of discussion, there is no space to argue them; and all that could be brought forward would be the assertion of the author's own opinion, for which he is not entitled to claim any particular deference from other readers, and certainly is not disposed to require it from you, or to desire that you should take upon his authority what should be the subject of your own investiga

tion.

Like most men of some experience in life, I entertain undoubtedly my own opinions upon the great political questions of the present and of future times; but I have no desire to impress these on my juvenile readers. What I have presumed to offer is a general, and, it is hoped, not an uninteresting selection of facts, which may at a future time form a secure foundation for political sentiments.

I am more anxious that the purpose of this work should be understood, because a friendly and indulgent critic,* whose general judgment has been but too partially pronounced in favour of the author, has in one point misunderstood my intentions. My friendly Aristarchus, for such I must call him, has paid me the great compliment (which I may boast of having to

* Westminster Review for April, 1829.

my utmost ability deserved), that my little work contains no fault of commission; that is to say, he admits that I have not either concealed or falsified the truth of history in controverted points, which, in my opinion, would have been, especially in a work designed for the use of youth, a most unpardonable crime. But he charges me with the offence of omission, in leaving out inferences which he himself would have drawn from the same facts, and which he seems to think are too obvious not to be discerned, and too stubborn to be refuted. It is, on the contrary, my opinion, and has been ever since I came to years of understanding, that in many of these points his conclusions are liable to direct challenge, and in others to much modification. I must not, therefore, leave it to be supposed that I have deserted my banners, because I have not at this time and place thought it necessary to unfurl them.

But I could not introduce political discussions into any elementary work designed to inspire a love of study. In more mature

years, the juvenile reader will have an opportunity of forming his own judgment upon the points of controversy which have disturbed our history; and I think he will probably find

that the spirit of party faction, far from making demi-gods of the one side, and fiends or fools of the other, is itself the blot and stain of our annals-has produced under one shape or other its most tragic events-has blighted the characters of its best and wisest statesmen, and perhaps reserves for Britain at a future day, a repetition of the evils with which it has already afflicted our fathers.

That you, my dear child, and your contemporaries, may escape so great an infliction, is the sincere hope and prayer

Of your affectionate

ABBOTSFORD,

1st December, 1829.

GRANDFATHER.

}

*

* [John Hugh Lockhart, to whom these Tales were addressed, died before his Grandfather, on the 15th Deceinber, 1831, in the eleventh year of his age.]

TALES OF A GRANDFATHER.

Third Series.

CHAPTER LXI.

Mutual dislike between the Scots and English -Divided Feeling in England in regard to the Union - Universal Discontent with the Union in Scotland-Disposition among all Parties to restore the Stewart Family-Education and Character of the Chevalier de St George. Promise of

Louis XIV. to support the claims of the Family of James II.—Intrigues of the Jacobite Emissaries perplexing to the French King, who resolves to ascertain the temper of the Country by an Agent of his own.

WE are now, my dear child, approaching a period more resembling our own than those through which I have hitherto conducted you. In England, and in the Lowlands of Scotland, men used the same language, possessed in a considerable degree the same habits of society, and lived under the same forms of government, which have existed in Britain down to the present day. The Highlanders, indeed, retained their ancient manners; and although, from the establishment of forts and garrisons in their country, the laws had much more power over them than formerly, so that they could no longer break out into the same excesses, they still remained, in

their dress, customs, manners, and language, much more like the original Scots in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, than the Lowlanders of the same period resembled their ancestors of the seventeenth century.

But though the English and Lowland Scots exhibited little distinction in their manners and habits, excepting that those of the latter people indicated less wealth or refinement of luxury, there was no sympathy of feeling between them, and the recent measure of the Union had only an effect resembling that of putting two quarrelsome dogs into the same couples, or two sullen horses into the same yoke. Habit may in course of time teach them to accommodate themselves to each other; but the first consequence of the compulsory tie which unites them is the feeling of aggravated hostility.

The predominant prejudices of the English represented the Scots, in the language of the celebrated Dean Swift, as a poor, ferocious, and haughty people, detesting their English neighbours, and looking upon them as a species of Egyptians, whom it was not only lawful but commendable to plunder,

[See post. "The Public Spirit of the Whigs," chap. lxiii. -Swift, in his Remarks on Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, indulges in a train of invectives against the Scots, using such epithets as "Scottish scoundrels," "Hellish Scottish dogs,"

Cursed Scots for ever," "Greedy Scotch rebellious dogs," "most diabolical Scots," "Scottish rebels and beggars ;" and on .which Sir Walter Scott remarks, "The ludicrous virulence of his execrations against the Scottish nation go a great way to remove the effect of his censure; and a native of Scotland may be justified in retaining them, were it but for that reason."-SWIFT'S Works, v. xi. p. 142.]