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security to appear, if required, and to make the restitution ordered. "And in regard that Edward Christian, being one of the Deemsters or Judges in the Isle of Man, did, when the Court refused to admit of the deceased W. Christian's plea of the Act of Indemnity, make his protestation against their illegal proceedings, and did withdraw himself, and come to England to solicit his Majesty and implore his justice, it is ordered that the Earl of Derby do forthwith, by commission, &c., restore and appoint him as Deemster, so to remain and continue, &c. [which order was disobeyed.] And lastly, that Henry Nowell, Deputy Governor, whose fault hath been the not complying with, and yielding due obedience to, the order of his Majesty and this Board sent unto the the Island, [O most lame and impotent conclusion !] be permitted to return to the Isle, and enforce the present Order of the King in Council."

Of the Earl of Derby, no farther mention occurs in this document. The sacrifices made by this noble family in support of the royal cause, drew a large share of indulgence over the exceptionable parts of their conduct; but the mortification necessarily consequent on this appeal, the incessant complaints of the people, and the difficulty subsequently experienced by them in obtaining access to a superior tribunal, receive a curious illustration in an order of the King in council, dated 20th August, 1670, on a petition of the Earl of Derby, "that the clerk of the council in waiting receive no petition, appeal, or complaint, against the lord or government of the Isle of Man, without having first good security from the complainant to answer costs, damages, and charges."

The historical notices of this kingdom' of Lilliput are curious and instructive with reference to other times and different circumstances, and they have seemed to require little comment or antiquarian remark; but to condense what may be collected with regard to Edward Christian, the accomplished villain of Peveril, the insinuations of his accuser: constitute in themselves an abundant defence. When so little can be imputed by such an adversary, the character must indeed be invulnerable. Tradition ascribes to him nothing but what is amiable, patriotic, honourable, and good, in all the relations of public and private life. He died, after an imprisonment of seven or eight years, the victim of incorrigible obstinacy, according to one, of ruthless tyranny, according to another vocabulary: but resembling the character of the Novel in nothing but unconquerable courage.

Treachery and ingratitude have been heaped on the memory of William Christian with sufficient profusion. Regarding the first of these crimes if all that has been affirmed or insinuated in the mock trial, rested on a less questionable basis, posterity would scarcely pronounce an unanimous verdict of moral and political guilt, against an association to subvert such a government as is described by its own author. The peculiar favours for which he or his family were ungrateful, are not to be discovered in these proceedings; except, indeed, in the form of" chastisements of the Almighty-blessings in disguise." But if credit be given to the dying words of William Christian, his efforts were strictly limited to a redress of grievances, a purpose always criminal in the eye of the oppressor. If he had lived and died on a larger scene, his memory would probably have survived among the patriots and the heroes. In some of the manuscript narratives he is designated as a martyr for the rights and liberties of his countrymen; who add, in their homely manner, that he was condemned without trial, and murdered without remorse.

We have purposely abstained from all attempt to enlist the passions in favour of the sufferings of a people, or in detestation of oppressions, which ought, perhaps, to be ascribed as much to the character of the times as to that of individuals. The naked facts of the case (unaided by the wild and plaintive notes in which the maidens of the isle were wont to bewail "the heart-rending death of fair-haired William") are sufficient of themselves to awaken the sympathy of every generous mind; and it were a more worthy exercise of that despotic power over the imagination, so eminently possessed by the Great Unknown, to embalm the remembrance of two such men in his immortal pages, than to load their memories with crimes, such as no human being ever committed.

I AM enabled to add the translation of the lament over the fair-haired William Christian. It is originally composed in the Manx language, and consists of a series of imprecations of evil upon the enemies of Christian, and prophecies to the same pur. pose :

On the Death and Murder of Receiver General William Christian of Ronaldsway, who was shot near Hango Hill, January 2, 1662.

1.

In so shifting a scene, who would confidence place In family power, youth, or in personal grace?

No character's proof against enmity foul;

And thy fate, William Dhône, sickens our soul.

2.

You are Derby's receiver of patriot zeal,
Replete with good sense, and reputed genteel,
Your justice applauded by the young and the old;
And thy fate, &c.

Tradition, in accordance with the dirge of William Dhone, says that the order to stop proceedings and suspend the sentence arrived on the day preceding that of his execution.

