Read Ebook: Notes and Queries Index to Ninth Volume January-June 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men Artists Antiquaries Genealogists etc. by Various Bell George Editor

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"We shall mak naething mair out o' her," said Ochiltree; "when she has clinkit herself down that way, and faulded her arms, she winna speak a word, they say, for weeks thegither. And besides, to my thinking, her face is sair changed since we came in. However, I'll try her once more to satisfy your honour. So you canna keep in mind, cummer, that your auld mistress, the Countess Joscelin, has been removed?"

"Removed!" she exclaimed, for that name never failed to produce its usual effect upon her, "then we maun a' follow. A' maun ride when she is in the saddle: tell them to let Lord Geraldin know we're on before them. Bring my hood and scarf; ye wadna hae me gang in the carriage wi' my leddy, and my hair in this fashion?" She raised her shrivelled arms, and seemed busied like a woman who puts on her cloak to go abroad, then dropped them slowly and stiffly; and the same idea of a journey still floating apparently through her head, she proceeded in a hurried and interrupted manner-"Call Miss Neville; what do you mean by Lady Geraldine? I said Eveline Neville-not Lady Geraldine-there's no Lady Geraldine; tell her that, and bid her change her wet gown, and no' look so pale. Teresa-Teresa, my lady calls us! Bring a candle, the grand staircase is as mirk as a yule midnight. We are coming, my lady!" With these words she sunk back on the settle, and from thence sidelong to the floor. Edie ran to support her, but hardly got her in his arms before he said, "It's a' ower, she has passed away even with that last word."

Mr Cruikshank has portrayed with his wonted humour the amusing scene at the Post-Office, in which Mrs Heukbane and Mrs Shortcake are examining, with eager countenances, the love-letter of Richard Taffrail to Jenny Caxon. They threw themselves on the supposed love-letter, like the weird sisters in Macbeth, upon the pilot's thumb, with curiosity as eager, and scarcely less malignant. Mrs Heukbane was a tall woman; she held the precious epistle up between her eyes and the window. Mrs Shortcake, a little squat personage, strained and stood on tiptoe to have her share of the investigation. "It's frae him sure enough," said the butcher's lady; "I can read Richard Taffrail on the corner; and it's written, like John Thomson's wallet, frae end to end.'

"Haud it lower down, madam," exclaimed Mrs Shortcake, in a tone above the prudential whisper which their occupation required; "haud it lower down; div ye think naebody can read hand o' writ but yoursel'?"

"Whisht, whisht," said Mrs Mail-letter, "there's somebody in the shop."

ROB ROY,

THE romance of "Rob Roy" was composed in 1817, and published in January of the following year. An edition of 10,000 disappeared in two weeks, when a second impression was printed. Rob Roy and his wife, Bailie Nicol Jarvie and his housekeeper, Die Vernon and Rashleigh Osbaldistone, were all favourite characters; and the novel essentially sustained the reputation of the "unknown" author. In the accompanying engraving, Mr Melville has represented the lower section of Loch Lomond, the Queen of Scottish lakes. On the right is presented the massive shoulder of Ben Lomond, which raises its lofty head 3192 feet above the ocean's level, while on the left extend the craggy forms of the Arrochar mountains. With the promise of mutual aid and good will, Bailie Nicol Jarvie and Frank Osbaldistone have parted with the Macgregor, and in their skiff bear away from the shore towards the south western angle of the lake, where it gives birth to the Leven. Rob Roy remained for some time standing on the rock, from beneath which they had departed, conspicuous by his long gun, waving tartans, and the single plume in his cap, which, in those days, denoted the Highland gentleman and soldier, though the present military taste has decorated the Highland bonnet with a quantity of black plumage, resembling that which is borne before funerals.

OLD MORTALITY.

In the sketch of the "Black Linn of Linklater," the artist has caught the moment when Morton looked round him, and the girl, his companion, pulled his sleeve, and pointing to the oak and the projecting rock beyond it, indicated that there lay his farther passage. "He gazed at her with surprise, for although he well knew that the persecuted Presbyterians had sought refuge among dells and thickets, caves and cataracts, in spots the most extraordinary and secluded, yet his imagination had never exactly figured out the horrors of such a residence..... He began to consider how he should traverse the doubtful and terrific bridge, which, skirted by the cascade, and rendered wet and slippery by its constant drizzling, traversed the chasm above sixty feet from the bottom of the fall Fixing his eye on a stationary object on the other side he resolved to attempt the passage...." The inhabitant of this secluded retreat was Balfour of Burley, with whom he was desirous of renewing an acquaintance, which had been broken off since the fight of Bothwell Bridge.

The scene of "Cuddie's leave-taking" has formed an appropriate subject for the pencil of Mr Cruikshank. "Fare ye weel, Jenny," said Cuddie, with a loud exertion of his lungs, intended, perhaps, to be a sigh, but rather resembling a groan. "Ye'll think of puir Cuddie sometimes; an honest lad that lo'es ye, Jenny! Ye'll think o' him now and then?"

