ling; and Charles, a
lively boy, eleven or twelve years of age.

"I soon felt myself quite at home, and my heart in a glow,
with the cordial welcome I experienced. I had thought to
make a mere morning visit, but found I was not to be let off
so lightly. 'You must not think our neighborhood is to be
read in a morning like a newspaper,' said Scott; 'it takes
several days of study for an observant traveller, that has a
relish for auld-world trumpery. After breakfast you shall
make your visit to Melrose Abbey; I shall not be able to
accompany you, as I have some household affairs to attend
to; but I will put you in charge of my son Charles, who is
very learned in all things touching the old ruin and the
neighborhood it stands in; and he and my friend Johnnie
Bower will tell you the whole truth about it, with a great
deal more that you are not called upon to believe, unless
you be a true and nothing-doubting antiquary. When you come
back, I'll take you out on a ramble about the neighborhood.
To-morrow we will take a {p.183} look at the Yarrow, and
the next day we will drive over to Dryburgh Abbey, which is
a fine old ruin, well worth your seeing.'--In a word, before
Scott had got through with his plan, I found myself
committed for a visit of several days, and it seemed as if a
little realm of romance was suddenly open before me."

After breakfast, while Scott, no doubt, wrote a chapter of Rob Roy,
Mr. Irving, under young Charles's guidance, saw Melrose Abbey, and
Johnnie Bower the elder, whose son long since inherited his office as
showman of the ruins, and all his enthusiasm about them and their
poet. The senior on this occasion was loud in his praises of the
affability of Scott. "He'll come here sometimes," said he, "with great
folks in his company, and the first I'll know of it is hearing his
voice calling out Johnnie!--Johnnie Bower!--and when I go out I'm sure
to be greeted with a joke or a pleasant word. He'll stand and crack,
an' laugh wi' me just like an auld wife,--and _to think that of a man
that has such an awfu' knowledge o' history!_"[73]

[Footnote 73: [From the journal of three English ladies,
travellers in Scotland in the summer of 1817, we get
another glimpse of Johnnie Bower, and a pleasant sketch
of Sophia Scott:--

"I