in her own, at a time when great folk
lived within little space and when the distinguished names of the
highest society gave to Edinburgh the ECLAT which we now endeavour to
derive from the unbounded expense and extended circle of our pleasures.

I was more confirmed in this opinion by the peculiarity of the dialect
which Mrs. Baliol used. It was Scottish--decidedly Scottish--often
containing phrases and words little used in the present day. But then
her tone and mode of pronunciation were as different from the usual
accent of the ordinary Scotch PATOIS, as the accent of St. James's is
from that of Billingsgate. The vowels were not pronounced much broader
than in the Italian language, and there was none of the disagreeable
drawl which is so offensive to southern ears. In short, it seemed to
be the Scottish as spoken by the ancient Court of Scotland, to which no
idea of vulgarity could be attached; and the lively manners and gestures
with which it was accompanied were so completely in accord with the
sound of the voice and the style of talking, that I cannot assign them a
different origin. In long derivation, perhaps the manner of the Scottish
court might have been originally formed on that of France, to which it
had certainly some affinity; but I will live and die in the belief that
those of Mrs. Baliol, as pleasing as they were peculiar, came to her
by direct descent from the high dames who anciently adorned with their
presence the royal halls of Holyrood.

CHAPTER VII. MRS. BALIOL ASSISTS MR. CROFTANGRY IN HIS LITERARY
SPECULATIONS.

Such as I have described Mrs. Bethune Baliol, the reader will easily
believe that, when I thought of the miscellaneous nature of my work,
I rested upon the information she possessed, and her communicative
disposition, as one of the principal supports of my enterprise.
Indeed, she by no means disapproved of my proposed publication, though
expressing herself very doubtful how far she could personally assist
it--a doubt which might be, perhaps, set down to a little ladylike
coquetry, which required to be sued for the boon she was not unwilling
to grant. Or, perhaps, the good old lady, conscious that her unusual
term of years must soon draw to a close, preferred bequeathing the
materials in the shape of a legacy, to subjecting them to the judgment
of a critical public during her lifetime.

Many a time I used, in our conversations of the Canongate, to resume my
request of assistance,