Earl James, although studious of kingcraft, assigns good reasons for having never pretended to assume that title, and among others, ,,For doth it please a king that any of his subjects should too much love the name, were it but to act in a play."-Peck, 436.

Peck, passim.

The literal translation given to me by a young lady.

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Proceed to the once famed abode of the Nuns,
Call the Calcotts aloud, till you torture your lungs,
Their short triumph's ended, extinct is the whole;
And thy fate, &c.
8.

For years could Robert lay crippled in bed,
Nor knew the world peace while he held up his head,
The neighbourhood's scourge in iniquity bold;
And thy fate, &c.
9.

Not one's heard to grieve, seek the country all through,
Nor lament for the name that Bemacan once knew;
The poor rather load it with curses untold;
And thy fate, &c.

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A person named in the next stanza is said to have intercepted a pardon sent from England for William Christian, found, it is said, in the foot of an old woman's stocking. The tradition is highly improbable. If Christian had been executed against the tenor of a pardon actually granted, it would not have failed to be charged as a high aggravation in the subsequent proceedings of the Privy Council.

It may be recollected, that these verses are given through the medium of a meagre translation, and are deprived of the aid of the music, otherwise we should certainly think the memory of William Dhone little honoured by his native bard.

No. II.

some kind of satisfaction for the untimely loss of a subject, it is ordered, that the said Thomas Norris and Hugh Cannell, who decreed this violent death, be committed and remain prisoners in the King's Bench, to be proceeded against in the ordinary course of justice, so to receive condign punishment according to the merit of so heinous a fact.

That Richard Stevenson, Robert Calcot, and Richard Tyldesley, be discharged from farther restraint, giving good security to appear at this Board whensoever summoned, and not depart this city until full satisfaction be given, and all orders of this Board whatsoever relating to this business fully executed in the island. And in regard, that upon the examination of this business, it doth appear, that Edward Christian, being one of the Deemsters or Judges in the Isle of Man, did, when the Court refused to admit of the deceased William Christian's plea of the Act of Indemnity, make his protestation against their illegal proceedings, and did withdraw himself, and come into England to solicit his Majesty, and implore his justice, it is in due and accustomed manner, restore, constitute, and appoint the said Edward Christian, one of the Deemsters or Judges of the said island, so to remain and continue in the due execution of the said place.

And lastly, it is ordered that the said Henry Howell, DeputyGovernor, whose charge hath been the not complying with, and yielding due obedience to, the orders of his Majesty, and this Board, sent into this island, giving good security to appear at this Board whensoever summoned, be forthwith discharged from all further restraint, and permitted to return into the island; and he is hereby strictly commanded to employ the power and authority he hath, which by virtue of his commission he hath in that island, in performance of, and obedience to, all commands and orders of his Majesty and this Board in this whole business, or any way relating thereto. (Signed by)

