"Poor body!" said I; "is he gone?—You surgeons speak so hard-heartedly about death.— But where are you going, friend?"

"I am just going to take a look through this churchyard," said he, as I followed him among "I feel quite at home in Govan

the graves.

churchyard," he added.

"Do you, faith ?”

"Oh, yes; I could pass the night as pleasantly in it as in my own room. Man, I know every stone and corner in it! fine soft ground, andbut that infernal low wall next the road, I never liked that."

"In truth, Mr. -, you do seem to be quite comfortable here. I do not half like the way that you surgeons look at a kirk yard. It's so like a hungry thief at a henroost. Had you ever any jobs, hereabouts, Doctor?"

"Some few," he said, with a dry laugh.

"And did you really dare to come to this

pleasant spot, like a thief in the night, and howk an' guddle amang yird an' rotten banes, an' purloin the vera dead out o' their graves? Indeed, I canna look at you."

"Hoot," said he,

"don't be so warm; it was

only when we were prentices; and it was our duty, as junior surgeons, to assist. Besides, isn't it for the benefite of science?"

"The benefite o' the deevil!" said I, speaking "I'll never

broader Scotch as I grew warmer; believe that the half o' the dead corpses that are howked up are wanted for science. Isn't every impudent boy, whom silly parents have put to be a surgeon, instead of sending him to make garments, or mend shoes, ambitious not only to possess two or three suits of sculls and bones, but must have as many legs and arms to cut an' slash at, or rather to show off to his brother boys, as his father will give him money to buy of the principal thief? Have not I myself been brought into dark

closets, and down to cellars, to see-bah it turns

my stomach to think o't!"

"Well, well,” said he, "right or wrong, young surgeons do such things; and we're not going to argue about it this fine night. I was going to tell you about Wee Watty."

"Very well; and if you really were implicated in such dirty jobs, and

"You shall hear. In fact that was a service that I believe I had a sort of natural taste for, which I know was also the case with some others in the anatomy class; merely, I suppose, because it was so adventurous; for, if we got fairly to work in a churchyard at night, we were sure to get into some confounded scrape before the morning.

"Now this very churchyard was a favourite spot for our nocturnal attempts; it stood so well out from the houses, and the people in the village went so early to bed, and there were no watch

men to cause us any alarm. But yet, sometimes, we had hard tugs for it, which I may now tell you of; for it was long ago, long before Bauldy Brochan's time; and one of the greatest plagues we had to deal with was this very Wee Watty." My friend, the surgeon, here took a pinch of snuff, and thus continued his story:

"There never was such a body as Watty. Come into the village by any end, or through any street,—come across the Clyde by the ferry, or through by this churchyard, you were sure to meet Watty. If ever there was a game on the green by the waterside, or a salmon-fishing extraordinary; if ever there was a row between the Govan weavers and the millers of Partick; if ever there was a drunken squabble, about David Craighorn's door, wi' the Glasgow sma' clerks, or a battle on a Sunday night, after the Govan crament, Wee Watty was sure to be in the middle o't.

"But it was not only in the day that Watty was present at every thing, and ready for any

thing. I declare, on my conscience, I believe the

man never slept a wink, if, indeed, he ever went to bed; for, when we had darksome job in Govan, our only objection and terror was Watty. We knew Watty's omnipresence so well, both by day and by night, and were so sure of his activity, that, had it not been for him, there would not have been a better churchyard than this within ten miles, to supply, in those days, the anatomical students of the College of Glasgow."

"But I hope there is nothing of that kind done in this churchyard now, Doctor!" interrupted I.

"No, not now;" said he. "But never trouble yourself; just let me tell my story. Well, Sir, it was a favourite walk of us young fellows; and we often used to go down to this place to see what we could see. One afternoon we strolled