person in need, in the district where he resided, looked up to the
_Laird_ for advice or assistance in vain. You may judge therefore
of the public sensation. While these matters were pending, N---- looked
with the deepest anxiety for the arrival of a letter from his son in
India; and every day did he send his servant express to the little
post-office at ----, but in vain.

At last the fatal day of sale arrived. N----, in the depth of his
distress had early sent for me to consult whether even at the eleventh
hour something could not be done to avert the calamity. A sinking man
catches at a straw. It wanted less than three hours of the time of sale
when I entered the grounds of Fernlands. The gate was half off its
hinges, the posts plastered with advertisements of the sale; and people,
as always happens in such cases, were already pouring towards the house
more from a motive of curiosity than from an intention of purchasing
anything. As I advanced towards the scene of action, I could observe
that the shrubberies were injured, and the rare plants and flowers
which both N---- and his wife had valued so much--for they were fond
of the study of nature--exhibited evident tokens of the mischief of
the careless multitude thronging to the show. The day was clear and
beautiful, the breeze played through the leafy wilderness with a joyous
effect; the contrast between the peace and harmony of nature, and the
discord and tumult of man and his deeds, was affecting. But such
thoughts were soon chased away from my mind, as I advanced over a
portion of the lawn towards the stables, I saw N----'s favourite mare,
and the old pony, Jack, (whom I recollected as the companion of N----'s
boys, and as tractable as a dog,) in the hands of a rascally sheriff's
officer, who was showing them to a horse-dealer from a neighbouring
town. The lawn in the front of the house was covered with straggling
groups of people, either discussing the event of the day, or examining