

LIBRARY OF GEORGE WINGATE HILL, ESQ., CASHIER, UNION BANK OF SCOTLAND; RESIDENCE, PRINCES TERRACE, DOWANHILL.

Character of Mr. Hill's Library-Poetry and the Drama-Scottish Poetry-Scottish Biography, History, and Topography-Ruskin's Works--Other Fine Art Books Fiction-Bibliography, &c.

THIS is an excellent library, leisurely and judiciously chosen. Mr. Hill has ranged over the whole field of literature, and culled with fine discrimination choice flowers here and there. His marked liking for the domain of the heather and the thistle has not dulled his appreciation of the products of other lands, and his library, while having strongly marked Scottish features, is well-balanced and comprehensive. It is a gathering of friends deliberately chosen, with whom there are none but the happiest associations. The dominant feeling with Mr. Hill being generally, we fancy, not so much to possess a rarity as a desirable book, there are few of extreme rarity to chronicle. In our first class, we will only mention a large paper copy of the "Immaculate" Bible, printed by Sir James Hunter Blair and Coy.; Dunlop's Confession of Faith, etc.; and the edition of the Psalms, with music, printed by the heirs of Andro Hart, at Edinburgh, in 1635, commonly known as Knox's Liturgy or Psalter. This was the edition from which the admirable reprint edited by the Rev. Neil Livingstone was taken. The leading editions of the Scottish Psalter are those of 1595, 1615, and 1635. Its first official appearance was