Luckie Howatson is very expeditious ;there was ance a lass that was in that way. -she did not live, far from hereaboutsye needna shake your head and groan, Dominie-I am sure the kirk dues were a’weel paid, and what can a man do mair?—it was laid till her ere she had on a sark ower her head; and the man that she since wadded does not think her a pin the waur for the misfortune. They live, Mr Mannering, by the shore-side, at Annan, and a mair decent orderly, couple, with six as fine bairns as you would wish to see plash in a salt-water dub; and little curlie Godfrey-that's the eldest, the come o' will, as I may say--he's on board an excise yacht

-I hae a cousin at the board of excisethat's Commissioner Bertram; he got his commissionership in the great contest for the county, that ye must have heard of for it was appealed to the House of Com mons-now, I should have voted there for the Laird of Balruddery; but ye see my father was a jacobite, and out with Kenmore, so he never took the oaths; and I

ken not weel how it was, but all that I could do and say they keepit me off the roll, though my agent, that had a vote upon my estate, ranked as a good vote for auld Sir Thomas Kittlecourt. But, to return to what I was saying, Luckie Howatson is very expeditious, for this lass"

Here the desultory and long narrative of the Laird of Ellangowan was interrupted by the voice of some one ascending the stairs from the kitchen story, and singing at full pitch of voice. The high notes were too shrill for a man, the low seemed too deep for a woman. The words, as far as Mannering could distinguish them, seemed to run thus:

Canny moment, lucky fit;
Is the lady lighter yet?

Be it lad, or be it lass,

Sign wi' cross, and sain wi' mass,

"It's Meg Merrilies, the gypsey, as sure as I am a sinner," said Mr Bertram. The

Dominie groaned deeply, uncrossed his legs, drew in the huge splay foot which his former posture had extended, placed it perpendicular, and stretched the other limb over it instead, puffing out between whiles huge volumes of tobacco smoke. "What needs ye groan, Dominie? I am sure Meg's sangs do nae ill."

"Nor good neither," answered Domi nie Sampson, in a voice whose untuneable harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his figure. They were the first words which Mannering had heard him speak; and as he had been watching, with some curiosity, when this eating, drinking, moving, and smoking automaton would perform the part of speaking, he was a good deal diverted with the harsh timber tones which issued from him. But at this moment the door opened, and Meg Merrilies entered.

Her appearance made Mannering stand She was full six feet high,

great coat over the rest

in her hand a goodly sloe-thorn cudgel, and in all points of equipment, except her petticoats, seemed rather masculine than feminine. Her dark elf-locks shot out like the snakes of the gorgon, between an old-fashioned bonnet called a bongrace, heightening the singular effect of her strong and weather-beaten features, which they partly shadowed, while her eye had a wild roll that indicated something like real or affected insanity.

"wad

"Aweel, Ellangowan," she said, it no hae been a bonnie thing, an the leddy had been brought-to-bed, and me at the fair o' Drumshourloch, no kenning, nor dreaming a word about it? Wha was to hae keepit awa the worriecows, I trow? Aye, and the elves and gyre carlings frae the bonny bairn, grace be wi' it? Aye, or said Saint Colme's charm for its sake, the dear?" And without waiting an answer she began to sing

Trefoil, vervain, John's-wort, dill,
Hinders witches of their will;

Weel is them, that weel may,

Fast upon St Andrew's day..

Saint Bride and her brat,

Saint Colme and her cat,

Saint Michael and his spear,

Keep the house frae reif and wear.

This charm she sung to a wild tune, in a high and shrill voice, and, cutting three capers with such strength and agility as almost to touch the roof of the room, concluded, "And now, Laird, will ye no order me a tass o' brandy?"

That you shall have, Meg-Sit down yont there at the door, and tell us what news ye have heard at the fair o' Drum-shourloch."

"Troth, Laird, and there was muckle want o' you, and the like o' you; for there was a whin bonnie lassies there, forbye my sell, and deil ane to gie them hansels."

"Weel, Meg, and how mony gypsies were sent to the tolbooth ?"

"Troth, but three, Laird, for there were