he looked mair manly than when he was ta'en frae Milnwood." Next she enlarged on the advantage of saving old clothes to be what she called "beet-masters to the new," and was far advanced in the history of a velvet cloak belonging to the late Milnwood, which had first been converted to a velvet doublet, and then into a pair of breeches, and appeared each time as good as new, when Morton interrupted her account of its transmigration to bid her good-by. He gave, indeed, a sufficient shock to her feelings, by expressing the necessity he was under of proceeding on his journey that evening. "And whar are ye gaun ?-And what wad ye do that for ?-And whar wad ye sleep but in your ain house, after ye hae been sae mony years frae hame ?" "I feel all the unkindness of it, Ailie, but it must be so; and that was the reason that I attempted to conceal myself from you, as I suspected ye would not let me part from you so easily." "But whar are ye gaun, then ?" said Ailie, once more. "Saw e'er mortal e'en the like o' you, just to come ae moment, and flee awa like an arrow out of a bow the neist ?" "I must go down," replied Morton, "to Niel Blane the Piper's Howff; he can give me a bed, I suppose ?" "A bed? I'se warrant can he," replied Ailie," and gar ye pay weel for't into the bargain. Laddie, I dare say ye hae lost your wits in thae foreign parts, to gang and gie siller for a supper and a bed, and might hae baith for naething, and thanks t'ye for accepting them." "I assure you, Ailie," said Morton, desirous to silence her remonstrances, "that this is a business of great importance, in which I may be a great gainer, and cannot possibly be a loser." "I dinna see how that can be, if ye begin by gieing maybe the fee o' twal shillings Scots for your supper; but young folks are aye venturesome, and think to get siller that way. My puir auld master took a surer gait, and never parted wi' it when he had anes gotten't." Persevering in his desperate resolution, Morton took leave of Ailie, and mounted his horse to proceed to the little town, after exacting a solemn promise that she would conceal his return until she again saw or heard from him "I am not very extravagant," was his natural reflection, as he trotted slowly towards the town; "but were Ailie and I to set up house together, as she proposes, I think my profusion would break the good old creature's heart before a week were out." CHAPTER XXVIII. -Where's the jolly host You told me of? "T has been my custom ever Lovers' Progress. MORTON reached the borough town without meeting with any remarkable adventure, and alighted at the little inn. It had occurred to him more than once, while upon his journey, that his resumption of the dress which he had worn while a youth, although favourable to his views in other respects, might render it more difficult for him to remain incognito. But a few years of campaigns and wandering had so changed his appearance, that he had great confidence that in the grown man, whose brows exhibited the traces of resolution and considerate thought, none would recognize the raw and bashful stripling who won the game of the popinjay. The only chance was, that here and there some whig, whom he had led to battle, might remember the Captain of the Milnwood Marksmen; but the risk, if there was any, could not be guarded against. The Howff seemed full and frequented as if possessed of all its old celebrity. The person and demeanour of Niel Blane, more fat and less civil than of yore, intimated that he had increased as well in purse as in corpulence; for in Scotland a landlord's complaisance for his guests decreases in exact proportion to his rise in the world. His daughter had acquired the air of a dexterous bar-maid, undisturbed by the circumstances of love and war, so apt to perplex her in the exercise of her vocation. Both showed Morton the degree of attention which could have been expected by a stranger travelling without attendants, at a time when they were particularly the badges of distinction. He took upon himself exactly the character his appearance presented,-went to the stable and saw his horse accommodated,-then returned to the house, and, seating himself in the public room, (for to request one to himself, would, in those days, have been thought an overweening degree of conceit,) he found himself in the very apartment in which he had some years before celebrated his victory at the game of the popinjay, a jocular preferment which led to so many serious consequences. He felt himself, as may well be supposed, a much changed man since that festivity; and yet, to look around him, the groups assembled in the Howff seemed not dissimilar to those which the same scene had formerly