to tear, to deface,
what is so dishonourable?"

"Dishonourable!" echoed Lovel--"in what respect dishonourable?"

"I mean, disgraceful to the arts."

"Where? how?"

"Upon the portico, for example, of the schools of Oxford, where, at
immense expense, the barbarous, fantastic, and ignorant architect has
chosen to represent the whole five orders of architecture on the front
of one building."

By such attacks as these, Oldbuck, unconscious of the torture he was
giving, compelled Lovel to give him a share of his attention,--as a
skilful angler, by means of his line, maintains an influence over the
most frantic movements of his agonized prey.

They were now on their return to the spot where they had left the
carriages; and it is inconceivable how often, in the course of that
short walk, Lovel, exhausted by the unceasing prosing of his worthy
companion, mentally bestowed on the devil, or any one else that would
have rid him of hearing more of them, all the orders and disorders of
architecture which had been invented or combined from the building of
Solomon's temple downwards. A slight incident occurred, however, which
sprinkled a little patience on the heat of his distemperature.

Miss Wardour, and her self-elected knight companion, rather preceded
the others in the narrow path, when the young lady apparently became
desirous to unite herself with the rest of the party, and, to break off
her tete-a-tete with the young officer, fairly made a pause until
Mr. Oldbuck came up. "I wished to ask you a question, Mr. Oldbuck,
concerning the date of these interesting ruins."

It would be doing injustice to Miss Wardour's savoir faire, to suppose
she was not aware that such a question would lead to an answer of no
limited length. The Antiquary, starting like a war-horse at the trumpet
sound, plunged at once into the various arguments for and against the
date of 1273, which had been assigned to the priory of St. Ruth by a
late publication on Scottish architectural antiquities. He raked up the
names of all the priors who had ruled the institution, of the nobles who
had bestowed lands upon it, and of the monarchs who had slept their last
sleep among its roofless courts. As a train which takes fire is sure to
light another, if there be such in the vicinity, the Baronet, catching
at the name of one of his ancestors which occurred in Oldbuck's
disquisition, entered upon an account of his wars, his conquests, and
his trophies; and wort