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.

THE ANTIQ aUARY. 99
although a broad glade opened here and there under their boughs, or a
small patch of bog or heath occurred which had refused nourishment to
the seed which they sprinkled round, and consequently remained open and
waste, the scene might on the whole be termed decidedly woodland. The
sides of the valley began to approach each other more closely; the rush of
a brook was heard below, and between the intervals afforded by openings
in the natural wood, its waters were seen hurling clear and rapid under
their silvan canopy.
Oldlbuck now took upon himself the full authority of cicerone, and
anxiously directed the company not to go a foot-breadth off the track which
he pointed out to them, if they wished to enjoy in full perfection what they
came to see. " You are happy in me for a guide, Miss Wardour," exclaimed
the veteran, waving his hand and head in cadence as he repeated with emphasis,
"I iknow each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,
And every bosky bower froin side to side.
Ahk! deuce take it! — that spray of a bramble has demolished all Caxon's
labours, and nearly canted my wig into the stream -so much for recitations, hors de propos."
Never mind, my deaif sir," said Miss Wardour; " you have your faithful attendant ready to repair such a disaster when it happens, and when
you appear with it as restored to its original splendour, I will carry on the
quotation:
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames on the forehead"' —
"0! enough, enough!" answered Oldbuck; "I ought to have known
what it was to give you advantage over me —But here is what will stop
your career of satire, for you are an admirer of nature, I know." In fact,
when they had followed him through a breach in a low, ancient, and ruinous wall, they came suddenly upon a scene equally unexpected and interesting.
They stood pretty high upon the side of the glen, which had suddenly
opened into a sort of amphitheatre to give room for a pure and profound
lake of a few acres extent, and a space of level ground around it. The
banks then arose everywhere steeply, and in some places were varied by
rocks -in others covered with the copse, which run up, feathering their
si ies lightly and irregularly, and breaking the uniformity of the green
p,;sture-ground. —Beneath, the lake discharged itself into the huddling
and tumultuous brook, which had been their companion since they had
entered the glen. At the point at which it issued from " its parent lake,"
stood the ruins which thev had come to visit. They were not of great extent; but the singular beauty, as well as the wild and sequestered character
of the spot on which they were situated, gave them an interest and importance superior to that which attaches itself to architectural remains of
greater consequence, but placed near to ordinary houses, and possessing
less romantic accompaniments. The eastern window of the church remained entire, with all its ornaments and tracery work; and the sides,
upheld by flying buttresses, whose airy support, detached from the wall
against which they were placed, and ornamented with pinnacles and carved
work, gave a variety and lightness to the building. The roof and western
end of the church were completely ruinous; but the latter appeared to have
made one side of a square, of which the ruins of the conventual buildings
formed other two, and the gardens a fourth. The side of these buildings
which overhung the brook, was partly founded on a steep and precipitous
rock; for the place had been occasionally turned to military purposes, and
had been taken with great slaughter during Montrose's wars. The ground