campaign is drawing near to a close; but I am ill qualified to give you any particulars, as I have been but seldom this season. ... I have broken my flute and have not yet replaced it with a new one, so that I am out of practice. There is nothing new in the musical world at present. You have seen by the newspapers the steps our aristocracy are taking in the Fine Arts and Architecture. ... I have not ten months longer to stay in "servile chains"—and then—huzza for liberty—I shall be free! I hear that your studies will soon be varied by the comparatively delightful one of Botany; and this exercise in the morning will better enable you to support the tedium of confinement during the long summer days. Should Fate have willed us to meet again, either here or elsewhere, I shall rejoice in the happy hours we shall again enjoy; and should it be otherwise, I can only say, that I sincerely wish Fame, Fortune, and Beauty, may crown the efforts of the truly Brave, the arduous aspirant for Honours. Meanwhile, I hope, when opportunity permits, he will not forget in his correspondence, his sincere friend,
Mr B. Boulter, Glasgow.
In the latter portion of the same year, Mr Boulter, who was still at Glasgow, is anxious to ascertain how he is progressing in his studies, and also what are his future prospects in life, now that his apprenticeship is drawing to a close. Mr Harland's reply fully proves that he was hard at work mentally and bodily, although suffering at times from an ailment which ultimately deprived him of the free use of his legs:—
My Dear Friend—You desire me to mention what books I have read, or am reading; with my critical judgment on the same. As, with some exceptions, they are principally light works which I now read, as novels, poetry, romances, &c., I am afraid they would afford you little gratification, either in the perusal
