and I gave myself no trouble to refute the various
assertions. I was not ashamed of my birth, because it had no effect
upon the Drummonds; still I knew the world too well to think it
necessary to blazon it. On the whole, the balance was in my favour;
there was a degree of romance in my history, with all its variations,
which interested, and, joined to the knowledge of my actual wealth, made
me to be well received, and gained me attention wherever I went. One
thing was much to my advantage--my extensive reading, added to the good
classical education which I had received. It is not often in society
that an opportunity occurs when any one can prove his acquisitions; and
thus did education turn the scale in my favour, and every one was much
more inclined to believe the false rather than the true versions of my
history.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

THE DOMINIE PROVES STAPLETON'S "HUMAN NATUR'" TO BE CORRECT--THE
RED-COAT PROVES TOO MUCH OF A MATCH FOR THE BLUE--MARY SELLS TOM, AND
TOM SELLS WHAT IS LEFT OF HIM, FOR A SHILLING--WE NEVER KNOW THE VALUE
OF ANYTHING TILL WE HAVE LOST IT.

I had often ruminated in what manner I could render the Dominie more
comfortable. I felt that to him I was as much indebted as to any living
being, and one day I ventured to open the subject; but his reply was
decided.

"I see, Jacob, my son, what thou wouldst wish: but it must not be. Man
is but a creature of habit; habit becomes to him not only necessity but
luxury. For five-and-forty years have I toiled, instilling precepts and
forcing knowledge into the brains of those who have never proved so apt
as thou. Truly, it hath been a painful task, yet can I not relinquish
it. I might, at one time, that is, during the first ten years, have met
the offer with gratitude; for I felt the humiliation and annoyance of
wearying myself with the rudiments, when I would fain have commented
upon the various peculiarities of style in the ancient Greek and Latin
authors; but now, all that has passed away. The eternal round of
concord, prosody, and syntax has charms for me from habit: the rule of
three is preferable to the problems of Euclid, and even the Latin
grammar has its delights. In short, I have a _hujus_ pleasure in _hic,
haec, hoc; [cluck cluck;]_ and even the flourishing of the twigs of that
tree of knowledge, the birch, hath become a pleasurable occupation to
me, if not to those upon whom it is inflicted. I am like an old horse,
who h