w him too well to move at a Jehu's pace
amidst such scenes as these. No funeral hearse crept more leisurely
than did his landau up the Canongate or the Cowgate; and not a queer
tottering gable but recalled to him some long-buried memory of
splendor or bloodshed, which, by a few words, he set before the hearer
in the reality of life. His image is so associated in my mind with the
antiquities of his native place, that I cannot now revisit them
without feeling as if I were treading on his gravestone.

Whatever might happen on the other evenings of the {p.250} week, he
always dined at home on Sunday, and usually some few friends were then
with him, but never any person with whom he stood on ceremony. These
were, it may be readily supposed, the most agreeable of his
entertainments. He came into the room rubbing his hands, his face
bright and gleesome, like a boy arriving at home for the holidays, his
Peppers and Mustards gambolling about his heels, and even the stately
Maida grinning and wagging his tail in sympathy. Among the most
regular guests on these happy evenings were, in my time, as had long
before been the case, Mrs. Maclean Clephane of Torloisk (with whom he
agreed cordially on all subjects except the authenticity of Ossian),
and her daughters, whose guardian he had become, at their own choice.
The eldest of them had been for some years married to the Earl Compton
(now Marquis of Northampton), and was of course seldom in the north;
but the others had much of the same tastes and accomplishments which
so highly distinguished the late Lady Northampton; and Scott delighted
especially in their proficiency in the poetry and music of their
native isles. Mr. and Mrs. Skene of Rubislaw were frequent
attendants--and so were the Macdonald-Buchanans of Drumakiln, whose
eldest daughter, Isabella, was his chief favorite among all his
_nieces_ of the Clerk's table--as was, among the _nephews_, my own
dear friend and companion, Joseph Hume, a singularly graceful young
man, rich in the promise of hereditary genius, but, alas, cut off in
the early bloom of his days. The well-beloved Erskine was seldom
absent; and very often Terry or James Ballantyne came with
him--sometimes, though less frequently, Constable. Among other persons
who now and then appeared at these "dinners without the silver
dishes," as Scott called them, I may mention--to say nothing of such
old cronies as Mr. Clerk, Mr. Thomson, and Mr. Kirkpatrick Sharpe--Sir
Ale