ght of {p.148} two subjects for you, if, like the
Archbishop's homilies, they do not smell of the apoplexy.
The first is a noble and very dramatic tradition preserved
in Galloway, which runs briefly thus: The Barons of Plenton
(the family name, I think, was ---- by Jupiter, forgot!)
boasted of great antiquity, and formerly of extensive power
and wealth, to which the ruins of their huge castle,
situated on an inland loch, still bear witness. In the
middle of the seventeenth century, it is said, these ruins
were still inhabited by the lineal descendant of this
powerful family. But the ruinous halls and towers of his
ancestors were all that had descended to him, and he
cultivated the garden of the castle, and sold its fruits for
a subsistence. He married in a line suitable rather to his
present situation than the dignity of his descent, and was
quite sunk into the rank of peasantry, excepting that he was
still called--more in mockery, or at least in familiarity,
than in respect--the Baron of Plenton. A causeway connected
the castle with the mainland; it was cut in the middle, and
the moat only passable by a drawbridge which yet subsisted,
and which the poor old couple contrived to raise every night
by their joint efforts, the country being very unsettled at
the time. It must be observed that the old man and his wife
occupied only one apartment in the extensive ruins, a small
one adjoining to the drawbridge; the rest was waste and
dilapidated.

As they were about to retire one night to rest, they were
deterred by a sudden storm which, rising in the wildest
manner possible, threatened to bury them under the ruins of
the castle. While they listened in terror to the complicated
sounds of thunder, wind, and rain, they were astonished to
hear the clang of hoofs on the causeway, and the voices of
people clamoring for admittance. This was a request not
rashly to be granted. The couple looked out, and dimly
discerned through the storm that the causeway was crowded
with riders. "How many of {p.149} you are there?" demanded
John.--"Not more than the hall will hold," was the answer;
"but open the gate, lower the bridge, and do not keep the
_ladies_ in the rain."--John's heart was melted for the
_ladies_, and, against his wife's advice, he u