GEORGE RITCHIE THE FIDDLER. 135 



sight, the best shot in . Great Britain ; pass round the 

 whiskey, and you may be certain of a ready acquiescence. 



Then when the night closes in, you may call in George 

 Ritchie, the fiddler and wit, if be happens to be in your 

 train. Oh ! George, how well I remember your speaking 

 countenance your capacious mouth and your mighty 

 ears. You are a good fellow, George, and were a most 

 admirable deer-driver to the lord of the forest, and for this 

 I honour thee ; but thou didst play me many a slippery 

 trick by neglecting orders when thou wert wont to carry 

 home the dead deer ; for, instead of coming in behind 

 my cast, as instructed, thou didst ever cut in before me, 

 and disturb all the ground in a most unsportsmanlike 

 manner ; and this thou didst transact most cannily, winding 

 up a hollow with thy sheltie, that mine eye might not visit 

 thee ; yet I kent well enough what was going on, George, 

 by the movement on the moor; but alas! poor George, 

 you were growing old, and had a right to favour yourself 

 a little ; and then thou wert merry in hall, and thy quaint 

 attitudes, and quainter countenance (whilst thou didst 

 Worry the strings of thy fiddle) did set the gillies in a 

 roar ; for these, thy most excellent qualities, I do recom- 

 mend thy presence to get up a Highland reel in a stormy- 

 evening. 



I must now revert to you few, O happy mortals, " beloved 

 of Jupiter," and I must candidly tell you, that I cannot 

 turn you loose on the mountains to go rambling after your 

 own inventions. 



Enthusiasm you have, no doubt, else wherefore soar you 

 to the mountain top ? But this solitary qualification indis- 

 pensable as it is, will not set you up entirely. You must 



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