At the Court at Whitehall, the 5th August, 1663. GEORGE CHRISTIAN, son and heir of William Christian, deceased, having, exhibited his complaint to his Majesty in Council, that his father, being at a house of his in his Majesty's Isle of Mann, was imprisoned by certain persons of that island, pretending themselves to be a Court of Justice; that he was by them accused of high treason, pretended to be committed against the Countess Dowager of Derby, in the year 1651; and that they thereupon proceeded to judgment, and caused him to be put to death, notwithstanding the act of General Pardon and Indemnity, whereof he claimed the benefit: and his appeal to his Majesty, and humbly imploring his Majesty's prince y compassion towards the distressed widow and seven fatherless children of the deceased: His Majesty was graciously pleased, with the advice of his Council, to order that Thomas Noris and Hugh Cannell, the two judges, (by them in that island called Deemsters,) and Richard Stevenson, Robert Cal-ordered, that the Earl of Derby do forthwith, by commission, eot, and Richard Tyldesley, three of the members of the pretended Court of Justice, and Henry Howell, deputy of the said island, should be forthwith sent for, and brought up by a sergeant-at-arms here, before his Majesty in Council, to appear and answer to such accusations as should be exhibited against them; which said six persons being accordingly brought hither the fifteenth day of July last, appointed for a full hearing of the whole business, the Earl of Derby then also summoned to appear, and the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the Lord Chief Baron of his Majesty's Exchequer, with the King's Council, learned in the laws, required to be present, and all the parties called in with their counsel and witnesses, after full hearing of the matter on both sides, and the parties withdrawn, the said judges being desired to deliver their opinion, did, in presence of the King's Council, learned in the laws, declare that the Act of General Pardon and Indemnity did, and ought to be understood to, extend to the Isle of Mann, as well as into any other of his Majesty's dominions and plantations beyond the seas; and that, being a publique General Act of Parliament, it ought to have been taken notice of by the Judges in the Isle of Mann, although it had not been pleaded, and although there were no proclamations made thereof. His Majesty being therefore deeply sensible of this violation of his Act of General Pardon, whereof his Majesty hath always been very tender, and doth expect and require that all his subjects in all his dominions and plantations shall enjoy the full benefit and advantage of the same; and having this day taken the business into further consideration, and all parties called in and heard, did, by and with the advice of the Council, order, and it is hereby or dered, that all persons any way concerned in the seizure of the estate of the said William Christian, deceased, or instrumental ia the ejection of the widow and children out of their houses and fortune, do take care that entire restitution is to be made of all the said estate, as well real or personal, as also all damagea sustained, with full satisfaction for all profits by them received since the said estate hath been in their hands; and that, whereas the said William Christian, deceased, was one of the two lives remaining in an estate in Lancashire, that the detriment accruing by the untimely death of the said William Christian therein, or in like cases, shall be estimated, and in like manner fully repaired. That in regard of the great trouble and charges the complainants have been at in pursuit of this business, ordered, that they do exhibit to this Board a true account, upon oath, of all expenses and damages by them sustained in the journies of themselves and witnesses, and of all other their charges in the following of this business.

And whereas Ewan Čurghey, Sammual Radcliffe, and John Casar, were by the same Court of Justice imprisoned, and had their estates seized and confiscated, without any legal trial, it is ordered, that the said Ewan Curghey, Sammual Radcliffe, and John Casar, be likewise reinstated to all their estates, real and personall, and fully repaired in all the charges and expenses which they have been at since their first imprisonment, as well in the prosecution of this business, as in their journey thither, or any other way whatsoever thereunto relating. The which satisfaction, expenses, and all the sums of money to be raised by virtue of this order, are to be furnished by the Deemsters, Members, and Assistants of the said Court of Justice, who are hereby ordered to raise all such the said sums, and thereof to make due payment, and give full satisfaction unto the parties respectively hereby appointed to receive it.

And to the end, the guilt of blood which hath been unjustly spilt, may in some sort be expiated, and his Majesty receive

Lord Chancellor.
Lord Treasurer.
Lord Privy Seal.
Duke of Albemarle.
Lord Chamberlain.
Earl of Berkshire.
Earl of St. Alban.
Earl of Anglesey.
Earl of Sandwich.
Earl of Bath.
Earl of Middleton.

Earl of Carberry.

Lord Bishop of London.
Lord Wentworth.
Lord Berkeley.
Lord Ashley.

Sir William Crompton.
Mr. Treasurer.

Mr. Vice Chamberlain.
Mr. Secretary Morice.
Mr. Secretary Bennett.
Richard Browne,

No. III.

Clerk of the Council.

At the Court at Whitehall, August 11th, 1663.

Present,

The King's Most Excellent Majesty.

Lord Chancellor.
Lord Treasurer.
Lord Privy Seal.
Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Albemarle.
Lord Chamberlain.
Earl of Berkshire.
Earl of St. Alban.
Earl of Sandwich.
Earl of Anglesey.
Earl of Batli.

Earl of Middleton.

Earl of Carberry.

Lord Bishop of London.
Lord Wentworth.
Lord Berkeley.
Lord Ashley.

Sir William Crompton.
Mr. Treasurer.

Mr. Vice Chamberlain.
Mr. Secretary Morice.
Mr. Secretary Bennett.

To the end the world may the better take notice of his Majesty's royal intention, to observe the Act of Indemnity and General Pardon inviolably for the publique good and satisfaction of his subjects-it was this day ordered, that a copy of the order of this Board of the 5th inst., touching the illegal proceedings in the Isle of Mann against William Christian, and putting him to death contrary to the said act of General Pardon, be sent unto his Majesty's printer, who is commanded forthwith to print the same in the English letters, in folio, in such manner as acts of Parliament are usually printed, and his Majesty's Arms prefixed.

