nnot be ascertained. Nevertheless, for long
continued fertility of pen, perhaps Sir Walter Scott may be safely said
to have never been exceeded.

Two remarks have been repeated, till many receive them as undeniable
axioms; and we notice them only for that reason. One is, that the Author
of Waverley's earliest productions are decidedly his best--the other,
that he is never so great as when he treads on Scottish ground. In
neither assertion is there much truth. Are Ivanhoe, Peveril of the Peak,
Quentin Durward, Nigel, and Kenilworth, inferior to St. Ronan's Well,
the Monastery, and the Abbot? May not the first mentioned five be ranked
among the best of his novels? and must they unquestionably yield to Rob
Roy or the Antiquary? or does one of our latest favourites, the Maid of
Perth, betray much deficiency of that vigour which characterized the
first-born Waverley! Few will answer in the affirmative.--_Edinburgh
Review._

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

_Eccentric Preaching_[13].--Mr. Tavernour, of Water Eaton, in
Oxfordshire, high sheriff of the county, came, it is said, in pure
charity, not out of ostentation, and gave the scholars at Oxford a
sermon, in St. Mary's Church, with his gold chain about his neck, and
his sword by his side, and accosted them thus: "Arriving at the Mount of
St. Mary's, in the Stony stage, where I now stand, I have brought you
some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, and carefully
conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit,
and the sweet swallows of salvation."

[13] In the fifteenth century.

SWAINE.

_An Unlucky Plank_.--Sometime since a very large tree was cut down near
Goulson, in the parish of Hartland, into which it was reported and
believed by the peasantry of the neighbourhood, that "Major Docton" was
conjured. The tree was purchased by a builder in Bideford, and cut into
planks, one of which was washed away by the tide, and drifted to
Appledore, where it was picked up by some boatmen, and sold to the
proprietor of the new market, then erecting. The right owner, however,
having heard where the plank was, sent to demand it, but in vain. The
bearer of the message strongly urged the giving of it up, declaring that
as the old major had been conjured into it, it would certainly throw the
market down. The words were prophetic, for, while they were yet
disputing on the subject, that part of the market-house containin