CHAPTER XXVIII 



THE DANDIE DINMONT 



EVERY reader of " Guy Mannering " knows whence 

 this terrier derived his name. The great novelist, 

 like the good sportsman he was, would have his 

 terriers workers. What did Dandie Dinmont say 

 when he heard of one whose education had been 

 somewhat neglected? " Ay, sir, that is a pity, 

 begging your pardon it is a great pity that ; beast 

 or body, education should aye be minded. I have 

 six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slow 

 hounds, five grews, and a wheen other dogs. There's 

 auld Pepper and auld Mustard, and young Pepper 

 and young Mustard, and little Pepper and little 

 Mustard. I had them a' regularly entered^ first wi' 

 rottens, then wi' stots or weasels, and then wi' the 

 tods and brocks, and now they fear naething that 

 ever cam* wi' a hairy skin on't." 



Although Sir Walter Scott tells us in his notes 

 to " Guy Mannering " that the character of Dandie 

 Dinmont was a composite one, and not a portrait, 

 most people persist in associating this personage with 

 James Davidson, of Hindlee, and this inference is 

 further strengthened by Sir Walter's remarks that 

 Davidson had the humour of naming a race of 



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