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    been of a kind which might be
    said to wear well; their irregularity was now of little
    consequence, animated, as they were, by the vivacity of her
    conversation. Her teeth were excellent, and her eyes, although
    inclining to grey, were lively, laughing, and undimmed by time.
    A slight shade of complexion, more brilliant than her years
    promised, subjected my friend amongst strangers to the suspicion
    of having stretched her foreign habits as far as the prudent
    touch of the rouge. But it was a calumny; for when telling or
    listening to an interesting and affecting story, I have seen her
    colour come and go as if it played on the cheek of eighteen.

    Her hair, whatever its former deficiencies was now the most
    beautiful white that time could bleach, and was disposed with
    some degree of pretension, though in the simplest manner
    possible, so as to appear neatly smoothed under a cap of Flanders
    lace, of an old-fashioned but, as I thought, of a very handsome
    form, which undoubtedly has a name, and I would endeavour to
    recur to it, if I thought it would make my description a bit more
    intelligible. I think I have heard her say these favourite caps
    had been her mother's, and had come in fashion with a peculiar
    kind of wig used by the gentlemen about the time of the battle of
    Ramillies. The rest of her dress was always rather costly and
    distinguished, especially in the evening. A silk or satin gown
    of some colour becoming her age, and of a form which, though
    complying to a certain degree with the present fashion, had
    always a reference to some more distant period, was garnished
    with triple ruffles. Her shoes had diamond buckles, and were
    raised a little at heel, an advantage which, possessed in her
    youth, she alleged her size would not permit her to forego in her
    old age. She always wore rings, bracelets, and other ornaments
    of value, either for the materials or the workmanship; nay,
    perhaps she was a little profuse in this species of display. But
    she wore them as subordinate matters, to which the habits of
    being constantly in high life rendered her indifferent; she wore
    them because her rank required it, and thought no more of them as
    articles of finery than a gentleman dressed for dinner thinks of
    his clean linen and well-brushed coat, the consciousness of which
    embarrasses the rustic beau on a Sunday.

    Now and then, however, if a gem or ornament chanced to be noticed
    for its beauty or singularity, the observation usually led the
    way to an entertaining account of the manner in which it had been
    acquired, or the person from whom it had descended to its present
    possessor. On such and similar occasions my old friend spoke
    willingly, which is not uncommon; but she also, which is more
    rare, spoke remarkably well, and had in her little narratives
    concerning foreign parts or former days, which formed an
    interesting part of her conversation, the singular art of
    dismissing all the usual protracted tautology respecting time,
    place, and circumstances which is apt to settle like a mist upon
    the cold and languid tales of age, and at the same time of
    bringing forward, dwelling upon, and illustrating those incidents
    and characters which give point and interest to the story.

    She had, as we have hinted, travelled a good deal in foreign
    countries; for a brother, to whom she was much attached, had been
    sent upon various missions of national importance to the
    Continent, and she had more than once embraced the opportunity of
    accompanying him. This furnished a great addition to the
    information which she could supply, especially during the last
    war, when the Continent was for so many years hermetically sealed
    against the English nation. But, besides, Mrs. Bethune Baliol
    visited different countries, not in the modern fashion, when
    English travel in caravans together, and see in France and Italy
    little besides the same society which they might have enjoyed at
    home. On the contrary, she mingled when abroad with the natives
    of those countries she visited, and enjoyed at once the advantage
    of their society, and the pleasure of comparing it with that of
    Britain.

    In the course of her becoming habituated with foreign manners,
    Mrs. Bethune Baliol had, perhaps, acquired some slight tincture
    of them herself. Yet I was always persuaded that the peculiar
    vivacity of look and manner--the pointed and appropriate action
    with which she accompanied what she said--the use of the gold and
    gemmed TABATIERE, or rather, I should say, BONBONNIERE (for she
    took no snuff, and the little box contained only a few pieces of
    candled angelica, or some such ladylike sweetmeat), were of real
    old-fashioned Scottish growth, and such as might have graced the
    tea-table of Susannah, Countess of Eglinton, the patroness of
    Allan Ramsay [See Note 4.--Countess of Eglinton.], or of the
    Hon. Mrs. Colonel Ogilvy, who was another mirror by whom the
    Maidens of Auld Reekie were required to dress themselves.
    Although well acquainted with the customs of other countries, her
    manners had been chiefly formed 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, from a sense that my friend was
    the most valuable depository of Scottish traditions that was
    probably now to be found. This was a subject on which my mind
    was so much made up that, when I heard her carry her description
    of manners so far back beyond her own time, and describe how
    Fletcher of Salton spoke, how Graham of Claverhouse danced, what
    were the jewels worn by the famous Duchess of Lauderdale, and how
    she came by them, I could not help telling her I thought her some
    fairy, who cheated us by retaining the appearance of a mortal of
    our own day, when, in fact, she had witnessed the revolutions of
    centuries. She was much diverted when I required her to take
    some solemn oath that she had not danced at the balls given by
    Mary of Este, when her unhappy husband occupied Holyrood in a
    species of honourable banishment; [The Duke of York afterwards
    James II., frequently resided in Holyrood House when his religion
    rendered him an object of suspicion to the English Parliament.]
    or asked whether she could not recollect Charles the Second when
    he came to Scotland in 1650, and did not possess some slight
    recollections of the bold usurper who drove him beyond the Forth.

