e. He
had been born to a competency, had been well educated, his
mind was richly stored with varied information, and he was a
man of sterling moral worth. Having been reduced by
misfortune, Scott had got him to take charge of his estate.
He lived at a small farm, on the hillside above Abbotsford,
and was treated {p.189} by Scott as a cherished and
confidential friend, rather than a dependant.

"That day at dinner we had Mr. Laidlaw and his wife, and a
female friend who accompanied them. The latter was a very
intelligent respectable person, about the middle age, and
was treated with particular attention and courtesy by Scott.
Our dinner was a most agreeable one, for the guests were
evidently cherished visitors to the house, and felt that
they were appreciated. When they were gone, Scott spoke of
them in the most cordial manner. 'I wished to show you,'
said he, 'some of our really excellent, plain Scotch people:
not fine gentlemen and ladies, for such you can meet
everywhere, and they are everywhere the same. The character
of a nation is not to be learnt from its fine folks.' He
then went on with a particular eulogium on the lady who had
accompanied the Laidlaws. She was the daughter, he said, of
a poor country clergyman, who had died in debt, and left her
an orphan and destitute. Having had a good plain education,
she immediately set up a child's school, and had soon a
numerous flock under her care, by which she earned a decent
maintenance. That, however, was not her main object. Her
first care was to pay off her father's debts, that no ill
word or ill will might rest upon his memory. This, by dint
of Scotch economy, backed by filial reverence and pride, she
accomplished, though in the effort she subjected herself to
every privation. Not content with this, she in certain
instances refused to take pay for the tuition of the
children of some of her neighbors, who had befriended her
father in his need, and had since fallen into poverty. 'In a
word,' added Scott, 'she's a fine old Scotch girl, and I
delight in her more than in many a fine lady I have known,
and I have known many of the finest.'

"The evening passed away delightfully in a quaint-looking
apartment, half study, half drawing-room. Scott read several
passages fr