er and listen
to the deep tones of the great magician himself, as he delights our
ear with some quaint tradition of the olden time, while Maida, grave
and dignified as becomes the rank he holds, crouches beside his
master, disdaining to share the sports of Hamlet, Hector, "both
mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound" frolicking so wantonly on the bonny
green knowe before us!

But at length the hour of parting comes. We feel the hearty grasp, and
hear the farewell words with which Scott takes leave of his American
friend, and as with them our delusion wrought by the magic pen of
Irving vanishes, we would fain slay the enchantment--too bright to
pass away unlamented!

"The pen of a ready writer, whereunto shall it be likened?

* * * * *

Let the calm child of genius, whose name shall never die,
For that the transcript of his mind hath made his thoughts immortal--
Let these, let all, with no faint praise, with no light gratitude, confess
_The blessings poured upon the earth from the pen of a readywriter_."

Closing the volume which had so enchained my senses, my mind, from
dwelling upon the presence of Scott himself, as introduced through
the unformal courtesy of our beloved Irving, naturally turned to the
varied and wonderful productions of that master mind, and to the many
characters thereby created, seeming to hold a sacred place in our
thoughts and affections, as friends whom we had once known and loved!

I was suddenly aroused from my ruminations by a light tap on the
shoulder. Judge of my astonishment when Meg Merrillies stood before
me, clad in the same wild gipsy garb in which she had warned the Laird
of Ellangowan on Ellangowan's height! In her shriveled hand it would
seem she held the very sapling which for the last time she had plucked
from the bonny woods which had so long waved above her bit shealing,
until driven thence by the timorous and weak-minded laird. With this
she again touched me, and in a half inviting, half commanding tone
said:

"Gang wi' me, leddy, gang wi' me, and I will show ye a bonny company,
amang whilk ye'll soon speer those ye're thinking o'."

I confess it was not without some trepidation I arose to follow my
strange conductor, who, seizing my hand, rather dragged than led me
through several long dark passages, until suddenly emerging from one
still more gloomy than the others, my eyes were almost blinded with
the glare of light and splendor that