nt off
very well, and as cavalry have the great advantage over
infantry, that their _legs_ never get drunk, they retired in
decent disorder about ten o'clock. I was glad to see Lord
and Lady Compton so very comfortable, and surrounded with so
fine a family, the natural bond of mutual regard and
affection. She has got very jolly, but otherwise has
improved on her travels. I had a long chat with her, and was
happy to find her quite contented and pleased with the lot
she has drawn in life. It is a brilliant one in many
respects, to be sure; but still I have seen the story of the
poor {p.293} woman, who, after all rational subjects of
distress had been successively remedied, tormented herself
about the screaming of a neighbor's peacock--I say, I have
seen this so often realized in actual life, that I am more
afraid of my friends making themselves uncomfortable, who
have only imaginary evils to indulge, than I am for the
peace of those who, battling magnanimously with real
inconvenience and danger, find a remedy in the very force of
the exertions to which their lot compels them.

I sympathize with you for the _dole_ which you are _dreeing_
under the inflictions of your honest proser. Of all the
boring machines ever devised, your regular and determined
story-teller is the most peremptory and powerful in his
operations. This is a rainy day, and my present infliction
is an idle cousin, a great amateur of the pipes, who is
performing incessantly in the next room for the benefit of a
probationary minstrel, whose pipes scream _a la distance_,
as the young hoarse cock-chicken imitates the gallant and
triumphant screech of a veteran Sir Chanticleer. Yours
affectionately,

W. SCOTT.

{p.295} APPENDIX

THE DURHAM GARLAND

IN THREE PARTS

[The following is the _Garland_ referred to at pages 4 and 26, in
connection with the novel of Guy Mannering. The ballad was taken down
from the recitation of Mrs. Young of Castle-Douglas, who, as her
family informed Mr. Train, had long been in the habit of repeating it
over to them once in the year, in order that it might not escape from
her memory.]

PART I

1

A worthy Lord of birth and state,
Who did in Durham live of late--
But I will not declare his name,
By rea