rtist two admirable subjects for the gay and the melancholy muse.
Indeed Rose was so tenderly watched by her father, and her circle
of wishes was so limited, that none arose but what he was willing to
gratify, and scarce any which did not come within the compass of
his power. With Flora it was otherwise. While almost a girl, she had
undergone the most complete change of scene, from gaiety and splendour
to absolute solitude and comparative poverty; and the ideas and wishes
which she chiefly fostered, respected great national events, and changes
not to be brought round without both hazard and bloodshed, and therefore
not to be thought of with levity. Her manner, consequently, was grave,
though she readily contributed her talents to the amusement of society,
and stood very high in the opinion of the old Baron, who used to sing
along with her such French duets of Lindor and Cloris, &c., as were in
fashion about the end of the reign of old Louis le Grand.

It was generally believed, though no one durst have hinted it to the
Baron of Bradwardine, that Flora's entreaties had no small share in
allaying the wrath of Fergus upon occasion of their quarrel. She took
her brother on the assailable side, by dwelling first upon the Baron's
age, and then representing the injury which the cause might sustain, and
the damage which must arise to his own character in point of prudence,
so necessary to a political agent, if he persisted in carrying it to
extremity. Otherwise it is probable it would have terminated in a duel,
both because the Baron had, on a former occasion, shed blood of the
clan, though the matter had been timely accommodated, and on account
of his high reputation for address at his weapon, which Fergus
almost condescended to envy. For the same reason she had urged their
reconciliation, which the Chieftain the more readily agreed to, as it
favoured some ulterior projects of his own.

To this young lady, now presiding at the female empire of the tea-table,
Fergus introduced Captain Waverley, whom she received with the usual
forms of politeness.

CHAPTER XXII

HIGHLAND MINSTRELSY

When the first salutations had passed, Fergus said to his sister, 'My
dear Flora, before I return to the barbarous ritual of our forefathers,
I must tell you that Captain Waverley is a worshipper of the Celtic
muse, not the less so perhaps that he does not understand a word of her
language. I have told him you are eminent as a translator of