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.

APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. 323
speaking simple and natural, yet full of vivacity and point; and he has the
art, if it be art, of relaxing into a certain homeliness of manner, without
losing one particle of his dignity. IIe thus takes off some of that solemn
formality which belongs to such meetings, and, by his easy'and graceful
familiarity, imparts to them somewhat of the pleasing character of a private
entertainment. Near Sir W. Scott sat the Earl of Fife, Lord Meadowbank,
Sir John Hope of Pinkie, Bart., Admiral Adam, Baron Clerk Rattray, Gilbert Innes, Esq., James Walker, Esq., Robert Dundas, Esq., Alexander
Smith, Esq., &c.
The cloth being removed, "Non Nobis Domine" was sung by Messrs.
Thorne, Swift, Collier, and Hartley, after which the following toasts were
given from the chair: -
"The King"- all the honours.
"The Duke of Clarence and the Royal family.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the next toast, which he wished to be drunk
in solemn silence, said, it was to the memory of a regretted prince, whom
we had lately lost. Every individual would at once conjecture to whom he
alluded. He had no intention to dwell on his military merits. They had
been told in the Senate; they had been repeated in the cottage; and whenever a soldier was the theme, his name was never far distant. But it was
chiefly in connection with the business of this meeting, which his late Royal
Highness had condescended in a particular manner to patronise, that they
were called on to drink to his memory. To that charity he had often sacrificed his time, and had given up the little leisure which he had from important business. He was always ready to attend on every occasion of this
kind; and it was in that view that he proposed to drink to the memory of
his late Royal Highness the Duke of York.- Drunk in solemn silence.
The CIAIRMAN then requested that gentlemen would fill a bumper as full
as it would hold, while he would say only a few words. He was in the
habit of hearing speeches, and he knew the feeling with which long ones
were regarded. Hie was sure that it was perfectly unnecessary for him to
enter into any vindication of the dramatic art, which they had come here to
support. This, however, he considered to be the proper time and proper
occasion for him to say a few words on that love of representation which
was an innate feeling in human nature. It was the first amusement that
the child had - it grew greater as he grew up; and, even in the decline of
life, nothing amused so much as when a common tale is told with appropriate personification. The first thing a child does is to ape his schoolmaster, by flogging a chair. The assuming a character ourselves, or the seeing
others assume an imaginary character, is an enjoyment natural to humanity.
It was implanted in our very nature, to take pleasure from such representations, at proper times and on proper occasions. In all ages the theatrical
art had kept pace with the improvement of mankind, and with the progress
of letters and the fine arts. As man has advanced from the ruder stages
of society, the love of dramatic representations has increased, and all works
of this nature have been improved, in character and in structure. They
had only to turn their eyes to the history of ancient Greece, although he did
not pretend to be very deeply versed in its ancient drama. Its first tragic
poet commanded a body of troops at the battle of Marathon. Sophocles
and Euripides were men of rank in Athens, when Athens was in its highest
renown. They shook Athens with their discourses, as their theatrical sworks
shook the theatre itself. If they turned to France in the time of Louis the
Fourteenth, that era which is the classical history of that country, they
would find that it was referred to by all Frenchmen as the golden age of the
drama there. And also in England, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the
drama was at its highest pitch, when the nation began to mingle deeply and
wisely in the general politics of Europe, not only not receiving laws from
others, but giving laws to the world, and vindicating the l ights of mankinJ.