upport of Scott for their
respective Magazines, and waved off by "the Great
Magician" in the same identical phrases of contemptuous
indifference. The description of Constable's visit to
Abbotsford may be worth transcribing--for Sir David
Wilkie, who was present when Scott read it, says he was
almost choked with laughter, and he afterwards confessed
that the Chaldean author had given a sufficiently
accurate version of what really passed on the
occasion:--

"26. But when the Spirits were gone, he (The Crafty)
said unto himself, I will arise and go unto a magician,
which is of my friends: of a surety he will devise some
remedy, and free me out of all my distresses.

"27. So he arose and came unto that great magician which
hath his dwelling in the old fastness, hard by the River
Jordan, which is by the Border.

"28. And the magician opened his mouth and said, Lo! my
heart wisheth thy good, and let the thing prosper which
is in thy hands to do it.

"29. But thou seest that my hands are full of working,
and my labor is great. For, lo, I have to feed all the
people of my land, and none knoweth whence his food
cometh; but each man openeth his mouth, and my hand
filleth it with pleasant things.

"30. Moreover, thine adversary also is of my familiars.

"31. The land is before thee: draw thou up thine hosts
for the battle on the mount of Proclamation, and defy
boldly thine enemy, which hath his camp in the place of
Princes; quit ye as men, and let favor be shown unto him
which is most valiant.

"32. Yet be thou silent; peradventure will I help thee
some little.

"33. But the man which is Crafty saw that the magician
loved him not. For he knew him of old, and they had had
many dealings; and he perceived that he would not assist
him in the day of his adversity.

"34. So he turned about, and went out of his fastness.
And he shook the dust from his feet, and said, Behold I
have given this