THE AUTHOR MISTAKING HER

at the thought; so pray, Mrs. Macgregor, unless | IMPROMPTU TO MRS. "SAVAGE." ON you have a design on my life, never again play the confidante in a Spanish elopement.'

Westron, I give you joy,' said Don Pedro; be kind to your wife. Gentlemen, farewell! Patrisinia, sometimes speak of me to those you love; and he glanced at Sophia, which the pen. etrating Spanish girl was not slow to understand. May you always continue friends, and in your happiness remember that at Seville there lives one who can never forget you.' He pressed their united hands to his lips, and when they looked up he was gone.

Mrs. Westron entered British society under the powerful auspices of her colonel's wife, and Sophia found in the sympathies of friendship a constant consolation under the afflictions in which her union with an ancient libertine subsequently involved her. Too late she had learned the capabilities of her ovn heart, and although her principles had enabled her to sustain the trial, she never ceased to lament her involuntary error. The reflection made her lenient to the failings of ber husband, and she bore with magnanimity the 'vices of the man whom she had sworn to obey, but could not honour.

It may be expected that I should now wind up my story by dealing poetic justice to my heroines, and tell how Patrisinia's happy love refuted Sophia's arguments against a marriage founded on enthusiasmn; but, unfortunately for such a purpose, mine is a tale of real life, and truth compels me to confess that our Spanish friend's experience only too faithfully substantiated the justice of Sophia's lecture. She was not, however, destined to undergo all the ordeals of wedded life, for little more than a year bad elapsed when she stood by the side of him for whose sake she had perilled so much-a grief-stricken widow; soon after which she bade adieu to her English friends, and return. ing to Ceuta, after due penance done, was again received into the bosom of her mother-church.

NAME.

CONNECTED indirectly with the history of the unfortunate Thomas Drummond, and his claim to the earldom and estates of Perth, a very interest. ing paper appeared in the Metropolitan Magazine for February, 1832, from the admirable pen of the Ettrick Shepherd. I remember well to have read that paper at the time with the highest interest, and I have since referred to it with re newed delight. The story is written, as were all those which emanated from that son of genius, in a style at once natural, felicitous, and life-like; and the bearing which it has on the untoward destiny of Druininond, of whom and his claims I then knew nothing, has, of course, added largely to the interest with which I first perused it.

From that hour our friendship became a tale of the past; for, however satisfactory might be the It is called A Tale of an Old Highlander,' English gold and widow's pension, which her mar- and it refers more particularly to a contest, which riage with poor Westron had secured, her reve- arose at the time the various forfeited lands were rend uncle found no inclination to permit further about to be regranted by the crown to the heirs of intercourse with heretics, whose acquaintance the original owners, between a Mr. John Drummight lead to a second marriage in the corps. mond, a gentleinan born in France, and claiming Sophia was destined to a much more eventful life, but she and the Governor of Seville never met again; yet both survived their protracted separation, nay more, they survived their passion, and lived to form new ties and new affections, so true it is that the object which constitutes our happiness of to-day seems like a fading dream when reason wakes upon the morrow. It is only when we yield without a struggle that passion conquers. It is subdued to be our slave, once we determine that principle shall be victorious. Would that we could always imitate the discretion of Sophia, and so vanquish the foe that smiles but to deceive! But alas for poor human

nature !

to be lineally descended from the fourth Earl of Perth, grandfather of him of Culloden, and Captain James Drummond, who was only collaterally related, being a descendant of his younger brother, the first Earl of Melford, but who, on the supposition of the total extinction of the elder branch, succeeded in carrying off the grand prize of the Perth estates, and was some years afterwards, as I before narrated, raised to the peerage, though by the inferior title of Baron Perth. I have been greatly surprised and pleased with the general accuracy with which the Shepherd relates such of the circumstances as I am now enabled to compare with those facts and proofs which have since come to my own knowledge. Indeed, I have noticed no more than one single error, which is in the degree of propinquity in which Mr. John Drummond stood to the ancient house of Perth, the narrator supposing that Lord Edward Drummond, his father, was uncle of James, the first duke, whereas he was uncle (of the half blood) of James, the third duke, the un

fortunate exile of Biddick, and son of the first | the son of a Mr. Colin Drummond of Megginch duke, by his third wife, the Lady Mary Gordon. But even this variation cannot properly be called an error, because the narrator expressly says, 'I cannot be sure that 1 recollect exactly the relationship; but I think his father was uncle to James, the first Duke of Perth. Now, when it is considered that the old Highlander related his story to the Ettrick Shepherd in the year 1789, upwards of forty years before it appeared in the Metropolitan,' it must at once be admitted, to the immortal honour of James Hogg, not only that it furnishes a striking instance of the marvellous retentiveness of his memory, but a still more pleasing proof of the full reliance which may be placed, on any and on every other occasion, on his narrations of facts. The only mistake he happened to commit furnishes to my mind an affecting proof, now that nobly-gifted individual slun.bers in the grave, and recks not of either praise or blame, of that beautiful moral rectitude which formed a distinguishing feature of his upright and guileless character, and was inwoven in his very nature.

