iaso.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



471 



confesses to her his imposture ; but her 

 devotion survives the discovery, and is 

 comforted by his subsequent assurance 

 that, though illegitimate, he is really 

 the son of Edward, and her own convic- 

 tion that noble blood must flow in the 

 veins of one who could play the prince 

 with so much elegance and majesty. 



Waverley Novels. Vol. XV. and X VI. 

 Legend of Montrose and Ivanhoe The 

 Legend of Montrose was written, it 

 seems, chiefly to exhibit the melancholy 

 fate of Lord Kilpont, and the singular 

 circumstances attending the birth and 

 history of Stewart of Ardvoirlich, by 

 whose hand the unfortunate nobleman 

 fell. The young lord, with Ardvoir- 

 lich, who shared his closest confidence, 

 joined Montrose just before the battle 

 of Tippermuir, and within a few days of 

 that decisive conflict was stabbed by his 

 pretended friend, who then fled to the 

 Covenanters, and was employed by them. 

 Bishop Guthrie states, as the cause of 

 this villainous action, that Kilpont re- 

 fused to concur in a scheme of Stewart's 

 for assassinating Montrose. Ardvoir- 

 lich, it seems, is still in the occupation 

 of Stewart's descendants, and a son of 

 the present proprietor, with a very na- 

 tural desire to rescue his ancestor's me- 

 mory from unmerited infamy, has lately 

 written to Sir Walter Scott, descriptive 

 of the family tradition relative to Lord 

 Kilpont's death - which, if it be true, 

 wholly takes the sting of villainy out of 

 the case. From this account, it appears, 

 that one Macdonald, at the head of a 

 band of Irishman, had recently joined 

 Montrose, and on his way had commit- 

 ted ravages on Stewart's lands, of which 

 Stewart loudly complained to Montrose. 

 Receiving, however, no satisfaction from 

 his commander, he challenged to single 

 combat the depredator ; but before the 

 hostile meeting took place, both parties 

 were put under arrest, on the informa- 

 tion, it was supposed, of Lord Kilpont. 

 Montrose forced Macdonald and his 

 challenger to shake hands, when Stewart, 

 a man of powerful muscle, gave Mac- 

 donald such a grip, as to make the blood 

 start from his ringers' ends. The recon- 

 ciliation was of course anything but sin- 

 cere. After the battle of Tippermuir, 

 Stewart, still brooding over the quarrel, 

 was drinking with Lord Kilpont, and 

 suddenly upbraided his friend for his 

 interference. One hasty word begot 

 another, till blows followed, and Kilpont 

 was killed on the spot. The necessity 

 of flight was imperative, and Stewart 

 had no refuge, apparently, but in throw- 

 ing himself into the arms of the opposite 

 faction. Sir Walter makes the amende 

 honorable by printing Mr. Stewart's 

 letter, and cautiously adding " the pub- 

 lication of a statement so particular, and 



probably so correct, ia a debt due to the 

 memory of James Stewart the victim, 

 it would seem, of his own violent pas- 

 sions, but perhaps incapable of an act of 

 premeditated treachery." This is one 

 of the evils of introducing historical 

 characters into romances the tale wri- 

 ter necessarily consults effect before 

 fact. 



The preface to Ivanhoe accounts for 

 the author's changing the scene of his 

 imaginations he was apprehensive of 

 glutting the market with Scotch stories, 

 and of incurring the risk and charge of 

 mannerism, and desirous also of trying 

 how far he could naturalize in new re- 

 gions. No matter for the motive the 

 change was welcome, and the attempt 

 successful. 



An Essay on the Creation of the Uni- 

 verse, c., by Charles Doyne Sillery, Au- 

 thor of " Vallory," " Eldred of Erin," $c. 

 -A splendid burst of declamation we 

 will not call it rant, for much of it may 

 deservedly class with the brilliant but 

 vague effusions of Dr. Chalmers, to 

 whom the author dedicates, in grateful 

 acknowledgment for delight experienced 

 in the perusal of his Astronomical Dis- 

 courses. With numbers, the devotional 

 spirit of the writer will redeem the 

 want of facts in his discoveries, and of 

 sobriety in his conclusions. Regarding 

 analogies as certainties, Mr. Sillery 

 proves, with the greatest facility, and 

 equal confidence, that the sun which 

 Newton represents as a globe of devour- 

 ing fire, and the comets which Whiston 

 supposed was the abode of the damned, 

 are all as cool as cucumbers, and fully 

 capable of being inhabited by beings 

 similar, in every respect, to ourselves. 

 Planets, near or remote, are not, as 

 astronomers absurdly suppose, hot or 

 cold in any ratio of their distances from 

 the sun, for these qualities depend upon 

 the density of their atmospheres the 

 rarer, the cooler- the denser, the hotter 

 and, therefore, all that can be required 

 to make these bodies of the same tempe- 

 rature, is a proportionate change in the 

 atmosphere. The planets have their 

 days and nights, summer and winter, 

 sun and moons, and, consequently, in- 

 habitants. The comets, also, without 

 doubt, are worlds inhabited by men and 

 women, precisely like ourselves, and 

 growing, specifically, " similar vegeta- 

 bles ," for planets and our earth is one 

 are nothing but adult or aged comets, 

 and comets sucking planets, and the 

 whole but crystallizations, cr condensa- 

 tions of an etherial medium once co- 

 extensive with universal space. 



The author himself must be as singu- 

 lar a phenomenon as any astronomical 

 one he records " My childhood," says 

 he, " was spent in the study of the sci- 



