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Monthly Review of Litertttwe, 



[DEC. 



to return it. He laughs at her warnings, 

 but finally consents to put the knife into the 

 keeping of a friend who is going the same 

 road, and on the same errand, though not 

 for some hours after. On arriving at a 

 place where he and his friend the York- 

 shireman propose stopping for the night, it 

 so happens that they hire the same field for 

 the accommodation of their cattle, one from 

 the owner, the other from the bailiff. The 

 Englishman loses temper, on being obliged 

 to give way, and reproaches the Highlander 

 with underhand doings. High words en- 

 sue, and nothing but a turn-up, or set-to, 

 whatever the boxing phrase is, will satisfy 

 the Yorkshireman. The Highlander is no 

 boxer, and has no desire to fight ; but being 

 still urged and insulted, he proposes the 

 broadsword. The broadsword is of course 

 no weapon for a man who confides in his 

 fist Backed and prompted by the party, 

 the Yorkshireman at last brands him with 

 the name of coward, and knocks him down ; 

 and though the pluck of the Highlander 

 impels him to return the blow, he proves 

 no match for his practised opponent. Rest- 

 less at this defeat and disgrace, he rushes 

 forth to find the man who possesses his 

 knife, and recovering it, he flies back to the 

 inn, calls upon the Yorkshireman to come 

 forward, and in the presence of the assem- 

 bled party, plunges it in his bosom. On the 

 trial, a long rigmarole of subtile distinc- 

 tion is made by the judge, to shew that the 

 Italian with his stiletto, and the Highlander 

 with his knife, are two very different cha- 

 racters. The one does the deed boldly, the 

 other secretly. The one advances in front 

 of his foe, and the other steals upon him. 

 But the distinction is not worth a rush ; for 

 the man who was struck, and who stood up 

 at the assassin's summons, had no appre- 

 hension of attack to him the blow was as 

 unexpected as if it had been given by 

 stealth and was, in effect, so given. 



These two tales are, indeed, illustrative 

 of Scottish principles ; but the third, which 

 occupies the whole of the second volume, 

 has little to do with them. The author has 

 ventured to take his people to India a 

 country of which he, of course, knows no- 

 thing but by the reports of his friends, and 

 the intelligence of books. He has, how- 

 ever, prudently confined himself to matters 

 of pretty general notoriety still something 

 coming more within his own purview is ex- 

 pected from such a person as Sir Walter 

 Scott. We can only glance at the tale of the 

 Surgeon's Daughter. A lady, suddenly and 

 mysteriously introduced to the surgeon, 

 whose daughter is the heroine, in a small 

 Scotch town, is delivered at his house of a 

 child, which, on her recovery, is left in his 

 charge. He knows nothing of the parties, 

 but corresponds through a banker with the 

 lady's supposed father. With the consent 

 of this grandfather, the boy is brought up 

 to his protector's profession, though but 

 little disposed to sit down quietly to a 



country practice, or any other humdrum 

 employment. His ambition has been 

 awakened, and he is panting for distinc- 

 tion the old nurse has fed him with tales 

 of his possible importance that though his 

 father was unknown, he must have been 

 somebody of eminence, &c. The youth, 

 however, goes through the usual routine of 

 probation for his profession, in company 

 with another young man, of nearly his own 

 age, both of whom are attached to the sur- 

 geon's daughter ; but the one of mysterious 

 birth, who takes the name of Middlemas, 

 carries her affection. On coming of age, 

 he receives about 1,000/., and taking leave 

 of the surgeon, and his lovely daughter, 

 proposes to go into the world and carve his 

 own fortunes. He flies immediately to a 

 young man, whom he had known as a law- 

 yer's clerk, and who was now a captain in 

 the East-India Company's army, and crimp- 

 ing for their service, who prevails upon him 

 to join the corps engaging to procure him 

 a commission. With this person he goes 

 to the dep6t in the Isle of Wight, where, 

 plunged in a state of ebriety, he is robbed 

 and plundered by his friend, and, on coming 

 to his senses, finds himself in the midst of 

 scores of miserable and profligate wretches 

 in the hospital, from which deplorable 

 condition he is speedily rescued by Hartley, 

 his fellow-apprentice at the surgeon's, now 

 in the Company's service, with the diploma 

 of M.D., and visiting the hospital officially. 

 Through his influence with the general, then 

 commanding, whose children he had saved 

 in the small-pox, he rescues his friend, and 

 procures him redress ; and in the course of 

 the transaction discovers the general and 

 his wife to be the parents of Middlemas, 

 who was illegitimately born, and whom he 

 endeavours to serve from affection for the 

 surgeon's daughter, rather than motives of 

 friendship for they had been very indif- 

 ferent friends. Though resolved not to 

 acknowledge his son, from concern for his 

 wife's honour, the general consents, on the 

 intreaty of his wife, to an interview, before 

 his departure for India. In this interview 

 he makes some remark that cuts the poor 

 lady to the soul ; she faints is removed to 

 her own room flies for relief to the piano, 

 and dies, like a swan, in a stream of music 

 little less than heavenly. Maddened by his 

 loss, the general he had had a coup de 

 soleil in the east breaks out into bitter re- 

 proaches against his son who seems, how- 

 ever, to care little for reproaches his whole 

 mind being absorbed in considering how 

 he may recover what appear to him to be 

 his rights. Balked of his purpose, though 

 impeded by no squeamishness, he sails for 

 India, and the doctor also. In India, his 

 insolence and profligacy soon get him into 

 scrapes ; and he kills his commanding offi- 

 cer in a duel. He betrays the government, 

 and enters the service of the native princes, 

 and finally stipulates for reinstatement to 

 his rank in the Company's service, by offer- 