It appears from the old Highlander's statement, that Mr. John Drummond claimed to be the son of Lord Edward Drummond, by his wife, the Lady Elizabeth Middleton; while Captain James Drummond, of the Melfort or junior branch, being at that time in ignorance of the existence of the Duke of Perth's family at Biddick, had to prove the final extinction of that, the elder branch, in Lord Edward. He therefore asserted, and brought forward certain witnesses and letters to prove that Lord Edward's wife never had a child, and he ultimately succeeded in obtaining possession of the Perth estates, thus negativing the fact of his rival's legitimacy. Certain it is, according to the authentic information obtained at Biddick, that Captain Drummond's father, on the death of Lord Edward in 1760, was served and returned (according to the Scotch law) as his nearest heir male, and assumed the title of Earl of Perth. It is clear, however, that on the supposition that there was no issue, or no male issue of the duke himself, and that the claim of Mr. John Drummond, as the supposed son of Lord Edward, was wholly untenable; still Cap. tain Drummond, who obtained the estates, was not the real heir. On this two-fold hypothesis, the right of Count Melfort, who, as I have mentioned in my former statement, called upon Mrs. Peters to obtain information respecting the family, was indisputably superior to that of Captain Drummond, because the count represented the elder branch of the Melfort line, which had been living in exile in France, from the period of the abdication of the second James.

for the son of Mr. James Drummond of Lundinin a word, a living man for one who had been dead three or four years. I say supposed substitution; for although Count Melfort, in his pe tition to Parliament, relates some startling and singular circumstances respecting the successful claimant, and the mode of his transfer from the seventy-third to the forty-second Highlanders with a view to this scheme, yet I know nothing further on the point than what is stated in the petition, and it has of course no bearing whatever on the superior right of the Drummonds of Biddick. It was while Count Melfort was engaged in the prosecution of his claim that he paid the visit to Mrs. Peters before alluded to; and having then learned, for the first time, that the duke, her father, had left two sons, he appears at once to have abandoned his own case as hopeless, for no further proceeding was ever taken by him. Indeed, there is reason to believe from informa. tion obtained by Thomas Drummond, that the count then agreed to accept a pension of two hundred pounds a year for his life from the possessor of the Perth estates, which was paid at the family banker's, near Charing Cross. It was this, doubtless, to which the hostess of the little inn at Biddick alluded when she spoke to my friend of the allowance which the great lord made to a Frenchman, a popish priest. I read not many months ago an account in a news. paper of the death of Count Melfort* in France, at n advanced age.

With respect to the substitution alleged by Count Melfort to have taken place at the time. the Perth estates were restored by the crown in 1785, it is extremely difficult to believe that a gallant officer, and one whom the old Highlander himself, in spite of his partiality for the rival claimant, (who had married his young and beautful mistress, Barbara Stuart,) admitted to be 'an excellent man, a gentleman of high honour and integrity, could possibly have lent himself to any such deception. It is true, that according

As a proof that a knowledge existed in some quarter of the Duke of Perth's having lived in seclusion at Biddick, I may here mention a circum. stance which I omitted in my former statement. surprised to see two fine vessels on the stocks, inAt the time my friend visited Biddick, he was much tended for the merchant service, this being at a point of the river Wear, several miles above Sunderland, and where formerly he had never seen any. thing larger than the flat-bottomed barges which convey the coals to the ships lying in the harbour. Having entered into conversation with the master builder, my friend learned that about twenty-five years previously a vessel of similar dimensions was built on the same spot by the person to whom his informant was then serving his apprenticeship, and that at that very time he was requested by a gentleman at Sunderland to take with him and dis. tribute at Biddick a number of printed hand-bills which had been sent from London, requiring inforPerth, who was understood to have settled, after mation as to any descendants of the Duke of the battle of Culloden, in that locality. It now appears probable that these hand-bills might have been published by Count Melfort at the time that he was engaged in asserting his supposed rights, and that the intelligence he thus obtained led to his visit

Count Melfort himself was a Romish priest, and officiated some years ago at the chapel in Moorfields. At the time he came forward to establish his own clain to the Perth estates, about the year 1815, he presented a petition to the Houses of Parliament, which I have recently seen, and which contains some very curious statements as to the mode in which possession of the estates was gained by the supposed substitution of a Captain Drummond of the seventy-third règiment of Highlanders, for Captain Drummond of the forty-second, (who died at Lisbon in the year 1780, on his passage to the East Indies,) to Mrs. Peters.

-VOL. XI.

49

to the Highlander's tale, as narrated by the the seconds, for a reconciliation, he was unhappiEttrick Shepherd, there would appear to have ly run through the body, and was carried homie a been a still stronger motive in operation than even corpse. This was the first sau fruit of the heartthe splendid prize of the Perth estates. Miss less, or at least thoughtless, flirtation of the beau Barbara Stuart was the regning beauty of the titul coquette; but, unfortunately, the mischief day; and such was the surpassing loveliness of did not end here. her form and face, that there was hardly a young nobleman or gentleman in the (sister) kingdom who ever saw her that did not fall in love with her.' It was this dangerous gift of extreme beauty which, in the absence of some countervailing qualities of mind, proved to be her utter ruin, and led to that sad catastrophe on which the Shepherd's story mainly turns.