RICHARD BROWNE

PREFATORY LETTER,

FROM THE

REVEREND DOCTOR DRYASDUST OF YORK,

ΤΟ

CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK, RESIDING AT FAIRY-LODGE, NEAR KENNAQUHAIR, N. B.

VERY WORTHY AND DEAR SIR,

To your last letter I might have answered, with the classic, "Haud equidem invideo, miror magis." For though my converse, from infancy, has been with things of antiquity, yet I love not ghosts or spectres to be commentators thereon; and truly your account of the conversation you held with our great parent, in the crypt, or most intimate recess of the publishers at Edinburgh, had upon me much the effect of the apparition of Hector's phantom on the hero of the Eneid

"Obstupui, steteruntque come."

with which, in the eventful year 1746, my uncle meant to have espoused the cause of Prince Charles Edward; for, indeed, so little did he esteem personal safety, in comparison of steady highchurch principle, that he waited but the news of the Adventurer's reaching London to hasten to join his standard.

Such a doze as I then enjoyed, I find compatible with indulg ing the best and deepest cogitations which at any time arise in my mind. I chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, in a state betwixt sleeping and waking, which I consider as so highly favourable to philosophy, that I have no doubt some of its most distinguished systems have been composed under its influence. My servant is, therefore, instructed to tread as if upon downmy door-hinges are carefully oiled-and all appliances used to prevent me from being prematurely and harshily called back to the broad waking-day of a laborious world. My custom, in this particular, is so well known, that the very schoolboys cross the alley on tiptoe, betwixt the hours of four and five. My cell is the very dwelling of Morpheus. There is indeed a bawling knave of a broom-man, quem ego-But this is matter for the Quarter-Sessions.

As my head sunk back upon the easy-chair in the philosophical mood which I have just described, and the eyes of my body began to close, in order, doubtless, that those of my understanding might be the more widely opened, I was startled by a knock at the door, of a kind more authoritatively boisterous than is given at that hour by any visiter acquainted with my habits. I started up in my seat, and heard the step of my servant hurrying along the passage, followed by a very heavy and measured pace, which shook the long floored gallery in such a manner, as forcibly to arrest my attention. "A stranger, sir, just arrived from Edinburgh by the North Mail, desires to speak with your Reverence. Such were the words with which Jacob threw the door to the wall; and the startled tone in which he pronounced them, although there was nothing particular in the annunciation itself, prepared me for the approach of a visiter of uncommon dignity and importance.

And, as I said above, I repeat that I wondered at the Vision, without envying you the pleasure of seeing our great progeni tor. But it seems that he is now permitted to show himself to his family more freely than formerly; or that the old gentle man is turned somewhat garrulous in these latter days; or, in short, not to exhaust your patience with conjectures of the cause, I also have seen the Vision of the Author of Waverley. I do not mean to take any undue state on myself, when I observe, that this interview was marked with circumstances in some degree more formally complaisant than those which attended your meeting with him in our worthy publisher's; for yours had the appearance of a fortuitous rencontre, whereas mine was preceded by the communication of a large roll of pa pers, containing a new history, called PEVeril of the PEAK. I no sooner found that this manuscript consisted of a narrative, running to the length of perhaps three hundred and thirty pages in each volume, or thereabouts, than it instantly occurred to me from whom this boon came; and having set myself to peruse the written sheets, I began to entertain strong expectations that I might, peradventure, next see the author himself. Again, it seems to me a marked circumstance, that, whereas an inner apartment of Mr. Constable's shop was thought a place of sufficient solemnity for your audience, our venerable senior was pleased to afford mine in the recesses of my own lodgings, intra parietes, as it were, and without the chance of interruption. I must also remark, that the features, form, and dress of the Eidolon, as you well term the apparition of our parent, seemed to me more precisely distinct than was vouch-hat-for he disdained the modern frivolities of a travelling cap safed to you on the former occasion. Of this hereafter; but Heaven forbid I should glory or set up any claim of superiority over the other descendants of our common parent, from such decided marks of his preference-Laus propria sordet. I am well satisfied that the honour was bestowed not on my person, but my cloth-that the preference did not elevate Jonas Dryasdust over Clutterbuck, but the Doctor of Divinity over the Captain. Cedant arma toga--a maxim never to be forgotten at any time, but especially to be remembered when the soldier is upon half-pay.

