LITERARY AST) DOMESTIC LIFE. 371 



The result of these friendly negotiations may be gathered from 

 the "Noctes" of May 1834, in which there is a lively and most 

 amusing description of the Shepherd's return to the bosom of his 

 friends in the tent at the Fairy's Cleugh.* 



I make use of my mother's words to tell of the plans for the sum- 

 mer of 1834 : — " Our own plans for the summer are, to spend four 

 months of it at least, that is, from the 20th June till the 20th Octo- 

 ber, in Ettrick Forest. The house we have taken, which is fur- 

 nished, belongs to Lord Napier, who is at present in China, and he 

 wished to get it let for the summer; but, from the retirement of the 

 situation, hardly expected to meet with a tenant for that time. It 

 is called Thirlstane Castle ; the country around is all interesting, be- 

 ing pastoral, with no lack of wood and water, and a great lack of 

 neighbors ; we all like retirement, young and old, and look forward, 

 with great satisfaction, to spending a quiet summer." 



We accordingly took up our quarters at Thirlstane, and enjoyed 

 Ettrick Forest vastly ; the boys had their fishing and shooting ; the 

 very dogs were happy. " The dowgs," as James Hogg called them, 

 shared in all our amusements; it was here that Rover had his ad- 

 venture with the witch transformed into a hare. " She was sitting 

 in her ain kail-yaird, the preceese house I dinna choose to mention, 

 when Giraffe, in louping ower the dyke, louped ower her, and she 

 gied a spang intil the road, turning round her fud within a yard 

 o' Clavers,f — and then sic a brassle ; a' three thegither up the brae, 

 and then back again in a hairy whirlwind ; twa miles in less than ae 

 minute. She made for the mouth of the syver,J but Rover, wha 

 had happened to be examining it in his inquisitive way, and kent 

 naething o' the course, was coming out just as she was gaun in, an' 

 at ween the twa there ensued, unseen in the syver, a desperate bat- 

 tle. Well dune witch ; well dune warlock ; and at ae time I feared, 

 frae his yelping and yowling, that Rover was getting the worst o't, 



* The whole dialogue, which will be found in the Nodes, May, 1834, is too long for quotation, 

 but a few lines of the apology may be given : — 



'■ I'll never breathe a whisper even to my ain heart, at the laneliest hour o' midnight, except it 

 be when I am saying my prayers, o' ony misunderstanding that ever happened between us twa, 

 either about ' Mawga' or ony ither topic, as lang's I leeve, an 1 am no deserted o' my senses, but 

 am left in full possession of the gift of reason ; and I now dicht aff the tablets o' my memory ilka 

 letter o' ony ugly record that the Enemy, taking the advantage o' the corruption o' our fallen na- 

 ture, contrived to scarify there wi' the pint o' an aim pen, red-het frae yon wicked place. I now 

 dicht them a' aff, just as I dicht aff frae this table the wine-drops wi' ma sleeve ; and I forgive yo 

 frae the very bottom o 1 ma sowle," &c, &c. 



t The Shepherd's colleys. % A covered drain. 



