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.

494 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
Madge, therefore, uninterrupted, went on with the wild, disjointed chat
which her rambling imagination suggested; a mood in which she was much
more communicative respecting her own history, and that of others, than
when there was any attempt made, by direct queries, or cross-examinations,
to extract information on these subjects.
"It's a queer thing," she said, "but whiles I can speak about the bit
bairn and the rest of it, just as if it had been another body's, and no my
ain; and whiles I am like to break my heart about it — Had you ever a
bairn, Jeanie?".
Jeanie replied in the negative.
" Ay; but your sister had, though-and I ken what came o't, too."
" In the name of heavenly mercy," said Jeanie, forgetting the line of conduct which she had hitherto adopted, "tell me but what became of that
unfortunate babe, and-"
Madge stopped, looked at her gravely and fixedly, and then broke into a
great fit of laughing-" Aha, lass, catch me if you can — I'think it's-easy to
gar you trow ony thing. — How suld I ken ony thing o' your sister's wean?
Lasses suld hae naething to do wi' weans till they are married-and then a'
the gossips and cummers come in and feast as if it were the blithest day in
the warld. - They say maidens' bairns are weel guided. I wot that wasna
true of your tittie's and mine; but these are sad tales to tell.-I maun just
sing a bit to keep up my heart-It's a sang that Gentle George made on me
lang synce, when I went with him to Lockington wake, to see him act upon
a stage, in fine clothes, with the player folk. IHe might hae dune waur
than married me that night, as he promised- better wed over the mixen*
as over the moor, as they say in Yorkshire -he may gang farther and fare
waur-but that's a' ane to the sang, —
"I'm Madge of the country, I'm Madge of the town,
And I'm-Madge of the lad I ant blithest to. ownThe Lady of Beeve in diamonds may shine,
But has not a heart half so lightsome as mine.
"I am Queen of the Wake, and I'm Lady of May,
And I lead the blithe ring round the May-pole to-day;
The wild-fire that flashes so fair and so free,
Was never so bright, or so bonny, as mne.
"I like that the best o' a' my sangs," continued the maniac, "because he
made it. I am often singing it, and that's maybe the reason folk ca' me
Madge Wildfire. I aye answer to the name, though it's no my ain, for
what's the use of making a fash?"
"But ye shouldna sing upon the Sabbath at least," said Jeanie, who, amid all
her distress and anxiety, could not help being scandalized at the deportment
of her companion, especially as they now approached near to the little village.
"Ay! is this Sunday?" said Madge. " My mother leads sic a life, wi'
turning night into day, that ane loses a' count o' the days o' the week, and
disna ken Sunday frae Saturday. Besides, it's a' your whiggery — in England, folk sings when they like —And then, ye ken, you are Christiana and
I am Mercy-and ye ken, as they went on their way, they sang."-And she
immediately raised one of John Bunyan's ditties: -
" He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low no pride,
MHe that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.
"Fulness to such a burden is
That go on pilgrimage; -
Here little, and hereafter bliss
Is best from age to age.
"And do ye ken, Jeanie, I think there's much truth in that book, the
Pilgrim's Progress. The boy that sings that song was feeding his father's
sheep in the Valley of Humiliation, and Mr. Great-heart says, that he lived
o A homely proverb, signifying better wed a neighbour than one fetched from a distance.- Mixen signifies
dunghill.