But I bethink me that I am keeping you all this while in the porch, and wearying you with long inductions, when you would have me properare in mediam rem. As you will, it shall be done; for, as his Grace is wont to say of me wittily, "No man tells a story so well as Dr. Dryasdust, when he has once got up to the starting-post."-Jocose hoc. But to continue.

The Author of Waverley entered, a bulky and tall man, in a travelling great-coat, which covered a suit of snuff brown, cut in imitation of that worn by the great Rambler. His flapped

was bound over his head with a large silk handkerchief, so as to protect his ears from cold at once, and from the babble of his pleasant companions in the public coach from which he had just alighted. There was somewhat of a sarcastic shrewdness and sense, which sat on the heavy penthouse of his shaggy gray eyebrow-his features were in other respects largely shaped, and rather heavy, than promising wit or genius; but he had a notable projection of the nose, similar to that line of the Latin poet,

-"immodicum surgit pro cuspide rostrum."

A stout walking-stick stayed his hand--a double Barcelona protected his neck-his belly was something prominent, but that's not much,"-his breeches were substantial thick-setand a pair of top-boots, which were slipped down to ease his sturdy calves, did not conceal his comfortable travelling stockand after the venerable ancient fashion, known in Scotland by the name of ridge-and-furrow. His age seemed to be considerably above fifty, but could not amount to threescore, which I observed with pleasure, trusting there may be a good deal of work had out of him yet; especially as a general haleness of appear ance-the compass and strength of his voice-the steadiness of his step-the rotundity of his calf-the depth of his hem, and the sonorous emphasis of his sneeze, were all signs of a constitution built for permanence.

I had skimmed the cream of the narrative which I had re-ings of lamb's wool, wrought, not on the loom, but on wires, ceived about a week before, and that with no small cost and pain; for the hand of our parent is become so small and so crabbed, that I was obliged to use strong magnifiers. Feeling my eyes a little exhausted towards the close of the second yo lume, I leaned back in my easy-chair, and began to consider whether several of the objections which have been particularly urged against our father and patron, might not be considered as applying, in an especial manner, to the papers I had just perused. 'Here are figments enough," said I to myself, "to confuse the march of a whole history-anachronisms enough to overset all chronology! The old gentleman hath broken all bounds-abiit-evasit-erupit."

As these thoughts passed through my mind, I fell into a fit of musing, which is not uncommon with me after dinner, when I am altogether alone, or have no one with me but my curate. I was awake, however; for I remember seeing, in the embers of the fire, a representation of a mitre, with the towers of a cathedral in the background; moreover, I recollect gazing for a certain time on the comely countenance of Dr. Whiterose, my uncle by the mother's side-the same who is mentioned in THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN-whose portrait, graceful in wig and canonicals, hangs above my mantel-piece. Farther, I remember marking the flowers in the frame of carved oak, and casting my eye on the pistols which hang beneath, being the fire-arms

It struck me forcibly, as I gazed on this portly person, that he realized, in my imagination, the Stout Gentleman in No. IL, who afforded such a subject of varying speculation to our most amusing and elegant Utopian traveller, Master Geoffrey Crayon. Indeed, but for one little trait in the conduct of the said Stout Gentleman-I mean the gallantry towards his landlady, a thing which would greatly derogate from our Senior's character-i should be disposed to conclude that Master Crayon had, on that memorable occasion, actually passed his time in the vicinity of the Author of Waverley. But our worthy patriarch, be it spoken to his praise, far from cultivating the society of the fair sex, seems, in avoiding the company of womankind, rather to imitate the humour of our friend and relation, Master Jonathan Oldbuck, as I was led to conjecture, from a circumstance which occurred immediately after his entrance.

PREFATORY LETTER.

