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 R-OY. 259
himself with intimating, "that he hoped the leddy would be soon in a
quieter country than this was like to be for one while." I was obliged to be
content with this answer, and to proceed in the hope that accident might,
as on a former occasion, stand my friend, and allow me at least the sad
gratification of bidding farewell to the object which had occupied such a
share of my affections, so much beyond even what I had supposed, till I
was about to be separated from her for ever.
We pursued the margin of the lake for about six English miles, through
a devious and beautifully variegated path, until we attained a sort of Highland farmi, or assembly of hamlets, near the head of that fine sheet of
water, called, if I mistake not, Lediart, or some such name. Here a
numerous party of MacGregor's men were stationed in order, to receive us.
The taste, as well as the eloquence of tribes in a savage, or, to speak more
properly, in a rude state, is usually just, because it is unfettered by system
and affectation; and of this I had an example in the choice these mountaineers had made of a place to receive their guests. It has been said that
a British monarch would judge well to receive.the embassy of a rival power
in the cabin of a man-of-war; and a Highland leader acted with some
propriety in choosing a situation where the natural objects of grandeur
proper to his country might have their full effect on the minds of his
guests. /
We ascended about two hundred yards from the shores of the lake,
guided by a brawling brook, and left on the right hand four or five Highland huts, with patches of arable land around them, so small as to show
that they must have been worked with the spade rather than the plough,
cut as it were out of the surrounding copsewood, and waving with crops of
barley and oats. Above this limited space the hill became more steep; and
on its edge we descried the glittering arms and waving drapery of about
fifty of MacGregor's followers. They were stationed on a spot, the recollection of which yet strikes me with admiration. The brook, hurling its
waters downwards from the mountain, had in this spot encountered a barrier rock, over which it had made its way by two distinct leaps. The first
fall, across which a magnificent old oak, slanting out from the farther bank,
partly extended itself as if to shroud'the dusky stream of the cascade,
might be about twelve feet high; the broken waters were received in a
beautiful stone basin, almost as regular as if hewn by a sculptor; and after
wheeling around its flinty margin, they made a second precipitous dash,
through a dark and narrow chasm, at least fifty feet in depth, and from
thence, in a bhurried, but comparatively a more gentle course, escaped to
join the lake.
With the natural taste which belongs to mountaineers, and especially to
the Scottish Highlanders, whose feelings, I have observed, are often allied
with the romantic and poetical, Rob Roy's wife and followers had prepared
our morning repast in a scene well calculated to impress -strangers with
some feelings of awe. They are also naturally a grave and proud people,
and, however rude in our estimation, carry their ideas of form and politeness to an excess that would appear overstrained, except from the demonstration of superior force which accompanies the display of it; for it must
be granted that the air of punctilious deference and rigid etiquette which
would seem ridiculous in an ordinary peasant, has, like the salute of a
corps-de-garde, a propriety when tendered by a Highlander completely
armed. There was, accordingly, a good deal of formality in our approach
and reception.
Tbhe Highlanders, who had been dispersed on the side of the hill, drew
themnselves together when we came in view, and, standing firm and motionles i, appeared in close column behind three figures, whom I soon recognised
to; be Helen MacGregor and'her two sons. MacGregor himself arranged
his attendants in the rear, and, requesting Mr. Jarvie to dismount where