17 FEBRUARY 1872, Page 21

some miscellaneous papers illustrating the subject of Scottish life. We

infer from the different signatures which are appended to some of them that they are not all of the same authorship, and they certainly vary considerably in merit and interest. The best papers, we should say, are the first, entitled "The Church and the People," a very forcible expression of the revolt which is daily gathering strength in Scotland against ecclesiastical and theological tyranny ; and the essay on " The Rural Labourer," the work of a writer who seems to know at least the Scottish side of his subject very wall. But where, even in the best

paid counties, is the English rural labourer who has "his roast beef and beer continually "? This may describe the diet of miners and well-paid artizana, but not of the labourer anywhere. The truth is that where he is best paid, i.e., in the Northern counties, his diet is not unlike that of his Scottish brother. "Robert Gray," which tells us how a herd-boy, under pressure of his love for his master's daughter, rose from being a herd-boy to a minister's manse, is an interesting story.