revented them from encroaching on the one side or giving
up their proper position on the other. So far so good. Their characters,
however, were not without some deep shadows. Whilst we acknowledge that
they were generous, resolute, liberal, and of courage, we must also
admit that they were warm, thoughtless, and a good deal overbearing to
many, but by no means to all, of the peasantry with whom they came in
contact. From the ample scale on which their farming was conducted, and
in consequence of the vast number of men they necessarily had occasion
to employ, they could not but detect among them many instances both of
falsehood, dishonesty, and ingratitude. These vices at their hands never
received any favor. So far from that, those whom they detected in the
commission of them, were instantly turned adrift, Very often after
having received a sound horse-whipping. Much abuse also occurred between
them and the country people with reference to land, and especially
tithes, in which they gave back word for word, and too frequently met
concealed or implied threats either by instant chastisement or open
defiance; the result of all was, as the reader may perceive, that they
had the worst and least scrupulous, and consequently, most dangerous
class of persons in the country for their enemies. The name of the elder
was John, and the younger Alick; and, soothe to say, two finer-looking,
more spirited, or determined young fellows could not be found probably
in the kingdom. The relative position, then, in which they and the
people, or rather the worst class of them, stood to each other, and the
bitter disparaging taunts and observations with which the proctor and
his sons were treated, not only on the chapel green, but almost wherever
they appeared, are now, we trust, intelligible to the reader.

Of the daughters, Mary and Julia, we have not so much to observe.
They were both very beautiful; and, as we have already said, highly
accomplished. Both, too, were above the middle height and sizes, and
remarkable for the singular elegance and symmetry of their figures.
Mary, the eldest, was a dark beauty, with a neck and bosom like snow,
and hair black as the raven's wing; whilst Julia, on the contrary, was
fair, and if possible, more exquisitely rounded than her sister. Her
eyes, of a blue gray, were remarkable for an expression of peculiar
depth and softness, whilst Mary's dark brown were full at once of a
mellow and penetrating light. In