Monthly Register. Monthly Register. ECCENTRICITY. He Mr. George Coulter, preacher of the Gospel, died at Kirkmichael on the 21st September. He was well known in Ayrshire, Lanark shire, and Galloway. For more than thirty years, he had made an annual round amongst his friends of the gentlemen and clergy in these counties, by whose kindness and hospitality he chiefly gained his subsistence. But though dependent in circumstances, he still continued to maintain independence of opinion; nor could any elevation of rank or pride of opulence make him tamely submit to an injury, or adopt the language of adulation or servility. In the pulpit he evinced the same manly qualities-boldly declaiming against the vices of antinomianism and uncharitableness; for which, in less tolerating times he would have become a willing martyr; consoling himself for the want of a living, by believing that he was eminently instrumental in purg ing the increase of this leaven from the church, and setting an exam ple of a life less characterised indeed by its meekness, than by the strictest temperance and purity, and most inflexible integrity. preached extempore; and with great constitutional energy and vehemence, he frequently reached the true sublime; and though a person of weak nerves, he has been known to address a trembling audito ry during the awful terrors of a thunder storm, and to make the warring elements contribute to furnish him with the most striking and appalling images, to adorn and illustrate his subject. He was passionately fond of music, and carried a favourite fiddle about him, of whose safety he was more solicitous than of his own, on which he played several hours every lawful day, with more force, however, than skill, and with singular distortion of features; and which he never failed to put into mourning, by decorating it with a black ribbon, or crape, on the death of any beloved friend. His stature was tall and meagre; his hair red, and his face, which was marked with the small pox, had an abstracted and melancholy expression. It was his foible to be too susceptible of the tender passion of love; but having unfortunately been unsuccessful in all his addresses, he had formed rather strong notions of the inconstancy of the fair sex, of whom he used to say "that they were all coquets from the infant at the breast, to the old woman leaning upon crutches!" He was confined for nearly the two last years of his life, to a little cottage, which the kindness of an a miable female friend had caused to be built for him, in the romantic village of Kirkmichael, in Ayrshire; and he bore the long and distressing complaint of which he died, with the pious resignation and exalted hopes of a Christian. His friends, who used to expect his an nual return with the same regularity as that of the seasons, will long Monthly Register. think of the poor wanderer with regret; and though they may have smiled at his eccentricities, will ever remember his virtues with esteem. RECOLLECTIONS. Alexander McCready of Sorby, in the 106th year of his age, of whom some account is given in page 112-states, that for 20 years he has hardly tasted animal food, and his usual dinner now consists of oatcakes and water from the spring. He has seen seven successive ministers in his native parish, of whom Mr. Campbell who baptized him, was the first, aud was ordained immediately on the final establishment of Presbyterianism in the reign of William and Mary. He seems to think that the people though less learned, were more virtuous and pious that then fraud and dishonesty were scarcely known—and that the state of society within these 90 years is materially changed. He remembers when there was not a glass window in the parish of Kirkinner, except in the manse, the house of Barnbarroch, and the castle of Baldoon-and when the name of watch or clock was hardly known in his neighbourhood. At the same period a man-servant's half-yearly wages were five or six shillings, besides a shirt or a pair of shoes. The highest price of a bottle of the best rum was sixpence-sheep bought from a shilling to twenty-pence a-head-and the usual price of a good cow and calf was eighteen shillings, hardly ever a guinea. CIRCUIT COURT, GLASGOW. At the Circuit Court held in Glasgow, on September last, Lord Pitmilly and Lord Meadowbank, tried thirty cases, and passed sentence of death upon six men. In reference to this, it has been observed, that there have not been so many condemned at one time since the persecution in 1666, and the great rebellion in the years 1715, and 1745. PRACTICAL COMMENCEMENT OF A NEW SCHEME. A few days ago a Barber, while shaving a customer, took occasion to discourse about the badness of the times, and among other sage remarks declared it to be his opinion, that every person should agree to break, and to pay ten shillings the pound, and then start fair anew. His customer after getting dressed, concurred in thinking it to be a most judicious plan; and taking a half-penny from his pocket, offered it to the astonished tonsor, as a practical commencement of the composition. A FAITHFUL DOG. A few weeks sinee, several persons saw a man approach to the Seine in Paris, with the intention of drowning a dog. He rowed into the stream and threw him in. The poor animal attempted to climb up the side of the boat, but his cruel master always pushed him back with the oar. In doing this he fell himself into the water, and would certainly have been drowned, had not the faithful dog as soon as he saw his master in the stream, held him up, till assistance arrived and his Life was saved! Monthly Register. MAGISTRATES AND COUNCIL OF KILMARNOCK. James Porteous, Esq. and John Fulton, Esq. Baillies.. William Brown William Wallace Counsellors. John Andrew James M Lean Robert Thomson James Gregg, Town Clerk.. MAGISTRATES OF AYR. William Finnie John Thomson William Cowan Esq. Provost James Donaldson, Esq. and Eben. Shaw, Esq. Baillies. MAGISTRATES OF IRVINE. Lieut.-Gen. Montgomery, M. P. Provost and Sheriff John Findlayson, Treasurer BIRTHS. Sept. 8. At the Ayr Bank, Irvine, Mrs. Paterson of a daughter. 19. At Hawick, Mrs. Jane Hope, of a son and daughter, after being 18 years married. MARRIED. Oct. 5. At Stewarton Manse, Mr. John Torrance, Surgeon, Kilmar nock, to Miss Janet, eldest daughter of the Rev. J. Douglas. DEATHS. Sept. 17. At Milton, parish of Kilmarnock, Mr. James Caldwell. 25. At Ayr, ean M'Clure, spouse of John Aitken, Esq. Oct. 4. At Ayr, Mr. David M'Whinnie, Writer, 6. At Scotstoun, George Oswald, Esq. of Auchencruive, aged 84. 12. At Ayr, after an illness of 15 years, Mr. John McKinnon, in the 34th year of his age. Hebrew Melody. Poetry. HEBREW MELODY. The Sacred Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews has of late years attracted more attention than at any former period. Forsaking the minstrel rhymes, in which she recorded the feats of chivalry, and the wild ballads that she filled with the fabulous legends of Romance, "The Heavenly Muse" now retunes her harp to those sublime themes, which exalted the imagination of the holy prophets, and in meditating on which, and weaving them into song, "the Sweet Singer of Israel,' forgot his domestic sorrows, and the cares of his crown. " The beautiful Melody which we are here requested to insert is worthy of the Ettricke Shepherd, and must be universally acceptable to our Readers-Ed. ON CARMEL'S BROW.. On Carmel's brow, the wreathy vine A sickly paleness spread ; · To muse on distant time. He saw the valleys far and wide, But sight of joy was none; He looked o'er many a mountain's side, But silence reigned alone : Save that a boding voice, sung on By wave and waterfall, As still, in harsh and heavy tone, On Kison's strand, and Ephratah, The hamlets thick did lie; |