workings of the darker passions? A negative may be given to all these questions. His descriptions of glens, and lochs, and mountainheads, have a sternness apparent in the midst of their beauty and graphical exactness, which animates with the spirit of the eagle the scenery of the eagle's dwelling-place. His portraits of Balfour of Burleigh, of Rob Roy, of his wife Helen, of Meg Merrilies, speak his sympathy for that depravity of strong and high natures, the result of mortification produced by "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;" and, above all, by the "oppressor's wrong, and proud man's contumely," met by the fierce reaction of a contumelious, proud disposition within. None of those desperate and daring spirits who have enlisted in the world's forlorn hope; no Jacobin or other malcontent, breasting the breakers where the shipwrecked state lies pitching herself to pieces, in the desire to ride above them to the shore on the fragments-ever gave to their dispositions so grand an air of resolute philosophy, as distinguishes Macgregor's reply to Osbaldistone, when the latter expresses regret for the scene of promiscuous confusion and distress likely to arise from any general exertion in favour of the exiled royal family:-"Let it come, man-let it come! ye never saw dull weather clear without a shower, and if the world is turned upside down, why honest men will have the better chance to cut bread out of it." Yet with all this deep feeling for the vindictive, the guilty, the remorseful, the terror-struck, the condemned, the hopeless, the withered in heart, the dying, and the despairing, what a sympathizing, honourable, bland impression of his own character does this author leave on the minds of his readers! No one would ever suspect him, as some have been suspected, of sitting for his own ruffians; yet they are as natural as life. He must have found them somewhere, for they all and each bear witness of their identity, but that somewhere, it is clear, has never been his own heart. The general name of these works, "The Scotch Novels," will always indicate an era in our literary history, for they add a new species to the catalogue of our native literary productions, and nothing of the same nature has been produced anywhere else. They are as valuable as history and descriptive travels for the What sublimity there is in the reply of this extraordinary creature to some one who calls her by the familiar appellation of good woman. "I'm nae good womana' the country kens I am bad eneugh, an' may be sorry eneugh that I am nae better; but I can do what good women canna and darena do." qualities which render these valuable; while they derive a bewitching animation from the soul of poetry, and captivate the attention by the interest of romantic story. As pictures of national manners they are inestimable: as views of human nature, influenced by local circumstances, they are extremely curious; as enthusiastic appeals to the passions and the imagination, they supply a strong stimulus to these faculties; and, by running the course of the story through the most touching incidents, and within sight of the grandest events, they carry the reader's sympathy perpetually with them. One great cause of their absorbing and irresistible power of fascination, is the astonishing variety of the author's hand, guided by a sensibility co-extensive, as we have already said, with nature herself. His feeling is universal in its enjoyments-and this enables him to supply inexhaustible enjoyment to others. How complete is his sense of the majesty and force of Scripture language-and what a relish he has for the slang of smugglers and jailers, phraseology of gamekeepers and Border cudgel players, and the law-jargon of a Canongate lawyer of seventy years back! He enters, with the most delicate perception, into the sensitive, genteel, well-dressed character of a modern English captain, displays with gusto the pedantry of an old French musquetaire, or high German martinet; draws his broadsword with the irregular fury of a Highland clansman; preaches with the ultra-eloquence of a hunted sectarian; raves sublime madness with those wonderful creatures whom he seems to have emancipated from the common obligations of reason, only to enable them to hover on the brink of the ordinary world, looking into the supernatural;-to see with more rapid glance into the secrets of things, and to startle their hearers with a more vivid, searching, electrifying language than falls from the lips of the common children of men! Are these gifts such as many possess? Could many, like him, run so truly over all the notes in the human gamut, if we may so speak, from the extremest alto of chivalry, down to the commonest details of a Fenchurch Street counting-house? It is not mere truth, however, that forms all the merit of these astonishingly varied represen tations; he enters into each with delight; is at home everywhere, as well in regard to his feelings as his knowledge; and goes on, illustrating richly through his whole course, manifesting, for that purpose, treasures of appropriate terms and anecdotes, which surprise us by proving a learning equal to his natural faculties. He seems to have lived everywhere and come. tered by persecution, and fashioned and endowed by a theology as gloomy and as sublime as the caves and the mountains that gave refuge to its conscientious adepts; but the insurmountable difficulty lies in supposing