Having acknowledged his presence with fitting thanks and indignation, when, in travelling through Greece, he chances to Author. But since we cannot rebuild the temple, a kiosk may gratulations, I proposed to my venerated visiter, as the refresh- see a Turkish kiosk rising on the ruins of an ancient temple. ment best suited to the hour of the day, to summon my cousin and housekeeper, Miss Catharine Whiterose, with the tea-equi- be a pretty thing, may it not? Not quite correct in architecpage; but he rejected my proposal with disdain, worthy of the ture, strictly and classically criticised; but presenting some"No scandal-broth," he exclaimed; "no thing uncommon to the eye, and something fantastic to the imLaird of Monkbarns. same description which arises from the perusal of an Eastern unidea'd woman's chatter for me. Fill the frothed tankard-agination, on which the spectator gazes with pleasure of the tale. slice the fatted rump-I desire no society but yours, and no Dryasdust. I am unable to dispute with you in metaphor, sir; but refreshment but what the cask and the gridiron can supply." The beefsteak, and toast, and tankard, were speedily got ready; and whether an apparition, or a bodily presentation, my I must say, in discharge of my conscience, that you stand much visiter displayed dexterity as a trencherman, which might have censured for adulterating the pure sources of historical knowattracted the envy of a hungry hunter, after a fox-chase of ledge. You approach them, men say, like the drunken yeoman, forty miles. Neither did he fail to make some deep and solemn who, once upon a time, polluted the crystal spring which supappeals, not only to the tankard aforesaid, but to two decanters plied the thirst of his family, with a score of sugar loaves and a of London particular Madeira and old Port; the first of which hogshead of rum; and thereby converted a simple and wholeI had extracted from its ripening place of depositation, within some beverage into a stupifying, brutifying, and intoxicating reach of the genial warmth of the oven; the other, from a deep fluid; sweeter, indeed, to the taste, than the natural lymph, Author. I allow your metaphor, Doctor; but yet, though good crypt in mine own ancient cellar, which whilom may have held but, for that very reason, more seductively dangerous. the vintages of the victors of the world, the arch being composed of Roman Brick. I could not help admiring and con- punch cannot supply the want of spring-water, it is, when mogratulating the old gentleman upon the vigorous appetite which destly used, no malum in se; and I should have thought it a "Sir," was shabby thing of the parson of the parish, had he helped to drink he displayed for the genial cheer of old England. his reply, "I must eat as an Englishman, to qualify myself for out the well on Saturday night, and preached against the honest taking my place at one of the most select companies of right hospitable yeoman on Sunday morning. I should have answered once upon his guard; and that, if he had taken a drop over English spirits, which ever girdled in, and hewed asunder, a him, that the very flavour of the liquor should have put him at mountainous sirloin, and a generous plum-pudding." much, he ought to blame his own imprudence more than the hospitality of his entertainer.

[graphic]

I inquired, but with all deference and modesty, whither he was bound, and to what distinguished Society he applied a description so general. I shall proceed in humble imitation of your example, to give the subsequent dialogue in a dramatic form, unless when description becomes necessary.

Dryasdust, I profess I do not exactly see how this applies. Author. No you are one of those numerous disputants, who will never follow their metaphor a step farther than it goes Author of Waverley. To whom should I apply such a descrip- their own way. I will explain. A poor fellow, like myself, tion, save to the only Society to whom it can be thoroughly ap- weary with ransacking his own barren and bounded imaginaplicable-those unerring judges of old books and old wine-the tion, looks out for some general subject, in the huge and boundRoxburgh Club of London? Have you not heard that I have less field of history, which holds forth examples of every kind been chosen a member of that Society of select Bibliomaniacs-lights on some personage, or some combination of circumDryasdust. (Rummaging in his pocket.) I did hear something stances, or some striking trait of manners, which he thinks of it from Captain Clutterbuck, who wrote to me-ay, here is may be advantageously used as the basis of a fictitious narrative his letter-that such a report was current among the Scottish-bedizens it with such colouring as his skill suggests-ornaantiquaries, who were much alarmed lest you should be seduced ments it with such romantic circumstances as may heighten the into the heresy of preferring English beef to seven-year-old general effect-invests it with such shades of character, as will black-faced mutton, Maraschino to whiskey, and turtle-soup to best contrast with each other-and thinks, perhaps, he has cock-a-leekie; in which case, they must needs renounce you as done some service to the public, if he can present to them a a lost man-" But," adds our friend, looking at the letter-his lively fictitious picture, for which the original anecdote or cirhand is rather of a military description, better used to handle cumstance which he made free to press into his service, only the sword than the pen-"Our friend is so much upon the furnished a slight sketch. Now I cannot perceive any harm in are no more exhausted or impoverished by the hints thus borSHUN"-the shun, I think it is-"that it must be no light this. The stores of history are accessible to every one; and temptation which will withdraw him from his incognito." Author. No light temptation, unquestionably; but this is a rowed from them, than the fountain is drained by the water powerful one, to hob-or-nob with the lords of the literary which we substract for domestic purposes. And in reply to the treasures of Althorpe and Hodnet, in Madeira negus, brewed by sober charge of falsehood, against a narrative announced posi the classical Dibdin-to share those profound debates which tively to be fictitious, one can only answer, by Prior's exclastamp accurately on each "small volume, dark with tarnished mation, gold," its collar, not of S. S. but of R. R.-to toast the immortal memory of Caxton, Valdarar, Pynson, and the other fathers of that great art which has made all, and each of us, what we are. These, my dear son, are temptations, to which you see me now in the act of resigning that quiet chimney-corner of life in which, unknowing and unknown-save by means of the hopeful family to which I have given birth-I proposed to wear out the end of life's evening gray.

