filement in their train.

"And so," said the aged Nestor, "ye are up in arms against the late
erections, because ye canna get an hour or twa's fishing, nor pursue
your own fancies about solitude, and innocence, and that! I will tell
ye, my good sir--for ye're but a bairn in comparison wi' me--that had ye
experienced what I hae experienced, ye wad hae blessed the day which
converted this solitary and useless den into a source of comfortable
living to hundreds of families, who might otherwise be starving at home,
or banished from all that they hold dear into a foreign land."

"Grandfather," hereupon said a fine rosy girl about fourteen, "dinner's
ready: will ye come in, or will I bring it out to you?"

"I think," said the ancient patriarch, "I'll just rest whar I am; it's a
bonny sunny day, and the den is a' loun and sheltered. Just bring out
the broth and the wee bit Irish stew here, and maybe this gentleman, now
tired wi' nae fishing, will no scorn to tak a spoonfu' and a bit
alangside o' a puir auld body."

I immediately assured my kind host that I had provisions in my basket,
which I soon disengaged, together with a flask containing a sufficiency
of old Nantz. To it, therefore, we set, exchanging viands: I partaking
of the excellent and savoury stew, and he of a wee drap, only a very wee
drap, of the brandy. Like Sir Walter Scott's minstrel, the soul of the
old yet vigorous Trojan waxed strong within him; and, after having duly
returned thanks to the Giver of all good, he drew me close to his elbow,
and proceeded thus:--

"Indeed, sir, I'm now considerably upwards of eighty years--the period
at which the psalmist says the strength of man is but grief and labour;
but I haena found it sae, for a' my griefs and labours were confined to
the earlier pairt o' my life, and no to the latter day--His name be
praised for the same."

I instinctively answered "Amen;" and, partly encouraged by this, and
partly by an additional pull at the brandy-flask, the old man pursued
his egotism.

"Well, ye see, ye are against spinning-jennies and large manufactures,
ye say; but they are the freends o' the puir, sir--the blessed
supporters o' thousands and millions in these lands.[C] You shall hear;
for, as you seem to have time on your hands, I will, for your father's
sake" (I had made him acquainted with my descent from a worthy clergyman
in the north), "unfold to you my whole history, and that of my children,
up to this hour:--