The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

382 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
could not even guess its cause, her surprise and resentment were extreme, —
nor w ere they much modified by the excuses and explanations of her
steward and butler. She made a hasty retreat homeward, extremely indignant at the shouts and laughter of the company, and much disposed to vent
her displeasure on the refractory agriculturist whose place Goose Gibbie
had so unhappily supplied. The greater part of the gentry now dispersed,
the whimsical mtisfortune which had befallen the gens d'armerie of Tillietudlem furnishing them with huge entertainment on their road homeward.
The horsemen also, in little parties, as their road lay together, diverged
from the place of rendezvous, excepting such as, having tried their dexterity at the popinjay, were, by ancient custom, obliged to partake of a
grace-cup with their captain before their departure.
At fairs he played before the spearmen,
And gaily graithled in their gear then,
Steel bonnets, pikes, and swords shone clear then
As ony bead;
Now whla sall play before sic weir men,
Since Habbie's dead!
ELEGY ON I.sBBIE SIMPSON.
Tnr cavalcade of horsemen on their road to the little borough town, were
preceded by Niel Blane, the town-piper, mounted on his white galloway,
armed with his dirk and broadsword, and bearing a chanter streaming
with as many ribbons as would deck out six country belles for a fair or
preaching. Niel, a clean, tight, well-timbered, long-winded fellow, had
gained the official situation of town-piper of- by his merit, with all
the emoluments thereof; —namely, the Piper's Croft, as it is still called, a
field of about an acre in extent; five merks, and a new livery-coat of the
town's colours, yearly; some hopes of a dollar upon the day of the election
of magistrates, providing the provost were able and willing to afford such a
gratuity; and the privilege of paying, at all the respectable houses in the
neighbourhood, an annual visit at spring-time, to rejoice their hearts with
his music, to comfort his own with their ale and brandy, and to beg from
each a modicum of seed-corn.
In addition to these inestimable advantages, Neil's personal, or professional, accomplishments won the heart of a jolly widow, who then kept
the principal change-house in the borough. Her former husband having
been a strict Presbyterian, of such note that he usually went among his
sect by the name of Gaius the publican, many of the more rigid were scandalized by the profession of the successor whom his relict had chosen for a
second helpmate. As the browst (or brewing) of the Howff retained, nevertheless, its unrivalled reputation, most of the old customers continued to
give it a preference. The character of the new landlord, indeed, was of
that accommodating kind, which enabled him, by close attention to the
helm, to keep his little vessel pretty steady amid the contending tides of
faction. - He was a good-humoured, shrewd, selfish sort of fellow, indifferent alike to the disputes about church and state, and only anxious to
secure the good-will of customers of every description. But his character,
as well as the state of the country, will be best understood by giving the
reader an account of the instructions which he issued to his daughter, a
girl about eighteen, whom he was initiating in those cares which had been