they never could decay, for they are of the red granite of which the rocks and islets around are composed, and defended only by low inclosures piled up of the same granite, rounded into great pebbles by the washing of the sea. But perhaps the most striking scene of all, was our own company of voyagers landing amid the huge masses of rock that scatter the strand; forming into long procession, two and two, and advancing in that order from one ruin to another. We chanced to linger behind for a moment; and our eye caught this procession of upwards of seventy persons thus wandering on amid those timeworn edifices—and here and there a solitary cross lifting its head above them. It was a picture worthy of a great painter. It looked as though the day of pilgrimages was come back again, and that this was a troop of devotees thronging to this holy shrine. The day of pilgrimages is, indeed, come back again; but they are the pilgrimages of knowledge, and an enlightened curiosity. The day of that science which the saints. of Iona were said to diffuse first in Britain, has now risen to a splendid noon; and not the least of its evidences is, that every few days through every summer, a company like this descends on this barren strand, to behold what Johnson calls, "that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefit of knowledge and the blessings of religion." A more interesting or laudable excursion, the power of steam and English money cannot well enable our countrymen to make. It would be still better did any quantity of their money remain on this island; for in truth, the cottagers here seem dreadfully poor, and destitute of comforts. As we passed 'their doors, a woman stood and with a very anxious face and imploring tone continued asking something as the procession passed by. Her words were Gaelic; we did not understand them, but nobody could mistake her tone or look; and some one in the procession who knew the language, told us that she asked, "Is there any doctor here?" Adding, "a man is very ill, and without a doctor I am afraid he must die." But there was no doctorand the poor man was left to take his chance of one happening to come with the next packet, perhaps to be again disappointed, if he were then alive. The children here gain a trifle by offering in little dishes, pebbles of green serpentine which they collect on the shore; and the old schoolmaster who acts as guide, makes something by his profession and his little books descriptive of the place; but even he has got an opponent, who on this occasion created both the old guide and ourselves a good deal of confusion. Here we must bid adieu to Iona, only adding that the superstition related by Collins is still believed in by the inhabitants. Where beneath the showery west, The mighty kings of three fair realms were laid, Once foes, perhaps, together now they rest, No slaves revere them, and no woes invade ; Yet frequent now at midnight, solemn hour, The rifted mounds their yawning cells unfold, THE nearness of Edge-hill to Compton-Winyates led me thither. Indeed, as I had walked from Stratford, Edge-hill had gradually risen, as it were, before me, till it filled with its lofty edge the whole of the horizon on that side. A tower near a mill, which was conspicuous on this height, was constantly pointed out to me by the country-people as standing just above the scene of the battle. The road continued to ascend nearly all the way from Stratford, being a distance of about ten miles, and then the edge rising high and almost precipitately, it may be imagined that the elevation of the country on its summit is very great. So great, indeed, is it, that it gives you one of the most extensive prospects in the kingdom. The district towards Stratford, Warwick, and Coventry, and across into Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, lies in a grand expanse before you. You seem to take in, on a clear day, the breadth of a kingdom almost. On the other side, into Oxfordshire, and towards Banbury, the views are also very airy and attractive, but not so extensive by any means, because Edge-hill is truly an edge, that is, it is a step, where the country takes an abrupt rise, and when you gain the summit you find yourselves not so much on a hill, as on the level of a higher country. The people from Banbury and other neighbouring towns, are fond of making a summer-day's excursion to Edge-hill, drawn thither by the combined interest of the battle-scene and the magnificence of the views; and truly they could not readily find a more delightful excursion. The Sun-Rising, a substantial farm-house as well as inn, standing on the summit of the hill within a mile of the scene of battle, is a good point for the "refreshment of both man and horse," and where they will find in the landlord a most intelligent guide, who can shew them too, swords and cannon-shot which his own men have turned up when ploughing in his farm. I reached this house in the dusk of evening, after a long day's ramble, and was greatly struck with its solitary elevation in the dimness of a wild twilight. The country far below me shewed through the mists and shadows of coming night, wide and vast. The door, contrary to the wont of inns, I found fast; and on knocking, I was answered by a female voice within, demanding who was there. When I had satisfied the inquirer, I heard the slow and seemingly reluctant fall of chains and withdrawal of bolts and bars, and presently an elderly face took a peep at me through the partially-opened door. When admitted, I found that this respectable-looking matron and myself were the sole persons in this large old house. It was Michaelmas, and all the servants were at liberty, and gone off to the towns to the statutes, and mops, and bull-roastings, which are the regular places of amusement, and re-hiring for all the servants, men and women, throughout the country at that time of the year. The landlady's son was gone to market, and thus was she left alone, and naturally apprehensive of rude and thievish strollers who are on the alert on such occasions, in solitary districts. The good woman soon introduced me into a well-furnished and wellcarpeted room, with a blazing fire, and tea and toast before me, and Jacob Hooper's History of the Rebellion, with a papermark at the account of the battle of Edge-hill, and Richard Jago's Poem of Edge-hill, to ponder over; and with a sense of the high wild country in which I was, upon me, and the winds of autumn whistling and roaring round the house, I do not know that I ever spent a more pleasantly solitary evening. In the morning I sallied forth, and passing Upton-House, a lonely-looking seat of Lord Jersey, with a solemn avenue of large Scotch firs leading down to it, I was soon at the tower which had been my land-mark the day before, and which the |