d therefore--" descended from
old cow-stealers, was he? Well, had he nothing to boast of beyond such a
pedigree, he would have lived and died the son of a pettifogger, and been
forgotten, and deservedly so; but he possessed talents, and by his
talents rose like Murat, and like him will be remembered for his talents
alone, and deservedly so. "Yes, but Murat was still the son of a pastry-
cook, and though he was certainly good at the sabre, and cut his way to a
throne, still--" Lord! what fools there are in the world; but as no one
can be thought anything of in this world without a pedigree, the writer
will now give a pedigree for Murat, of a very different character from
the cow-stealing one of Scott, but such a one as the proudest he might
not disdain to claim. Scott was descended from the old cow-stealers of
Buccleuch--was he? Good! and Murat was descended from the old Moors of
Spain, from the Abencerages (sons of the saddle) of Granada. The name
Murat is Arabic, and is the same as Murad (Le Desire, or the wished-for
one). Scott in his genteel Life of Bonaparte, says that "when Murat was
in Egypt, the similarity between the name of the celebrated Mameluke
Mourad and that of Bonaparte's Meilleur Sabreur was remarked, and became
the subject of jest amongst the comrades of the gallant Frenchman." But
the writer of the novel of Bonaparte did not know that the names were one
and the same. Now which was the best pedigree, that of the son of the
pastry-cook, or that of the son of the pettifogger? Which was the best
blood? Let us observe the workings of the two bloods. He who had the
blood of the "sons of the saddle" in him, became the wonderful cavalier
of the most wonderful host that ever went forth to conquest, won for
himself a crown, and died the death of a soldier, leaving behind him a
son, only inferior to himself in strength, in prowess, and in
horsemanship. The descendant of the cow-stealer became a poet, a novel
writer, the panegyrist of great folk and genteel people; became insolvent
because, though an author, he deemed it ungenteel to be mixed up with the
business part of the authorship; died paralytic and broken-hearted
because he could no longer give entertainments to great folks, leaving
behind him, amongst other children, who were never heard of, a son, who,
through his father's interest, had become lieutenant-colonel in a genteel
cavalry regiment. A son who was ashamed of his father because his fath