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.

436 WAVERLEY NOYELS.
loyal a servant of his sacred Majesty; when, in short, all forms of hospitable
and polite ritual had been duly complied with, the Colonel requested permission to receive the report of Bothwell, who was now in attendance, and
with whom he spoke apart for a few minutes. Major Bellenden took that
opportunity to say to his niece, without the hearing of her grandmother,
"What a trifling foolish girl you are, Edith, to send me by express a letter
crammed with nonsense about books and gowns, and to slide the only thing
I cared a marvedie about into the postscript 1"
" I did not know," said Edith, hesitating very much, " whether it would
be quite-quite proper for me to""I know what you would say - whether it would be right to take any
interest in a presbyterian. But I knew this lad's father well. He was a
brave soldier; and, if he was once wrong, he was once right too. I must
commend your caution, Edith, for having said nothing of this young gentleman's affair to your grandmother - you may rely on it I shall not - I will
take an opportunity to speak to Claver'se. Come, my love, they are going
to breakfast. Let us follow them."
Their breakfast so warm to be sure they did eat,
A custom in travelers mighty discreet.
PRIOR.
Tumx breakfast of Lady Margaret Bellenden no more resembled a modern
d&jetin6, than the great stone hall at Tillietudlem could brook comparison
with a modern drawing-room. No tea, no coffee, no variety of rolls, but
solid and substantial viands, -the priestly ham, the knightly sirloin, the
noble baron of beef, the princely venison pastry; while silver flagons, saved
with difficulty from the claws of the Covenanters, now mantled, some with
ale, some with mead, and some with generous wino of various qualities and
descriptions. The appetites of the guests were in correspondence to the
magnificence and solidity of the preparation,-no piddling-no boy's-play,
but that steady and persevering exercise of the jaws which is best learned
by early morning hours, and by occasional hard commons.
Lady Margaret beheld with delight the cates which she had provided
descending with. such alacrity into the persons of her honoured guests, and
had little occasion to exercise, with respect to any of the company saving
Claverhouse himself, the compulsory urgency of pressing to eat, to which,
as to the peine forte et dure, the ladies of that period were in the custom of
subjecting their guests.
But the leader himself, more anxious to pay courtesy to Miss Bellenden,
next whom he was placed, than to gratify his appetite, appeared somewhat
negligent of the good cheer set before him. Edith heard, without reply,
many courtly speeches addressed to her, in a tone of voice of that happy
modulation which could alike melt in the low tones of interesting conversation, and rise amid the din of battle, "loud as a trumpet with a silver
sound." The sense that she was in the presence of the dreadful chief upon
whose fiat the fate of Henry Morton must depend - the recollection of the
terror and awe which were attached to the very name of the commander,
deprived her for some time, not only of the courage to answer, but even of
the power of looking upon him. But when, emboldened by the soothing
tones of his voice, she lifted her eyes to frame some reply, the person ont