nd head in cadence as he
repeated with emphasis,

I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood,
And every bosky bower from side to side. *

* (Milton's Comus.)

Ah! deuce take it!--that spray of a bramble has demolished all
Caxon's labours, and nearly canted my wig into the stream--so much for
recitations, hors de propos."

"Never mind, my dear sir," said Miss Wardour; "you have your faithful
attendant ready to repair such a disaster when it happens, and when you
appear with it as restored to its original splendour, I will carry on
the quotation:

So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,
And yet anon repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
Flames on the forehead"--*

* (Lycidas.)

"O! enough, enough!" answered Oldbuck; "I ought to have known what it
was to give you advantage over me--But here is what will stop your career
of satire, for you are an admirer of nature, I know." In fact, when they
had followed him through a breach in a low, ancient, and ruinous wall,
they came suddenly upon a scene equally unexpected and interesting.

They stood pretty high upon the side of the glen, which had suddenly
opened into a sort of amphitheatre to give room for a pure and profound
lake of a few acres extent, and a space of level ground around it. The
banks then arose everywhere steeply, and in some places were varied by
rocks--in others covered with the copse, which run up, feathering their
sides lightly and irregularly, and breaking the uniformity of the green
pasture-ground.--Beneath, the lake discharged itself into the huddling
and tumultuous brook, which had been their companion since they had
entered the glen. At the point at which it issued from "its parent
lake," stood the ruins which they had come to visit. They were not
of great extent; but the singular beauty, as well as the wild and
sequestered character of the spot on which they were situated, gave them
an interest and importance superior to that which attaches itself
to architectural remains of greater consequence, but placed near to
ordinary houses, and possessing less romantic accompaniments. The
eastern window of the church remained entire, with all its ornaments
and tracery work; and the sides, upheld by flying buttresses whose airy
support, detached from the wall against