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.

488 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
the Captain's old employer towards him was by some supposed to arise out
of certain circumstances attending their former connexion; but as the
Clerk himself never explained what these were, it is unnecessary to make
any conjectures upon the subject.
Richard Middlemas very naturally renewed his intimacy with his former
comrade, and it was from IIillary's conversation, that he had adopted the
enthusiasm respecting India, which we have heard him express. It was
indeed impossible for a youth, at once inexperienced in the world, and possessed of a most sanguine disposition, to listen without sympathy to the
glowing descriptions of Hillary, who, though only a recruiting captain, had
all the eloquence of a recruiting sergeant. Palaces rose like mushrooms in
his descriptions; groves of lofty trees, and aromatic shrubs unknown to the
chilly soils of Europe, were tenanted by every object of the chase, from the
royal tiger down to the jackal. The luxuries of a natch, and the peculiar
Oriental beauty of the enchantresses who perfumed their voluptuous Eastern
domes, for the pleasure of the haughty English conquerors, were no less
attractive than the battles and sieges on which the Captain at other times
expatiated. Not a stream did he mention but flowed over sands of gold,
and not a palace that was inferior to those of the celebrated Fata Morgana.
His descriptions seemed steeped in odours, and his every phrase perfumed
in ottar of roses. The interviews at which these descriptions took place,
often ended in a bottle of choicer wine than the Swan Inn afforded, with
some other appendages of the table, which the Captain, who was a bonvivant, had procured from Edinburgh. From this good cheer Middlemas
was doomed to retire to the homely evening meal of his master, where not
all the simple beauties of Menie were able to overcome his disgust at the
coarseness of the provisions, or his unwillingness to answer questions concerping the diseases of the wretched peasants who were subjected to his
inspection.
Richard's hopes of being acknowledged by his father had long since vanished, and the rough repulse and subsequent neglect on the part of Monqada, had satisfied him that his grandfather was inexorable, and that neither
then, nor at any future time, did he mean to realize the visions which Nurse
Jamieson's splendid figments had encouraged him to entertain. Ambition,
however, was not lulled to sleep, though it was no longer nourished by the
same hopes which had at first awakened it. The Indian Captain's lavish
oratory supplied the themes which had been at first derived from the legends
of the nursery; the exploits of a Lawrence and a Clive, as well as the nmagnificent opportunities of acquiring wealth to which these exploits opened
the road, disturbed the slumbers of the young adventurer. There was
nothing to counteract these except his love for Menie Gray, and the engagements into which it had led him. But his addresses had been paid to Menie
as much for the gratification of his vanity, as from any decided passion for
that innocent and guileless being. He was desirous of carrying off the
prize, for which Hartley, whom he never loved, had the courage to contend
with him. Then Menie Gray had been beheld with admiration by men his
superiors in rank and fortune, but with whom his ambition incited him to
dispute the prize. No doubt, though urged to play the gallant at first
rather from vanity than any other cause, the frankness and modesty with
which his suit was admitted, made their natural impression on his heart.
lIe was grateful to the beautiful creature, who acknowledged the superiority
of his person and accomplishments, and fancied himself as devotedly attached to her, as her personal charms and mental merits would have rendered any one who was less vain or selfish than her lover. Still his passion
for the surgeon's daughter ought not, he prudentially determined, to bear
more than its due weight in a case so very important as the determining his
line of life; and this he smoothed over to his conscience, by repeating to
himself, that Menie's interest was as essentially concerned as his own, in