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.

350 WAVERLEY NOVELS-.
first. Some people were of opinion, that Douce Davie had been rather surprised into this step, for in general, he was no friend to marriages or giving
in marriage, and seemed rather to regard that state of society as a necessary
evil, —a thing lawful, and to be tolerated in the imperfect state of our nature, but which clipped the wings with which we ought to soar upwards,
and tethered the soul to its mansion of clay, and the creature-comforts of
wife and bairns. His own practice, however, had in this material point
varied from his principles, since, as we have seen, he twice knitted for himself this dangerous and ensnaring entanglement.
Rebecca, his spouse, had by no means the same horror of matrimony, and
as she made marriages in imagination for every neighbour round, she failed
not to indicate a match betwixt Dumbiedikes and her step-daughter Jeanie.
The good-man used regularly to frown and pshaw whenever this topic was
touched upon, but usually ended by taking his bonnet and walking out of
the house to conceal a certain gleam of satisfaction, which, at such a suggestion, involuntarily diffused itself over his austere features.
The more youthful part of my readers may naturally ask, whether Jeanie
Deans was deserving of this mute attention of the Laird of Dumbiedikes;
and the historian, with due regard to veracity, is compelled to answer, that
her personal attractions were of no uncommon description. She was short,
and rather too stoutly made for her size,had, grey eyes, light coloured hair,
a round good-humoured face, much tanned with the sun, and her only
peculiar charm was an air of inexpressible serenity, which a good conscience, kind feelings, contented temper, and the regular discharge of all
her duties, spread over her features. There was nothing, it may be supposed, very appalling in the form or manners of this rustic heroine; yet,
whether from sheepish bashfulness, or from want of decision and imperfect
knowledge of his own mind on the subject, the Laird of Dumbiedikes, with
his old laced hat and empty tobacco-pipe, cam'e and enjoyed the beatific
vision of Jeanie Deans day after day, week after week, year after year,
without proposing to accomplish any of the prophecies of the step-mother.
This good lady began to grow doubly impatient on the subject, when,
after having been some years married, she herself presented Douce Davie
with another daughter, who was named Euphemia, by corruption, Effie. It
was then that Rebecca began to turn impatient with the slow pace at which
the Laird's wooing proceeded, judiciously arguing, that, as Lady Dumbiedikes would have but little occasion for tocher, the principal part of her
gudeman's substance would naturally descend to the child by the second
marriage. Other step-dames have tried less laudable means for clearing the
way to the succession of their own children; but Rebecca, to do her justice,
only sought little Effie's advantage through the promotion, or which must
have generally been accounted such, of her elder sister, She therefore tried
every female art within the compass of her simple skill, to bring the Laird
to a point; but had the mortification to perceive that her efforts, like those
of an unskilful angler, only scared the trout she meant to catch. Upon one
occasion, in particular, when she joked with the Laird on the propriety of
giving a mistress to the house of Dumbiedikes, he was so effectually startled,
that neither laced hat, tobacco-pipe, nor the intelligent proprietor of these
moveables, visited Woodend for a fortnight. Rebecca was therefore compelled to leave the Laird to proceed at his own snail's pace, convinced, by
experience, of the grave-digger's aphorism, that your dull ass will not mend
his pace for beating.
Reuben, in the meantime, pursued his studies at the university, supplying
his wants by teaching the younger lads the knowledge he himself acquired,
and thus at once gaining the means of maintaining himself at the seat of
learning, and fixing in his mind the elements of what he had already ob-.
tained. In this manner, as is usual among the poorer students of divinity at
Scottish universities, he contrived not only to maintain himself according to