presented. Two or three burghers husbanded their "dribbles o' brandy ;" two or three dragoons lounged over their muddy ale, and cursed the inactive times that allowed them no better cheer. Their Cornet did not, indeed, play at backgammon with the curate in his cassock, but he drank a little modicum of aqua mirabilis with the grey-cloaked presbyterian minister. The scene was another, and yet the same, differing only in persons, but corresponding in general character. "Let the tide of the world wax or wane as it will," Morton thought, as he looked around him, "enough will be found to fill the places which chance renders vacant; 24 VOL. II. and, in the usual occupations and amusements of life, human beings will succeed each other, as leaves upon the same tree, with the same individual difference, and the same general resemblance." After pausing a few minutes, Morton, whose experience had taught him the readiest mode of securing attention, ordered a pint of claret, and, as the smiling landlord appeared with the pewter measure foaming fresh from the tap, (for bottling wine was not then in fashion,) he asked him to sit down and take a share of the good cheer. This invitation was peculiarly acceptable to Niel Blane, who, if he did not positively expect it from every guest not provided with better company, yet received it from many, and was not a whit abashed or surprised at the summons. He sat down, along with his guest, in a secluded nook near the chimney; and while he received encouragement to drink by far the greater share of the liquor before them, he entered at length, as a part of his expected functions, upon the news of the country-the births, deaths, and marriages,—the change of property -the downfall of old families, and the rise of new. But politics, now the fertile source of eloquence, mine host did not care to mingle in his theme, and it was only in answer to a question of Morton, that he replied, with an air of indifference, "Um! ay! we aye hae sodgers amang us, mair or less. There's a wheen German horse down at Glasgow yonder; they ca' their commander Wittybody, or some sic name, though he's as grave and grewsome an auld Dutchman as e'er I saw." "Wittenbold, perhaps?" said Morton; "an old man, with grey hair and short black moustaches-speaks seldom ?" "I see "And smokes for ever," replied Niel Blane. your honour kens the man. He may be a very gude inan too, for aught I see, that is, considering he is a sodger and a Dutchman; but if he were ten generals, and as mony Wittybodies, he has nae skill in the pipes; he gar'd me stop in the middle of Torphichen's Rant, the best piece o' music that ever bag gae wind to." 66 are "But these fellows," said Morton, glancing his eye towards the soldiers that were in the apartment, not of his corps ?" 66 "Na, na, these are Scotch dragoons," said mine host; our ain auld caterpillars; these were Claver'se lads a while syne, and wad be again, maybe, if he had the lang ten in his hand." "Is there not a report of his death?" inquired Morton. "Troth is there," said the landlord; "your honour is right-there is sic a fleeing rumour; but, in my puir opinion, it's lang or the deil die. I wad hae the folks here look to themsells. If he makes an outbreak, he'll be doun frae the hielands or I could drink this glass-and whare are they then? A' thae hell-rakers o' dragoons wad be at his whistle in a moment. Nae doubt they're Willie's men e'en now, as they were James's awhile syne-and reason good-they fight for their pay; what else hae they to fight for? They hae neither lands nor houses, I trow. There's ae gude thing o' the change, or the Revolution, as they ca' it,-folks may speak out afore thae birkies now, and nae fear o' being haul'd awa to the guard-house, or having the thumikins screwed on your finger-ends, just as I wad drive the screw through a cork." There was a little pause, when Morton, feeling confident in the progress he had made in mine host's familiarity, asked, though with the hesitation proper to one who puts a question on the answer to which rests something of importance,- "Whether Blane knew a woman in that neighbourhood called Elizabeth Maclure ?" "Whether I ken Bessy Maclure?" answered the 'andlord, with a landlord's laugh-" How can I but ken my ain wife's (haly be her rest!)-my ain wife's first gudeman's sister, Bessie Maclure? an honest wife she is, but sair she's been trysted wi' misfortunes,-the loss o' twa decent lads o' sons, in the time o' the persecution, as they ca' it now-a-days; and doucely and decently she has borne her burden, blaming nane, and condemning nane. If there's an honest woman in the world, it's Bessie Maclure. And to lose her twa sons, as I was saying, |