that to these feelings and faculties will be added an intimate acquaintance with the mysteries of the dog-kennel, an off-hand familiarity with the forms of court-etiquette and the smartest customs of town-life. with everybody; to have fought under Gusta- | Bradwardine how he should stoop to take off vus, and taken several trips with Dirk Hat- his prince's boot: and such lore, and such acteraik; but then the wonder is, when he complishments, would be wanted before any could have copied in the office under Mr. second author could hope to rival our first;Pleydell, and served his apprenticeship to a but supposing all these possessed by some future Glasgow weaver, both of which, it is quite individual, is it to be imagined that he would clear, he has done, as well as stood precentor at the same time be fond of getting into "his under a field-preacher's tent, and performed altitudes" at Clerighugh's-and have also a the duty of rough-rider to his majesty's horse- particularly acute relish for the system of bookguards. That he has acquired his technical keeping, by double and single entry, as pracexpertness by actual experience, is impressed tised by the worthy Mr. Owen, in the house of on our belief by the air of freedom which never Osbaldistone and Tresham? Lastly-not to forsakes him. be tedious on one that is never so-we do not We really believe, though it may seem much absolutely despair of the existence of some as to say, that the Scotch Novels, as they are the warm and successful lovers of nature in her first of their class, so they are inimitable sublimest seats and wildest recesses; as often perfectly, hopelessly inimitable, for the time to honoured with her rarest revelations; nay, as How long their author may continue enthusiastic admirers of the ardent, disintertheir repetitions we shall not attempt to de-ested, imaginative character, which was foseide, for as their source is a natural, not an artificial one, age cannot wither, nor custom stale his infinite variety;" but, all circumstances considered, it seems too much to expect that another person with equal gifts, and another opportunity with equal advantages, for seizing the real facts of history, the homely incidents of life, and genuine features of character, and throwing over them all the garb and air of romance, and enlivening them with the spirit of lofty poetry, will ever again appear. The peculiar gifts required are so widely distinct from the common ingredients of what is called talent, or, at least, their perfect union forms a character so rare amongst men of talent, that we dare not speculate on the reappearance of the phenomenon. We admit that it is very possible a man may arise again amongst us with a devoted attachment to terriers and stag-hounds, with a keen appetite for pony-riding over the Cheviot Hills, philanthropically inclined to institute foot-ball and single-stick matches, and proud of seeing a piper, arrayed in the garb of old Gaul, enter amongst his company after dinner to "lap them in Elysium.' Such a man may arise again amongst us; and such a man must arise, before we could hope for a reproduction of the Scotch Novels: but is it probable that this endued person will be at the same time deeply read in genealogical Latin, troubadour poetry, the writings of the prophets, and the history of the Thirty Years' War? If he be deficient in any one of these particulars, he is useless for our purpose. It certainly is possible that, even in this late day, more persons than one may yet manifest tastes and talents fitting them to be armourers to knights-errant-to dress John of Gaunt, or instruct the Baron of VOL L Such a combination constitutes the literary character of the author of the Scotch Novels; and we confess we do not think that it has ever before occurred, or that it ever will occur again: but if it did, we want still more to the reproduction of such works. A high degree of personal respectability; a situation in life commanding intimacy with men and manners; practical habits of business, all evidently conspire to lend a finishing charm to these compositions, by bestowing freedom and firmness on their style, giving them a clear complexion, a decorous carriage, stripping them entirely of professional rust, leaving nothing forced or awkward about their familiarity, and repressing altogether the air of authorship, and the affected graces of writing. Then, supposing that we have again found one as able, is it within the range of chances that he would be as willing? That, to the same miraculous powers, he would add the equally miraculous industry? That he would possess the same resolution of will; the same shrewdness in an honourable pursuit; and add as much worldly sagacity to an equal portion of intellectual strength and refinement? We reply, certainly not: therefore, for all these reasons together,and the reader will think we have given enough of them,-we pronounce that the Scotch Novels 5 must remain alone, forming their own class, | world's annals to match, for imposing effect, which is a new one in literature, and which the demure and frowning Presbyterian hero, they may be considered to have both com- with his sword girt round his loins, and his menced and finished. We should much sooner hope set on the Rock of Ages-proud, and obexpect another author equal to the Paradise stinate, and intrepid as Achilles—but with an Lost than another equal to Guy Mannering imagination full of things not