end on funeral
ceremonies. Yet within the memory of most of the present generation, an
idiot of an appearance equally hideous and absurd, dressed, as if in
mockery, in a rusty and ragged black coat, decorated with a cravat and
weepers made of white paper in the form of those worn by the deepest
mourners, preceded almost every funeral procession in Edinburgh, as if
to turn into ridicule the last rites paid to mortality.

It has been generally supposed that in the case of these as of other
successful novels, the most prominent and peculiar characters were
sketched from real life. It was only after the death of Smollet, that
two barbers and a shoemaker contended about the character of Strap,
which each asserted was modelled from his own: but even in the lifetime
of the present author, there is scarcely a dale in the pastoral
districts of the southern counties but arrogates to itself the
possession of the original Dandie Dinmont. As for Baillie Mac Wheeble, a
person of the highest eminence in the law perfectly well remembers
having received fees from him.

* * * * *

Although these strong resemblances occur so frequently, and with such
peculiar force, as almost to impress us with the conviction that the
author sketched from nature, and not from fancy alone; yet we hesitate
to draw any positive conclusion, sensible that a character dashed off as
the representative of a certain class of men will bear, if executed with
fidelity to the general outlines, not only that resemblance which he
ought to possess as "knight of the shire," but also a special affinity
to some particular individual. It is scarcely possible it should be
otherwise. When Emery appears on the stage as a Yorkshire peasant, with
the habit, manner, and dialect peculiar to the character, and which he
assumes with so much truth and fidelity, those unacquainted with the
province or its inhabitants see merely the abstract idea, the beau ideal
of a Yorkshireman. But to those who are intimate with both, the action
and manner of the comedian almost necessarily recall the idea of some
individual native (altogether unknown probably to the performer) to whom
his exterior and manners bear a casual resemblance. We are therefore on
the whole inclined to believe, that the incidents are frequently copied
from _actual_ occurrences, but that the characters are either entirely
fictitious, or if any traits have been borrowed from real life, as in
t