e of skipping such passages as I think
proper. It having been solemnly resolved that the "history of our
adventures" must be written in the form of a "regular desert island
story," to use Johnny's expression, and divided into chapters, Max
insists that the commencement of each chapter should be furnished with a
poetical motto, and offers, in the capacity of a dictionary of
quotations, to furnish scraps of rhyme for that purpose, to order, in
any quantity required, and at the shortest notice, upon merely being
informed of the sentiment with which the motto is desired to harmonise.

After hearing the narrative thus far, with the exception of such
portions as I have thought proper to omit, Max expresses strong distrust
of my fairness and impartiality as a historian. He accuses me in
particular, of having done him injustice by omitting some of his most
remarkable exploits, as well as many brilliant sayings upon a great
variety of subjects. He declares that I do not understand and
appreciate him--that I am incapable of doing so; and that I have
unjustly, though perhaps unintentionally, represented him as a trifling,
light-minded sort of person. I have, therefore, felt bound to record
this protest of the injured party, but having just read it to him, he
pronounces it unsatisfactory, and an aggravation of the original wrong.

Sometimes, as a variation of our evening amusements, we put out the
lights, and sit and tell stories in the dark. Browne's memory is stored
with an unfailing supply of marvellous tales and legends, founded upon
Scottish history and tradition, or the habits and superstitions of the
people; some relate to wraiths, warnings, second sight, etcetera; some
illustrate the prowess of Scottish heroes and worthies, from Bruce and
Wallace, right down to Johnny Armstrong and Rob Roy Macgregor; others,
again, are wild and tragical tales of covenanting times, or of the
sufferings endured, and the dangers encountered by his countrymen, for
their religious faith, from the time of the murder of "holy Patrick
Hamilton, the first Scottish martyr," to the forays of prelatical
moss-troopers, and the butcheries of Claverhouse, in later days.

The chief point of all Browne's narratives, however various their
subjects, is to illustrate the superiority of Scotland, and every thing
Scottish, from martyrs to mendicants, and from heroes to highwaymen,
over all the rest of the world in general, and the sister kingdom in
partic