made with hands, and Rob Roy; though in saying this we do and therefore more nobly occupied than that not mean to intimate that the writer of the of Achilles. The sensual part of man was enlatter is a greater man than Milton. Such a tirely rooted out of his being; the beauty of comparison would be impertinent; but cer- holiness took the place of all other beauty in tainly we would extend to this anonymous his eyes; he saw the towers of Zion always author the reply which we once heard made by rising before him, and for ever had in his ears a lady to one who expressed a wish for another the sound of the archangel's trumpet, calling Shakspeare: "Another Shakspeare! nonsense! him to the good fight, either as martyr or warShakspeare has been!" rior. Such were the men who looked not to thrones or dynasties, but to the rule of Scripture for their directions." It was then, says Jeanie Deans, that the chosen of the Lord had the privilege given to them to see far into eternity, as a compensation from their Master for the pains and trials to which he called them to expose themselves for his sake. Individuals, at various times and in various places, have been thus lifted up into the third heaven, under the influence of excitements or temperaments peculiar to themselves; but a vast national sentiment of this nature, causing the babe to lisp the language of Hebron, and the young woman to coquet in oriental metaphor, while she avoided promiscuous and vain dancing, even as a bird avoids the snare of the fowler, cannot be paralleled. Is there any feature in the ancient sybil finer than Mause Headrigg, "that precious woman," can match? She who "lifted up her voice to confound the Man of Sin-even the scarlet man ;" who told Sergeant Bothwell to his teeth that he was "allied to the great dragon-Revelations, twalfth chapter, third and fourth verses:" who was proud of her son when she saw him "going to testify with his mouth at the council, as he had testified with his weapon in the field;" and who, in despite of a mother's affection, implored him to "remain faithful even until death, and not to sully his bridal garment." Then there are Macbriar, with his sublime sermon to the victorious Covenanters, and his still more sublime reply to Dalzell and Lauderdale when they were sending him from torture to death; and the terrible Balfour of Burleigh, in his "cave of Adullam"-with his sword with three notches, each notch "testifying to a deliverance wrought for the church;" a man "zealous even to slaying!" Truly, as well as beautifully, does our author say of such scenes and characters, that they "formed a and hardy though devout, sufficiently account for this picture of which the lights might have been given by Rembrandt, but the outline would We might ask also-if another author, equally gifted and favourably circumstanced, were found, where could be found such another subject? or what possibility is there of recurring again to the same after the present writer shall have done with it? It may be affirmed, we believe, that no people but the Scotch ever have afforded so great a variety of materials to construct historical and characteristic fictions as that of the collection which the author of these novels has extracted and employed; and that no people, not even the Scotch, will ever be so rich again. If we are wrong we shall be glad to be corrected; but to us it appears that the records of no time or nation supply so much of the picturesque in quality and incident-in local scenery, public affairs, personal character, social manners, and religious creeds, all combined-as the people from amongst whom this writer has taken his subjects, during the period through which he has, in the course of their long series, completely ranged. Eloquence, thought, information, enthusiasm, superstition, patriotism, simplicity, rural habits, courage, persecution, devotion, constancy, poetical taste, robbery, murder, rebellion, executions; these form but part of the catalogue of the circumstances and qualities which crowd on the surface of the Scottish history at the period in question! When and where has there been another people so deeply and thoroughly imbued with an habitual inspiration of lofty thoughts and lofty conduct as the Scottish nation was, when its whole soul and language, throughout all its classes, were full, even to saturation, of the majesty, efficacy, and eloquence of the Hebrew Scriptures?1 Nothing can be quoted from any other page in the 1 It is to be observed that the Covenanters and Cameronians almost always quoted from the Old Testament: their tastes, gloomy yet grand, and their habits, severe preference. Against the devout Presbyterian oppose the proud, licentious Highland chief, and his ro lowers! What a leap in an instant, and yet not beyond the limits of the national manners, nor beyond our author's power of representation! The haughtiness of MacIvor, the enthusiastic vengeance of Helen MacGregor, the hasty blood of the guests at M'Aulay's castle, are qualities which, added to the desperation of the causes into which these men rushed, as if danger increased their alacrity-and the gloomy grandeur of the scenery around them, demand the hand of a master to arrange and group them in composition, but of which our master makes pictures of a sublimer gloom than any of Salvator Rosa or Caravaggio. Yet touches of cheerfulness, gentleness, and soft beauty are constantly introduced into these, which