e
pit in describing the higher passions that are more proper to their sex
than hers. Alack-a-day! my poor cat Hinse, my acquaintance, and in some
sort my friend of fifteen years, was snapped at even by the paynim
Nimrod. What could I say to him but what Brantome said to some
_ferrailleur_ who had been too successful in a duel, 'Ah! mon grand ami,
vous avez tue mon autre grand ami.'"

[301] Manager of the _Foreign Review_.

[302] Robert Pitcairn, author of _Criminal Trials in Scotland_, 3 vols.
4to.

[303] William Scott, Esq., afterwards Laird of Raeburn, was commonly
thus designated from a minor possession, during his father's lifetime.
Whatever, in things of this sort, used to be practised among the French
noblesse, might be traced, till very lately, in the customs of the
Scottish provincial gentry.--- J.G.L.

[304] _Life_, vol. vi. p. 90.

[305]

"They have ty'd me to a stake; I cannot fly, But bear-like I must fight
the course."--_Macbeth_, Act v. Sc. 7.

[306] The work was published in May30 under the following title:--"_Anne
of Geierstein_, or _The Maiden of the Mist_. By the Author of
_Waverley_, etc.

What! will the aspiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground?
SHAKESPEARE.

In three volumes. Edinburgh: Printed for Cadell & Co., Edinburgh; and
Simpkin & Marshall, London, 1829. (At the end) Edinburgh: Printed by
Ballantyne & Company, Paul's Work, Canongate."

MAY.

_May_ 1.--Weather more tolerable. I commenced my review on the Duke of
Guise's Expedition,[307] for my poor correspondent Gillies, with six
leaves. What a curious tale that is of Masaniello! I went to Huntly Burn
in the sociable, and returned on foot, to my great refreshment. Evening
as usual. Ate, drank, smoked, and wrote.

_May_ 2.--A pitiful day of rain and wind. Laboured the whole morning at
Gillies's review. It is a fine subject--the Duke of Guise at Naples--and
I think not very much known, though the story of Masaniello is.

I have a letter from Dr. Lardner proposing to me to publish the history
in June. But I dare not undertake it in so short a space, proof-sheets
and all considered; it must be October--no help for it.[308] Worked
after dinner as usual.

_May_ 3.--The very same diary might serve this day as the last. I sent
off to Gillies half his review, and I wish the other half at Old Nick.

_May_ 4.--A poor young woman came here this morning, well-dressed and
well-behaved, with a strong northern accent. She talk