66 scribed traitors. An old woman had presence of mind enough to maintain that the man they had seen was the shepherd. Why did he not stop when we called him?" said the soldier. 'He is as deaf, poor man, as a peat stack," answered the ready witted domestic. Let him be sent for directly."-The real shepherd was accordingly brought from the hill, and as there was time to tutor him by the way, he was as deaf, when he made his appearance, as was necessary to maintain his character. Stuart, of Invernahyle was afterwards pardoned under the act of indemnity. He was a noble specimen of the old Highlander, far descended, gallant, courteous, and brave, even to chivalry. He had been out in 1715 and 1745, was an active partaker in all the stirring scenes which passed in the Highlands, between these memorable eras, and was remarkable among other exploits, for having fought with, and vanquished Rob Roy, in a trial at skill at the broadsword, a short time previous to the death of that celebrated hero, at the Clachan of Balquhidder. He chanced to be in Edinburgh when Paul Jones came into the Firth of Forth, and though then an old man, appeared in arms, and was heard to exult, (to use his own words) in the prospect of drawing his claymore once again before he died. On that memorable occasion when Auld Reekie' was threatened by three small armed vessels, scarce fit to have plundered a fishing village, Invernahyle was the only man who seemed to propose a resistance. He offered the magistrates, if broadswords and dirks could be procured, to find as many High*See Rebellions. Passim. VOL. I. H landers among the lower orders as would cut off any boat's crew who might be sent into a town, full of as many defiles nearly as the Island of Corsica, in which they were likely to disperse in quest of plunder. A shady and powerful west-wind blowing Paul Jones* out of the Forth, the brave Invernahyle's services were not required. The following elucidations of two allusions in the novel of Waverley, are taken from Mr. Alexander Campbell's notes to Macintosh's collection of Gallic Proverbs :- The author of Waverley alludes to Roderick Morison in the following passage of that inimitable faction: "Two paces back stood Cathleen, "holding a small Scottish harp, the use of which had "been taught her by Rory Dall, one of the last harpers "of all the northern Highlands." Rory Dall lived in the family Macleod, of Macleod, in Queen Anne's time, in the double capacity of harper and bard to the family. Many of his poems and songs are still repeated by his countrymen. Conan was one of Fingal's heroes, rash, turbulent, and brave. One of his unearthly exploits is said to have led him to Jurna, or cold island, (similar to the den of Hela, of Scandinavian mythology) a place only inhabited by infernal beings. On Conan's departure from the island, one of its demons struck him, which he instantly returned. This outrage upon immortals was fearfully retaliated by a legion of devils, setting on poor Conan. To a Gaelic proverb founded on the circumstances of this unequal contest, Ensign Macombish facetiously alludes, in his reply to Mrs. Flock * See Plunder of Lady Selkirk's house; and letter from and to Paul Jones. Passim. hart's interrogation, if he would actually "face thae tearing, swearing chields, the dragoons." "Claw for claw," cries the courageous Highlander, "as Conan said to Satan, and the deil tak' the shortest nails."'* SKETCH OF CHARACTERS. In Waverley, the characters of the brave and devoted Vich Ian Vhor,' the eccentric and kind-hearted Baron Bradwardine, with his bears and boot-jacks,the poor idiot David Gellatley, with his leal cunning; the two dogs, Ban and Busker, with the glorious and soul-inspiring loyalty and self-devotion of Flora M'Ivor, are master touches and dear to our recollection. Then Dominie Sampson, with his learning and his simplicity-poor Meg Merrilies, with her supernatural energies, and her simply natural feelings (we could almost cry now at the remembrance of the exquisite pathos with which she laments the loss of her humble cottage)-Dirk Hatterick, with his stern, and Gilbert Glossin, with his sly villanies; Paul Pleydell, that prince of advocates; and Dandie Dinmont, that prince of honest hearts and iron framesthe living images of Guy Mannering: and our good friend Monkbarns, with his veneration for the press, sanctifying in our eyes, all his whims in prætoriums, old coins, and old ladles-the fisherman at the funeral, old Edie Ochiltree full of good humoured craftiness,— the high-spirited young Highlander and the seal, to * See Waverley Poetry. Appendix. gether with the aristocratic Baronet, and his charlatan Dunsterswivel, in the Antiquary. Then, in our opinion, the chief production of all, Old Mortality, abounding with incident and delineation-the period of the covenant, when Scotland would not tamely endure a corrupt kirk, and an arbitrary king-Balfour of Burley, with his fearlessness and desperate fanaticism; the maniac Mucklewrath, the sonorous Kettledrumle, the gallant but bloody Claverhouse the crafty clown Cuddie, and his crafty help-mate, the old Lady Bellenden, with the eternal déjeuner-the unfortunate Calf Gibbie, Cuddie's mother, with her love for the cause, sadly battling in her mind with the fears of her son; and the finest character of all, the young preacher Macbriar, dying in a consumption, yet still animated with divine energy in the cause of his God,-here, however, we must stop, or we shall fill this chapter with a mere catalogue of portraits, painted with all the freshness of Teniers, all the richness of Rubens, all the colouring of Titian, and all the splendour, power, and boldness of Raphael. Sensible, however mighty and teeming the imagination, that there is a point beyond which it cannot soar, the distinguished author who, with confidence and intrepidity for a course of years, not courted, but commanded the approbation of the public, and kept, as it were, caprice stationaryhe who regularly spread before us an annual banquet, without any lack of relish, or exhaustion of means, procured, for every successive performance, an addi tional measure of praise, and after having given the most unequivocal proofs that can be required of extraordinary genius, began at length to discover symptions of an over wrought and exhausted mind worn out by its own incessant liberality. There is a time when, in the selection of characters fitted to command the sympathetic curiosity of the greatest number of those who are likely to be readers of similar productions, the mind must become exhausted, original characters cannot always be invented. "All that's bright must fade," and the brightness of our Aurora Borealis began to diminish, more or less, with many an intervening corruscation, with the Monastery and the Abbot. The Redgauntlet is rather a prosing tale; the Bride of Lammermuir, and the Legend of Montrose, contain more incident, in one volume and a half, than it does in three. There is moreover no description -the salmon-striking scene, is nothing compared to a similar one in Guy Mannering. Allan Fairford and his father are a thousand degrees beneath Paul Pleydell. Old Trumbell is an unnatural and unprobable hypocrite, and not half so well drawn as Gilbert Glossin. Redgauntlet, as a political enthusiast, comes far short either of Claverhouse on the one side, or Balfour on the other. Foxley, the justice, is a cypher compared with justice Ingleby in Rob Roy, as his clerk is to Jobson in the novel; and wandering Willie must hide his diminished head before Edie Ocheltree. The letters in the first volume are somewhat tedious and wire-drawn. The narrative in the other two is disconnected and made up in the |