So saying, our venerable friend took another emphatic touch of the tankard, as if the very expression had suggested that specific remedy against the evils of life, recommended in the celebrated response of Johnson's anchorite

"Come, my lad, and drink some beer."

When he had placed on the table the silver tankard, and fetched a deep sigh to collect the respiration which the long draught had interrupted, I could not help echoing it, in a note so pathetically compassionate, that he fixed his eyes on me with surprise. "How is this?" said he, somewhat angrily; "do you, the creature of my will, grudge me my preferment? Have I dedicated to you, and your fellows, the best hours of my life for these seven years past; and do you presume to grumble or repine, because, in those which are to come, I seek for some enjoyment of life in society so congenial to my pursuits?" I humbled myself before the offended Senior, and professed my innocence in all that could possibly give him displeasure. He seemed partly appeased, but still bent on me an eye of suspicion, while he questioned me in the words of old Norton, in the ballad of the Rising in the North Country."

Author. What wouldst thou have, Francis Norton 7
Thou art my youngest son and heir;
Something lies brooding at thy heart-
Whate'er it be, to me declare.

Dryasdust. Craving, then, your paternal forgiveness for my presumption, I only sighed at the possibility of your venturing yourself amongst a body of critics, to whom, in the capacity of skilful antiquaries, the investigation of truth is an especial duty, and who may therefore visit with the more severe censure those aberrations, which it is so often your pleasure to make from the path of true history.

Author. I understand you. You mean to say these learned persons will have but little toleration for a romance, or a fictitious narrative, founded upon history?

Dryasdust. Why, sir, I do rather apprehend, that their respect for the foundation will be such, that they may be apt to quarrel with the inconsistent nature of the superstructure; just as every classical traveller pours forth expressions of sorrow and

The author has pride in recording, that he had the honour to be elected a member of this distinguished association, merely as the Author of Waverley, without any other designation; and it was an additional indncement to throw off the mask of an anonymous author, that it gives him a right to occupy the vacant chair at that festive board.

"Odzooks, must one swear to the truth of a song 7"

Dryasdust. Nay; but I fear me that you are here eluding the charge. Men do not seriously accuse you of misrepresenting history; although I assure you I have seen some grave treatises, Author. That certainly was to point a discharge of artillery in which it was thought necessary to contradict your assertions. against a wreath of morning mist.

Dryasdust. But besides, and especially, it is said that you are tented with such frothy and superficial knowledge as they acin danger of causing history to be neglected-readers being conquire from your works, to the effect of inducing them to neglect the severer and more accurate sources of information.

