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.

'190 WAVERiLEY NOVELS.
"It's no for that," he replied, "for I fear nae' man -what for suld I?
— I speak nae treason — Only thae Ilielandmen hae lang grips, and I
whiles gang a wee bit up the glens to see some auld kinsfolks, and I wadna
willingly be in bad blude wi' ony o' their clans. Howsumever, to proceed
- Ye. maun understand I found my remarks on figures, whilk, as, Mr.
Owen here weel kens, is the only true demonstrable root of human knowledge."
Owen readily assented to'a proposition so much in his own way, and our
orator proceeded.
"These Hielands of ours, as we ca' them, gentlemen, are but a wild kind
of warld by themsells, full of heights and howes, woods, caverns, lochs,
irivers, and mountains, that it wad tire the very deevil's wings to flee to the
tap o' them. And in this country, and in the isles, whilk are little better,
or, to speak the truth, rather waur than the mainland, there are about twa
hundred and thirty parochines, including the Orkneys, where, whether they
speak Gaelic or no I wotna, but they are an uncivilized people. Now, sirs,
I sail haud ilk parochine at the moderate estimate of eight hunder examinable persons, deducting children under nine years of age, and then adding one-fifth to stand for bairns of nine years auld, and under, the whole
population will reach to the sum of- let us add one-fifth to 800 to be the
multiplier, and 230 being the multiplicand"
" The product," said Mr. Owen, who entered delightedly into these sta-'tistics of Mr. Jarvie, "will be 230,000."
"Right, sir -perfectly right; and the military array of this Hieland
country, were a' the men-folk between aughteen and fifty-six brought out
that could bear arms, couldna come weel short of fifty-seven thousand five
hundred men. Now, sir, it's a sad and awfu.' truth, that there is neither
wark, nor the very fashion nor appearance of wark, for the tae half of thae
puir creatures; that is to say, that the agriculture, the pasturage, the fisheries, and every species of honest industry about the country, cannot employ
the one m.oiety of the population, let them work as lazily as they like, and
they do work as if a pleugh or a spade burnt their fingers. Aweel, sir, this
moiety of unemployed bodies, amounting to "" To one hundred and fifteen, thousand souls," said Owen, "being the
half of the above product."
"Ye hae't, Maister Owen - ye hae't - whereof there may be twentyeight thousand seven hundred able-bodied gillies fit to bear arms, and that
do bear arms, and will touch or look at nae honest means of livelihood even
if they could get it - which, lack-a-day - they cannot."
" But is it possible," said I, " Mr. Jarvie, that this can be a just picture
of so large a portion of the island of Britain?"
" Sir, I'll make it as plain as Peter Pasley's pikestaff. I will' allow that
ilk parochine, on an average, employs fifty pleughs, whilk is a great proportion in sic miserable soil as thae creatures hae to labour, and that there
may be pasture enough for plough-horses, and owsen, and forty or fifty
cows; now, to take care o' the pleughs and cattle, we'se allow seventy-five
families of six lives in ilk family, and we'se add fifty mair to make even
numbers, and ye hae five hundred souls, the tae half o' the population,
employed'and maintained in a sort o' fashion, wi' some chance of sourmilk and crowdie; but I wad be glad to ken what the other five hunder are
to do?"
"In the name of God!" said I, "what do they do, Mr. Jarvie? It makes
me shudder to think of their situation."
"Sir," replied the Bailie, " ye wad maybe shudder mair if ye were living
near-hand them. For, admitting that the tae half of them may make some
little thing for them'sells' honestly in the Lowlands by shearing in harst,
druving, hay-making,, and the like; ye hae still mony hundreds and' thousands o' lang-legged Hieland gillies that will neither work nor want, and