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sions! But Nature's bounties are unaltered. The sun will shine as fair on these ruins, whether the property of a stranger, or of a sordid and obscure trickster of the abused law, as when the banners of the founder first waved upon their battlements."

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These reflections brought Mannering to the door of the house, which was that day open to all. He entered among others, who traversed the apartments, some to se lect articles for purchase, others to gratify their curiosity. There is something me lancholy in such a scene, even under the most favourable circumstances. The con fused state of the furniture, displaced for the convenience of being easily viewed and carried off by the purchasers, is disagreea ble to the eye. Those articles which, properly and decently arranged, look credit able and well-assorted, have then a paltry { and wretched appearance; and the apart ments, stripped of all that render them commodious and handsome, have an as

pect of ruin and dilapidation. It is disgusting also, to see the scenes of domestic society and seclusion thrown open to the gaze of the curious and the vulgar; to hear their coarse speculations and jests upon the fashions and furniture to which they are unaccustomed,-a frolicksome humour much cherished by the whiskey which in Scotland is always put in circulation upon such occasions.

All these

are ordinary effects of such a scene as Ellangowan now presented; but the moral feeling, that, in this case, they indicated the total ruin of an ancient and honourable family, gave them treble weight and poignancy.

It was some time before Colonel Mannering could find any one disposed to answer his reiterated questions concerning Ellangowan himself. At length, an old .maid servant, who held her apron to her eyes as she spoke, told him, "the Laird was something better, and they hoped he would be able to leave the house that

day. Miss Lucy expected the chaise every moment, and, as the day was fine for the time o' year, they had carried him in his easy chair up to the green before the auld castle, to be out of the way of this unca spectacle." Hither Colonel Mannering went in quest of him, and soon came in sight of the little group, which consisted of four persons. The ascent

was steep, so that he had time to recon noitre them as he advanced, and to con sider in what mode he should make his address.

Mr Bertram, paralytick, and almost incapable of moving, occupied his easy chair, attired in his night-cap, and a loose camlet coat, his feet wrapped in blankets. Behind him, with his hands crossed on the cane on which he rested, stood Dominie Sampson, whom Mannering recognised at once. Time had made no change upon him, unless that his black coat seemed more brown, and his gaunt cheeks more lank, than when Mannering last saw him. On

one side of the old man was a sylph-like form a young woman of about seventeen, whom the Colonel accounted to be his daughter. time to time, anxiously towards the ave nue, as if expecting the post-chaise; and between whiles busied herself in adjusting the blankets, so as to protect her father from the cold, and in answering enquiries, which he seemed to make with a captious and querulous manner. She did not trust herself to look towards the Place, as it was called, although the hum of the assembled crowd must have drawn her attention in that direction. The fourth person of the group was a handsome and genteel young man, who seemed to share Miss Bertram's anxiety, and her solicitude to sooth and accommodate her parent.

She was looking, from

This young man was the first who ob served Colonel Mannering, and immediately stepped forward to meet him, as if politely to prevent his drawing nearer to the distressed group. Mannering imme

diately paused and explained. "He was," he said, "a stranger, to whom Mr Bertram had formerly shewn kindness and hospita lity; he would not have intruded himself upon him at a period of distress, did it not seem to be in some degree a moment also of desertion; he wished merely to offer such services as might be in his power to Mr Bertram and the young lady."

He then paused at a little distance from the chair. His old acquaintance gazed at him with lack-lustre eye, that intimated no tokens of recognition-the Dominie seemed too deeply sunk in distress event to observe his presence. The young man spoke aside with Miss Bertram, who advanced timidly, and thanked Mr Mannering for his goodness; "but," she said, the tears gushing fast into her eyes—“ her fa ther, she feared, was not so much himself as to be able to remember him."

She then retreated towards the chair, accompanied by the Colonel.-"Father,"

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