remove all the stiffness of studied effect, and throw the freshness of nature, as well as an agreeable light, over their surface. have required the force and vigour of Michael | pony would only go one road, and that road Angelo." We must not forget the more tender, was not the London one, but lay between St. yet equally pious Elizabeth Maclure, "dwell- Leonard's farm and the mansion-house of ing alone like the widow of Zarephath :" she Dumbiedikes. The possessor of this place is whose sight gradually faded away, after her as rich in absolute nothingness as Slender himaged eyes had been dazzled by the flash of the self; and Calummore hits him off, with Shakshots that were the death of her last son; but spearian felicity, at one touch-“I have seen who was comforted, nevertheless, in the thought Dumbiedikes three times fou, and have only that he and his brother fell for a broken cove heard him speak once." nant! For steady, manly, consistent, quiet keeping, however, there is perhaps nothing finer than the character of David Deans: hemantic, faithful, but rapacious and cruel folwho had "features far from handsome, and rather harsh and severe, but which, from their indication of habitual gravity and contempt for earthly things, had an expression of stoical dignity amidst their sternness." Hear him exclaiming, "How proud was I o' bein' made a spectacle to men and angels, having stood on the pillory at the Canongate afore I was fifteen years old for the cause of a national covenant." But in moral dignity far beyond this exultation in his exclamation when they bring him news of his ruined daughter's misfortune: "Leave me, sirs-leave me! I maun warstle with this trial in privacy and on my knees." As for his eldest daughter and comfort, Jeanie Deans, and her super-heroic refusal to save even her beloved sister from death by a falsehood; while, under a quiet exterior, she was struggling in her pious soul with agonies such as dispositions generally called more susceptible are not capable of experiencing-how much is she above Brutus condemning his son for a breach of military discipline! Nor would any one, who has witnessed true religious feeling exemplified in the practice of humble and holy families in this part of the nation, doubt for a moment that many broken but unfailing hearts might be found to realize, in needful circumstances, poor Jeanie's hard but successful trial, and come, like her, through the furnace unsinged. Her journey to London, to beg her sister's pardon of the king and queen, confident of a ready introduction through the interest of her cousin, Mrs. Glass, who kept the snuff shop, is as touching, and seriously beautiful, and at the same time as comic, as the adventures of Don Quixote. Here Jeanie shows herself as romantic and enthusiastic as she usually appears quiet, steady, and industrious -as intrepid in emergencies as she is humble in her ordinary habits. It seems at first a pity that the author did not send her lover, the silent laird Dumbiedikes, to keep her company, during her long journey, on his pony; but, on consideration, we find a good and substantial reason for omitting the squire the But the most peculiar feature in the Scottish character, which is precisely what our author has caught and given with the greatest power, remains to be noticed. The superstitious belief of certain supernatural revelations to the persecuted saints of the covenant we have hinted at; but, besides this, there belongs to the nation a more general and remarkable superstition, more poetical in its effects, and more extensive in its combinations with the social manners of the people. This superstition is of a most remarkable character, for a mystery and uncertainty hover about the supernatural principle which render it impossible to be classed either with good or bad influences. Those supposed to be gifted with it might move in the common affairs of life like other persons, exciting a sort of vague feeling of awe, but by no means supposed to have broken the bond of brotherhood with their fellow-men. The second-sight of Scotland cannot be regarded, like astrology, as partaking of the nature of scientific or learned deduction: it was not considered, like witchcraft, as a branded and hateful league with the enemy: at the same time, it received no sanction from the Christian religion, and exemplary devotion seems to have had no for Major (afterwards Sir Dugald) Dalgetty has not yet been noticed by us; and we owe him respect because his horse was better than him self, and he knew it. There are, moreover, the Baron of Bradwardine, Mr. Mucklebarns, Dandie Dinmont, Cuddie; but to specify names, when all are meritorious, would, as the des patches after battles say, be invidious. Suffice it to declare, that they are all genuine children of their native land; and that while her name shall continue Scotland, she will owe gratitude to the author for having fixed and delineated the remarkable features of a national character, such as no other people can parallel, at the NORA'S VOW. Hear what Highland Nora said: necessary connection with its possession. Those His We wish we could proceed farther amongst our friends and acquaintances of these novels, I would not wed the Earlie's son." "A maiden's vows, (old Callum spoke,) "The swan," she said, "the lake's clear breast May barter for the eagle's nest; The Awe's fierce stream may backward turn, Still in the water-lily's shade SIR WALTER SCOTT. |