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.

ROB ROY. 199
thing we saw none, except occasionally a few straggling sheep of a strange
diversity of colours, as black, bluish, and orange. The sable hue predominated, however, in their faces and legs. The very birds seemed to shun
these wastes, and no wonder, since they had an easy method of escaping
from'hem; —at least I only heard the monotonous and plaintive cries of
the lapwing and the. curlew, which my companions denominated the peasweep and whaup.
At dinner, however, which we took about noon, at a most miserable alehouse, we had: the good fortune to find that these tiresome screamers of the
morass were not the only inhabitants of the moors. The goodwife told us,
that " the gudeman had been at the hill;" and well for us that he had been
so, for we enjoyed the produce of his chasse in the shape of some broiled
moor game, -a dish which gallantly eked out the ewe-milk cheese, dried
salmon, and oaten bread, being all besides that the house afforded. Some
very indifferent two-penny ale, and a glass of excellent brandy, crowned our
repast; and a.s our horses had, in the meantime, discussed their corn, we
resumed our journey with renovated vigour.
I had need of all the spirits a good dinner could give, to resist the dejection which crept insensibly on my mind, when I combined the strange
uncertainty of my errand with the disconsolate aspect of the country through
which it was leading me. Our road continued to be, if possible, more waste
and wild than that we had travelled in the forenoon. The few miserable
hovels that showed some marks of human habitation, were now of still rarer
occurrence; and at length, as we began to ascend an interrupted swell of
moor-land, they totally disappeared. The only exercise which my imagination received was, when some particular turn of the road gav.e us a partial
view, to the left, of a large assemblage of dark-blue mountains stretching to
the north and north-west, which promised to include within their recesses, a
country as wild perhaps, but certainly differing greatly in point of interest,
from that which we now travelled. The peaks of this screen of mountains
were as wildly varied and distinguished, as the hills which we had seen on
the right were tame and lumpish; and while I gazed on this Alpine region,
I felt a longing to explore its recesses, though accompanied with toil and
danger, similar to that which a sailor feels when he wishes for the risks
and animation of a battle or a gale, in exchange for the insupportable monotony of a protracted calm. I made various inquiries of my friend Mr. Jarvie,
respecting the names and positions of these remarkable mountains; but it
was a subject on which he had no information, or did not choose to-be communicative. "They're the Hieland hills- the Hieland hills-Ye'll see and
hear eneugh about them bfefore ye see Glasgow Cross again -I downa look at
them —I never see them but they gar me grew. It's no for fear no for
fear, but just for grief, for the puir blinded half-starved creatures that
inhabit them - But say nae mair about it-it's ill- speaking o' Hielandmen
sae. near the line. I hae ken'd mony an honest man wad na hae ventured
this length without he had made his last will and testament - Mattie had
ill-will to see me set awa on this ride, and grat awee, the sillie tawpie; but
it's nae mair ferlie to see a woman greet than to see a goose gang barefit."
I next attempted to lead the discourse on the character and history of the
person whom we were going to visit; but on this' 1t~opic' Mr. Jarvie.was
totally inaccessible, owing perhaps in part to the attendance of Mr. Andrew
Fairservice, who chose to keep so close in our rear that his ears could not
fail to catch every word which was spoken, while his tongue assumed the
freedom of mingling in our conversation as often as he saw an opportunity.
For this he occasionally incurred Mr. Jarvie's reproof.
"Keep back, sir, as best sets ye," said the Bailie, as Andrew pressed forward to catch the answer to some question I had asked about Campbell;-'" ye wad fain ride- the fore-horse, an ye wist how. -That chield's aye for
being out o' the cheese-fat he was moulded in. - Now, as for your questions,