“ As to wizards and devils, if I meet any, they shall dance to the sound of my violin. They will tell me if the musicians in hell play a better fiddle than old Matthew Wilmart.'
In finishing these words, which made the young people laugh, and the old men shake their heads in displeasure, he enveloped himself in his cloak, and set out at a firm pace on the path which led through the forest to Hesdin. ”

“ In a certain small town in the south of Scotland there lived, about three years ago, a very respectable tailor, of the name of John Hetherington—that is to say, John wore well with the world; but, like too many of his craft, he was sorely addicted to cabbaging. Not a coat could he make, not a pair of trowsers could he cut out, not a waistcoat could he stitch up, but he must have a patch of this, that, and t’other, were it for no other purpose but just to serve as a bit of a memorial. ”

“ Matthew Wilmart was the best fiddler in the city of Hesdin. There was no village for ten miles round, where they would have enjoyed their dancing, if any one but Matthew Wilmart fingered the violin for them. ”

“ Brilliant music was resounding from all parts of it, and the dancers who were passing every moment before the windows, cast their dark and rapid shadows upon the curtains, which a reddish light rendered transparent. ”

“ Dougal Graham, author of a well known metrical history of the rebellion in 1745, being candidate for the place of town bellman in the city of Glasgow, was desired to call "Gude fresh herrings new come in at the Broomielaw," (it not being the season of herrings) , Dougal added,
"But, indeed, my friends, it’s a’ a blaeflum,
"For the herrings no catch’d, an’ the boat’s no come,
which procured for Dougal the situation.
Dougal was a kind of Scotch Æsop, he had a large humph on one of his shoulders, and like his prototype, had wit. ”

“ I sat in the cuddy, watching the storm, till past eight o’clock, when a flash which illuminated the whole hemisphere, and was accompanied with loud cracking, and a tremendous noise, struck the ship, and killed, upon the spot, two of the seamen on the forecastle. ”

“ He had got to hand a beautiful piece of red cloth, for what purpose I know not, whether for the coat of a field officer, or the back of a fox hunter, but a prime piece of cloth that was; he turned it over to this side, and back to that, viewed it in all lights and shades, rubbed it against the grain, and found it faultless; he had never seen such a fine piece of cloth before; scissors had never before cut such immaculate stuff. ”

“ Providentially the sea was very still, or our boats would have swamped and we must have perished. There was also very little wind, but it sometimes changed, and assisted by the prevailing current, urged forward the burning ship; for the sails, being drenched with rain, did not easily take fire. Our situation, therefore, was for some time exceedingly perilous. The vessel neared us more than once, and seemed to threaten to involve us in its own destruction. ”

“ Captain Dacre had already affirmed, in answer to my inquires, that the two boats could not carry all the ship’s company, passengers and crew: and under other circumstances, we should not have dared to try them; but the trial must now be made. The two ladies, one of whom had to be hurried from her bed, where she had retired for the night, were first put safely into the yawl ”

“ In the other world, to his misfortune, he found things not moving so comfortably as he would have wished, and the Old Gentleman with the short horns and the long tail, rigged out in his best suit of black, was the first friend he forgathered with after passing the border. ”

“ Calling in the street of the Gallogate, opposite the Saracen’s Head Inn, where several officers of the gallant 42d regiment were dining at the close of the American war, some of whom knew Dougal before they went abroad, opening the window, called out, "What's that you’ve got on your back, Dougal?" Knowing what the regiment suffered at Bunker’s Hill, Dougal replied, "It's Bunker’s Hill, do you choose to mount?”
FINIS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. ”