nose in so piteous a manner, that Mr. Stewart could not help
bursting out a-laughing. An angry man was *****. have seen another
edition, too, but it is below contempt. So many copies make the
ballad famous, so that every day adds to your renown.

This here place is very, very dull. Erskine is in London; my dear
Thomson at Daily; Macfarlan hatching Kant--and George[125]
Fountainhall.[126] I have nothing more to tell you, but that I am
most affectionately yours. Many an anxious thought I have about
you. Farewell.--J. A. C.

[Footnote 122: See _ante_, p. 97.]

[Footnote 123: A servant-boy and pony.]

[Footnote 124:

"'Dost fear? dost fear?--The moon shines clear;--
Dost fear to ride with, me?
Hurrah! hurrah! the dead can ride!'--
Oh, William, let them be!'

"'See there! see there! What yonder swings
And creaks 'mid whistling rain?'--
Gibbet and steel, the accursed wheel,
A murderer in his chain.

"'Hollo! thou felon, follow here,
To bridal bed we ride;
And thou shalt prance a fetter dance
Before me and my bride.'

"And hurry, hurry! clash, clash, clash!
The wasted form descends;
And fleet as wind, through hazel bush,
The wild career attends.

"Tramp, tramp! along the land they rode;
Splash, splash! along the sea;
The scourge is red, the spur drops blood.
The flashing pebbles flee."]

[Footnote 125: George Cranstoun, Lord Corehouse.]

[Footnote 126: Decisions by Lord Fountainhall.]

The {p.223} affair in which this romantic creature took so lively an
interest was now approaching its end. It was known, before this autumn
closed, that the lady of his vows had finally promised her hand to his
amiable rival; and, when the fact was announced, some of those who
knew Scott the best appear to have entertained very serious
apprehensions as to the effect which the disappointment might have
upon his feelings. For example, one of those brothers of _the
Mountain_ wrote as follows to another of them, on the 12th October,
1796: "Mr. [Forbes] marries Miss [Stuart]. This is not good news. I
always dreaded there was some self-deception on the part of our
romantic frien