rusty
rural friends, and a frequent companion of his sports.]

I adhere to trying a patch or two of larches, of a quarter
of an acre each, upon the Athole plan, by way of experiment.
We can plant them up if they do not thrive. On the whole,
three-and-a-half feet is, I think, the right distance. I
have no fear of the ground being impoverished. Trees are not
like arable crops, which necessarily derive their sustenance
from the superficial earth--the roots of trees go far and
wide, and, if incommoded by a neighbor, they send out
suckers to procure nourishment elsewhere. They never hurt
each other till {p.224} their tops interfere, which may be
easily prevented by timely weeding.

I rejoice in the sawmill. Have you settled with Harper?--and
how do Og and Bashan[95] come on? I cannot tell you how
delighted I am with the account Hogg gives me of Mr. Grieve.
The great Cameron was chaplain in the house of my great
something grandfather, and so I hope Mr. Grieve will be
mine. If, as the King of Prussia said to Rousseau, "a little
persecution is necessary to make his home entirely to his
mind," he shall have it; and what persecutors seldom
promise, I will stop whenever he is tired of it. I have a
pair of thumbikins also much at his service, if he requires
their assistance to glorify God and the Covenant. Sincerely,
I like enthusiasm of every kind so well, especially when
united with worth of character, that I shall be delighted
with this old gentleman. Ever yours,

W. SCOTT.

[Footnote 95: A yoke of oxen.]

The last paragraph of this letter refers to an uncle of Laidlaw's (the
father of Hogg's friend, John Grieve), who at this time thought of
occupying a cottage on Scott's estate. He was a preacher of the
Cameronian sect, and had long ministered to a very small remnant of
"the hill-folk" scattered among the wilds of Ettrick. He was a very
good man, and had a most venerable and apostolical benignity of
aspect; but his prejudices were as extravagant as those of Cameron,
his patriarch, himself could have been. The project of his removal to
Tweedside was never realized.

The following admirable letter was written at the request of Messrs.
Constable, who had, on Scott's recommendation, undertaken the
publication of Mr. Maturin's novel,