The survivor in this fatal rencontre was put upon his trial, but was fully acquitted, and short. ly afterwards he and his beloved Miss Stuart were united. Mean time, her original suitor, Captain Drummond, had been apprised of what was going on in Scotland, and how matters were likely to end with his betrothed and his cousin. He therefore obtained leave of absence, and postMiss Stuart resided at that time in Edinburgh ed to Eamburgh; but ere he arrived, the mar with her aunt, Lady Livingston, with whom she riage had taken place. 'He had loved,' says the was a great darling, and Bog, the old Highlander, Ettrick Shepherd, with all the warmth of his was their domestic servant. She was unfor- noble nature, and was so much affected by Bartunately a young lady of a volatile and coquettish bara's deceit and ingratitude, that he fell sick, disposition, and flirted with many admirers, and scarcely spoke or saw the light for nearly a without intending to give serious encouragement month. But, perhaps, during a part of this time, to any. Captain Drummond, it seems, was her he had been studying the most ample revenge, favoured suitor, until his regiment was removed which he soon found the means of putting in from Edinburgh to the south of England. A Mr. practice. He conceived himself to have been exJohn Lyon succeeded him, and was gallanting ceedingly ill used, and without seeing either Barher about at the time that John Drummond bara or the fortunate lover, he again posted to arrived from France, on the rumour of the intended the regiment, and from thence to London.' removal of the forfeitures incurred by the rebellion of 1745. Among other letters of introduction which he brought from several noble jacobite families in London, was one to Lady Livingston, in which he was named as the lineal heir to the great Perth estates.

The young Frenchman's heart was at once enthralled by the charms of the beautiful Barbara; and being all flattery, wit, and good-humour,' he soon contrived to make a suitable impression on the ambition of the old lady, and the affections of the young one. He plied his assiduities with so good effect, that the coquette herself was actually won, to the great delight of Lady Livingston, who had previously favoured the suit of Captain Drummond, but who, being influenced by the still higher pretensions of his rival, as the undoubted heir, now thought no more of the Highland

cousin to the new wooer.'

It was now that Captain Drummond brought forward his own claim to the Perth estates, in which, as has been already shown, he was as completely successful over his rival in law, as the other had been in the affair of love. Barbara had accompanied her husband to the continent, to endeavour to obtain the necessary evidence as to his birth and legitimacy, and their faithful domestic, Boig, went with them. "On reaching Calais,

on their way home, Lady Perth (as she had been styled ever since her marriage) was left behind, being unable, from the state she was in, to pro ceed further, and Boig remained with her. She was there delivered of a son; but was so meanly lodged, and lelt so poor, that she was obliged to borrow from Boig till he had not a sixpence left. In this wretched state was the once celebrated beauty lying, when her husband, after long ab sence, returned to France, with the news that It appears that Mr. Lyon did not tamely submit they were utterly ruined. He had failed to estab to abandon his own claims to the young lady. lish his supposed right, as the legitimate son of His proud spirit could not brook to be thus un- Lord Edward Drummond and Lady Elizabeth ceremoniously superseded, and he sought occa- Middleton; and it certainly appears, from the sion to offer a personal insult to Mr. John Drum. statement of Thomas Drummond of Biddick, to mond, which led to a hostile meeting between have been an admitted fact, that Lord Edward them, at a place called Burntsfield Links, near * left no children. However, John Drummond himEdinburgh. They fought with rapiers, in the self, being fully persuaded in his own mind that use of which each was an adept, and after conhis right was superior to that of his opponent, and tending for some time, during which Lyon declin- greatly irritated with his failure, published an ar ed the intervention of the Master of Rollo, one of ticle in one of the journals or periodicals of the day, accusing Captain Drummond of grievous At a short distance from the old town of Edin-nesses in the course of the recent litigation. The malpractices against him, in tampering with wit burgh, and to south-west of the Meadows, (the ornamental park of the Scotch metropolis,) lie the downs, called the Burntsfield Links, where the citi. zens in summer amuse themselves at the favourite Scottish game of Golf, and where the troops sta. tioned in the city generally perform their exercises. A little further to the westward is the Borough Moor, where the gallant James IV. reviewed his brave army, (in which were many of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, with their chief magistrates at their But the circumstance that rendered this tale head,) before he marched to the fatal field of so interesting to me at first, and impressed all Flodden. the circumstances so strongly on my remem

captain upon this followed his relation to Calais,' accompanied by Major M'Glashan, of the twentyfirst regiment, and a challenge ensued.'

The final catastrophe of the old Highlander's story is so singular and interesting, and is so admirably told by the Ettrick Shepherd, that I cannot refrain from giving it, and in the narrator's own words.