"Whiles-at brose time," answered the malicious damsel, unable either to suppress the repartee, or the arch smile that attended it. Cuddie took his revenge, as rustic lovers are wont, and as Jenny probably expected, caught his mistress round the neck, kissed her cheeks and lips heartily, and then turned his horse and trotted after his master. "Deil'sin the fallow," said Jenny, wiping her lips, and adjusting her head-dress, "he has twice the spunk o' Tam Halliday, after a'!-Coming, my leddy, coming. Lord have a care o' us! I trust the auld leddy didna see us!"

"Jenny," said Lady Margaret, as the damsel came up, "was not that young man who commanded the party, the same who was captain of the popinjay, and who was afterwards prisoner at Tillietudlem, on the morning Claverhouse came there?" Jenny, happy that the query had no reference to her own little matters, looked at her young mistress, to discover, if possible, whether it was her cue to speak truth or not. Being unable to catch any hint to guide her, she followed her instinct, and expressed herself fictitiously.

A LEGEND OF MONTROSE,

THIS novel, one of the series of the "Tales of my Landlord," was produced while the author was suffering from severe illness; and it was passed through the press without his revision. It was, however, well received by the public, and rapidly obtained a wide circulation. It is chiefly founded on the melancholy fate of John, Lord Kilpont, eldest son of William, Earl of Airth and Menteith, and the remarkable circumstances which attended the birth and career of Stewart of Ardvoirlich, by whose hand he fell.

In the accompanying sketch, the artist has represented the meeting of Lord Menteith and Dugald Dalgetty in the Pass of Leny, a picturesque defile in Perthshire, of which the scenery is depicted in the "Lady of the Lake."

"The Pass" is approached from the low country by a road winding round the base of Benledi. At a sudden bend of the road is disclosed Loch Lubnaig, the source of the river which flows rapidly on the left. In the background rises the massive summit of Benmore, overtopping the heights of Balquhidder. Lord Menteith, accompanied by his two servants, one leading a sumpter horse, had just wound round the projecting mountain, which skirts the lake's northern shore, when he remarked a single horseman coming down the shore as if to meet him. The stranger was mounted on a powerful horse, and his rider occupied his war-saddle with an air which showed it was his familiar seat. He wore a bright burnished head-piece with a plume of feathers, together with a cuirass, thick enough to resist a musket-ball. These defensive arms he wore over a buff-jerkin, along with a pair of gauntlets, the tops of which reached to his elbows. At the front of his saddle hung a case of pistols, nearly two feet in length, and carrying bullets of twenty to the pound. A buff belt, with a broad silver buckle, sustained on one side a long, straight, double-edged sword, with a strong guard, and calculated either to strike or push. On the right side hung a dagger of about eighteen inches in length; a shoulder-belt sustained at his back a musketoon, and was crossed by a bandalier containing his charges of ammunition. Thigh-pieces of steel called taslets, met the top of his jack-boots, and completed the equipage of Rittmaster Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket.

Mr Cruikshank represents Captain Dalgetty's landing at Ardenvohr. The boatman, seizing the Captain with rough civility, horsed him on the back of a sturdy Highlander, and wading through the surf with him, landed him on the beach under the Castle Rock. In the face of the rock appeared the entrance of a low-browed cavern, toward which his attendants were hurrying him, when Dalgetty, shaking himself from their grasp, insisted upon seeing Gustavus, his horse, safely landed, before he proceeded a step further. The Highlander could not comprehend what he meant, until one who had picked up a little English, exclaimed, "Hout! it's a' about her horse, ta useless baste." Farther remonstrance on the part of Dalgetty was interrupted by the appearance of Sir Duncan Campbell himself, from the mouth of the cavern, for the purpose of inviting Captain Dalgetty to accept of the hospitality of Ardenvohr, pledging his honour, at the same time, that Gustavus should be treated as became the hero from whom he derived his name, not to mention the important person to whom he now belonged. Notwithstanding this very satisfactory guarantee, Captain Dalgetty would still have hesitated, had not two Highlanders seized him by the arms, two more pushed him on behind, while a fifth exclaimed, "Hout! awa' wi' the daft Sassenach! does she no hear the Laird bidding her up to her ain castle, wi' her especial voice; and isna' that very mickle honour for the like o' her?"

THE BLACK DWARF,

"For Heaven's sake, no," said Earnscliff, holding down the weapon, which he was about to raise to the aim; "for Heaven's sake, no; it's some poor distracted creature."

In his etching Mr George Cruikshank has effectively represented the strange interview between Hobbie Elliott and the Dwarf. It is described by the novelist. "The Dwarf turned his rage on the young farmer, and by a sudden effort, far more powerful than Hobbie expected from such a person, freed his wrist from his grasp, and offered the dagger at his heart All this was done in the twinkling of an eye, and the incensed recluse might have completed his vengeance by plunging the weapon in Elliott's bosom, had he not been checked by an internal impulse, which made him hurl the knife at a distance. 'No! he exclaimed, as he voluntarily deprived himself of the means of gratifying his rage; 'not again-not again!' Hobbie retreated a step or two in great surprise, discomposure, and disdain, at having been placed in such danger by an object apparently so contemptible, exclaiming, 'The deil's in the body, for strength and bitterness!'"

THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN.

THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN, one of the most popular of the Waverley novels, appeared in June 1818. It is founded on the well-known incident of Helen Walker, a woman in humble life, who refused to save her sister's life when it rested upon her oath, but who, after her sister's condemnation, undertook a foot journey to London, where, from the Duke of Argyll, she procured a pardon and returned with it, again on foot, in time to stay the execution.

The accompanying illustration represents the death of Captain Porteous, a leading event in the novel. The scene depicted is the Grassmarket of Edinburgh. The opening to the right is the Cowgate, near which Porteous was hanged. Beyond is Edinburgh Castle, occupying the summit of the lofty rock which rises precipitously above the houses of the Old Town. The mob having ascertained that the sentence of death passed upon Captain Porteous would not be carried out, resolved to become his executioners themselves; and bursting the prison doors, seized on the unfortunate officer, whom they hurried to the place of execution. While a gibbet was being prepared, Butler, the clergyman who had been pressed into the service of the mob, endeavoured to dissuade them from their desperate design. Porteous protested that what he had done fell out in self-defence, in the lawful exercise of his duty; but the enraged multitude were determined on his destruction. Separated from the unhappy victim by the press, Butler hastened from the spot, and casting back a terrified glance, discovered a figure struggling as it hung suspended above the heads of the multitude, and could observe men striking at it with their axes.

Our other illustration is of a humorous character. Mr Cruikshank represents the visit of the Laird of Dumbiedykes to Jeanie Deans. When a change of residence, from Woodend to St Leonard's Crags, was resolved upon, Jeanie concluded that she would be released from the visits of Dumbiedykes, but in this expectation she was disappointed; for, on the sixth day after her arrival, the laird appeared at St Leonard's, laced hat, tobacco pipe, and all, and, with the self-same greeting of "How is a' wi' you, Jeanie?" assuming nearly the same position as at Woodend. With an unusual exertion of the powers of conversation, he added, "Jeanie-I say-Jeanie, woman!" at the same time extending his hand towards her shoulder, with all the fingers spread out as if to clutch it, but in so awkward a manner, that when she whisked beyond its reach, the paw remained suspended in the air with the palm open, like the claw of a heraldic griffin. "Jeanie," continued the swain, in this moment of inspiration, "I say, Jeanie, it's a braw day out-by, and the roads are no that ill for boot-hose."

"The deil's in that driv'ling body," muttered Jeanie, "wha wad hae thought o' his daunerin' out this length?" for the landed proprietor looked so unco gleg and canty, that she didna ken what he might be coming out wi' next.

THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR.

The accompanying illustration represents Fast Castle, the original of Wolf's Crag, of which the proprietors, the Logans and Humes, were conspicuous in Scottish history. Margaret of England, on her way to join her husband, James IV, at Edinburgh, lodged a night in the castle. "Yonder is Wolf's Crag," said Ravenswood, "and whatever it still contains is at your service, Bucklaw." The roar of the sea had long announced their approach to the cliff, on the summit of which, like the nest of some sea-eagle, the founder of the fortalice had perched his eyrie. The pale moon, which had hitherto been contending with flitting clouds, now shone out, and gave them a view of the solitary and naked tower, situated on a projecting cliff that beetled on the German Ocean. On three sides the rock was precipitous; on the fourth, which was towards the land, it had been originally fenced by an artificial ditch and drawbridge, but the latter was broken down and ruinous, and the former had been in part filled up, so as to allow a passage for a horseman into the narrow courtyard, encircled on two sides by low offices and stables partly ruinous, and closed on the landward front by a low embattled wall, while the remaining side of the quadrangle was occupied by the tower, built of a greyish stone, glimmering in the moonlight like the sheeted spectre of some huge giant. A wilder or more disconsolate dwelling, it was perhaps difficult to conceive. The sombrous and heavy sound of the billows successively dashing against a rocky beach at a profound distance beneath, was to the ear what the landscape was to the eye, a symbol of unvaried and monotonous melancholy.

Mr Cruikshank has successfully depicted the humorous spectacle of Caleb Balderstone snatching provisions for his master's table. Dame Lightbody expected a number of guests to the christening of her "bit wean," when Caleb entered. There bubbled on the bickering fire a huge caldron, while before it revolved two spits, one loaded with a quarter of mutton, the other with a fat goose and a brace of wild ducks. Caleb turned to reconnoitre as the mother and grandmother hastened to attend the hero of the evening in a remote corner. Sending one of the youthful turnspits for "snishing," Caleb, not apprehending danger from the other, lifted up the spit bearing the wild-fowl, put on his hat, and marched off with the plunder. The boy at the spit was so bewildered that he became motionless, and suffered the mutton to burn as black as a coal.

IVANHOE.

IVANHOE was Scott's first attempt to depict the manners and incidents of old English life, and the effort was hailed with universal delight An impression of 12,000 copies was immediately disposed of.

END OF THE NINTH VOLUME.

Printed by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 10. Stonefield Street, in the Parish of St. Mary, Islington, at No. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of London; and published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London, Publisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.

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