    "BEAU COUSIN," she said, laughing, "none of these do I remember
    personally, but you must know there has been wonderfully little
    change on my natural temper from youth to age. From which it
    follows, cousin, that, being even now something too young in
    spirit for the years which Time has marked me in his calendar, I
    was, when a girl, a little too old for those of my own standing,
    and as much inclined at that period to keep the society of elder
    persons, as I am now disposed to admit the company of gay young
    fellows of fifty or sixty like yourself, rather than collect
    about me all the octogenarians. Now, although I do not actually
    come from Elfland, and therefore cannot boast any personal
    knowledge of the great personages you enquire about, yet I have
    seen and heard those who knew them well, and who have given me as
    distinct an account of them as I could give you myself of the
    Empress Queen, or Frederick of Prussia; and I will frankly add,"
    said she, laughing and offering her BONBONNIERE, "that I HAVE
    heard so much of the years which immediately succeeded the
    Revolution, that I sometimes am apt to confuse the vivid
    descriptions fixed on my memory by the frequent and animated
    recitation of others, for things which I myself have actually
    witnessed. I caught myself but yesterday describing to Lord M--
    the riding of the last Scottish Parliament, with as much
    minuteness as if I had seen it, as my mother did, from the
    balcony in front of Lord Moray's Lodging in the Canongate."

    "I am sure you must have given Lord M-- a high treat."

    "I treated him to a hearty laugh, I believe," she replied; "but
    it is you, you vile seducer of youth, who lead me into such
    follies. But I will be on my guard against my own weakness. I
    do not well know if the Wandering Jew is supposed to have a wife,
    but I should be sorry a decent middle-aged Scottish gentlewoman
    should be suspected of identity with such a supernatural person."

    "For all that, I must torture you a little more, MA BELLE
    COUSINE, with my interrogatories; for how shall I ever turn
    author unless on the strength of the information which you have
    so often procured me on the ancient state of manners?"

    "Stay, I cannot allow you to give your points of enquiry a name
    so very venerable, if I am expected to answer them. Ancient is a
    term for antediluvians. You may catechise me about the battle of
    Flodden, or ask particulars about Bruce and Wallace, under
    pretext of curiosity after ancient manners; and that last subject
    would wake my Baliol blood, you know."

    "Well, but, Mrs. Baliol, suppose we settle our era: you do not
    call the accession of James the Sixth to the kingdom of Britain
    very ancient?"

    "Umph! no, cousin; I think I could tell you more of that than
    folk nowadays remember. For instance, that as James was trooping
    towards England, bag and baggage, his journey was stopped near
    Cockenzie by meeting the funeral of the Earl of Winton, the old
    and faithful servant and follower of his ill-fated mother, poor
    Mary! It was an ill omen for the INFARE, and so was seen of it,
    cousin." [See Note 5.--Earl of Winton.]

    I did not choose to prosecute this subject, well knowing Mrs.
    Bethune Baliol did not like to be much pressed on the subject of
    the Stewarts, whose misfortunes she pitied, the rather that her
    father had espoused their cause. And yet her attachment to the
    present dynasty being very sincere, and even ardent, more
    especially as her family had served his late Majesty both in
    peace and war, she experienced a little embarrassment in
    reconciling her opinions respecting the exiled family with those
    she entertained for the present. In fact, like many an old
    Jacobite, she was contented to be somewhat inconsistent on the
    subject, comforting herself that NOW everything stood as it ought
    to do, and that there was no use in looking back narrowly on the
    right or wrong of the matter half a century ago.

    "The Highlands," I suggested, "should furnish you with ample
    subjects of recollection. You have witnessed the complete change
    of that primeval country, and have seen a race not far removed
    from the earliest period of society melted down into the great
    mass of civilization; and that could not happen without incidents
    striking in themselves, and curious as chapters in the history of
    the human race."

    "It is very true," said Mrs. Baliol; "one would think it should
    have struck the observers greatly, and yet it scarcely did so.
    For me, I was no Highlander myself, and the Highland chiefs of
    old, of whom I certainly knew several, had little in their
    manners to distinguish them from the Lowland gentry, when they
    mixed in society in Edinburgh, and assumed the Lowland dress.
    Their peculiar character was for the clansmen at home; and you
    must not imagine that they swaggered about in plaids and
    broadswords at the Cross, or came to the Assembly Rooms in
    bonnets and kilts."

    "I remember," said I, "that Swift, in his Journal, tells Stella
    he had dined in the house of a Scots nobleman, with two Highland
    chiefs, whom he had found as well-bred men as he had ever met
    with." [Extract of Journal to Stella.--"I dined to-day (12th
    March 1712) with Lord Treasurer and two gentlemen of the
    Highlands of Scotland, yet very polite men." SWIFT'S WORKS, VOL.
    III. p.7. EDIN. 1824.]

    "Very likely," said my friend. "The extremes of society approach
    much more closely to each other than perhaps the Dean of Saint
    Patrick's expected. The savage is always to a certain degree
    polite. Besides, going always armed, and having a very
    punctilious idea of their own gentility and consequence, they
    usually behaved to each other and to the Lowlanders with a good
    deal of formal politeness, which sometimes even procured them the
    character of insincerity."

    "Falsehood belongs to an early period of society, as well as the
    deferential forms which we style politeness," I replied. "A
    child does not see the least moral beauty in truth until he has
    been flogged half a dozen times. It is so easy, and apparently
    so natural, to deny what you cannot be easily convicted of,

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