Author. I deny the consequence. On the contrary, I rather hope that I have turned the attention of the public on various points, which have received elucidation from writers of more learning and research, in consequence of my novels having attached some interest to them. I might give instances, but I hate vanity-I hate vanity. The history of the divining rod is well known-it is a slight valueless twig in itself, but indicates, by its motion, where veins of precious metal are concealed below the earth, which afterwards enrich the adventurers by whom they are laboriously and carefully wrought. I claim no more Dryasdust. We severer antiquaries, sir, may grant that this is merit for my historical hints; but this is something. true; to wit, that your works may occasionally have put men hapa have otherwise thought of undertaking. But this will leave of solid judgment upon researches which they would not peryou still accountable for misleading the young, the indolent, and the giddy, by thrusting into their hands, works, which, while they have so much the appearance of conveying information, as may prove perhaps a salve to their consciences for employing their leisure in the perusal, yet leave their giddy brains contented with the crude, uncertain, and often false statements, which your novels abound with.

Author. It would be very unbecoming in me, reverend sir, to accuse a gentleman of your cloth of cant; but, pray, is there not something like it in the pathos with which you enforce busy and the youthful to "truths severe in fairy fiction dressthese dangers? I aver, on the contrary, that by introducing the ed," I am doing a real service to the more ingenious and the beginning-the least spark will give fire when the train is promore apt among them; for the love of knowledge wants but a perly prepared; and having been interested in fictitious adventures, ascribed to an historical period and characters, the

+ The Doctor has denied the author's title to shelter himself under this quotation: but the author continues to think himself entitled to all the shelter, which, threadbare as it is, it may yet be able to afford him. The truth severe applies not to the narrative itself, but to the moral it conveys, in which the author has not been thought deficient. The elucidate. "fairy fiction" is the conduct of the story which the tale is invented to

reader begins next to be anxious to learn what the facts really were, and how far the novelist has justly represented them. But even where the mind of the more careless reader remains satisfied with the light perusal he has afforded to a tale of fiction, he will still lay down the book with a degree of knowJedge, not perhaps of the most accurate kind, but such as he might not otherwise have acquired. Nor is this limited to minds of a low and incurious description; but, on the contrary, comprehends many persons otherwise of high talents, who, nevertheless, either from lack of time, or of perseverance, are willing to sit down contented with the slight information which is acquired in such a manner. The great Duke of Marlborough, for example, having quoted, in conversation, some fact of English history rather inaccurately, was requested to name his authority. "Shakspeare's Historical Plays," answered the conqueror of Blenheim; "the only English history I every read in my life." And a hasty recollection will couvince any of us how much better we are acquainted with those parts of English history which that immortal bard has dramatized, than with any other portion of British story.

Dryasdust. And you, worthy sir, are ambitious to render a similar service to posterity?

Author. May the saints forefend I should be guilty of such unfounded vanity! I only show what has been done when there were giants in the land. We pigmies of the present day, may at least, however, do something; and it is well to keep a pattern before our eyes, though that pattern be inimitable.

Dryasdust Well, sir, with me you must have your own course; and for reasons well known to you, it is impossible for me to reply to you in argument. But I doubt if all you have said will reconcile the public to the anachronisms of your present volumes. Here you have a Countess of Derby fetched out of her cold grave, and saddled with a set of adventures dated twenty years after her death, besides being given up as a Catholic, when she was in fact a zealous Huguenot

Author. She may sue me for damages, as in the case Dido versus Virgil.

Dryasdust. A worse fault is, that your manners are even more incorrect than usual. Your Puritan is faintly traced, in comparison to your Cameronian.

Author. I agree to the charge; but although I still consider hypocrisy and enthusiasm as fit food for ridicule and satire, yet I am sensible of the difficulty of holding fanaticism up to laughter or abhorrence, without using colouring which may give offence to the sincerely worthy and religious. Many things are lawful which we are taught are not convenient; and there are many tones of feeling which are too respectable to be insulted, though we do not altogether sympathize with them. Dryasdust. Not to mention, my worthy sir, that perhaps you may think the subject exhausted.

Author. The devil take the men of this generation for putting the worst construction on their neighbour's conduct! So saying, and flinging a testy sort of adieu towards me with his hand, he opened the door, and ran hastily down stairs. I started on my feet, and rang for my servant, who instantly came. I demanded what had become of the stranger-he denied that any such had been admitted-I pointed to the empty decanters, and he-he-he had the assurance to intimate that such vacancies were sometimes made when I had no better company than my own. I do not know what to make of this doubtful matter, but will certainly imitate your example, in placing this dialogue, with my present letter, at the head of PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. I am,

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