The Antiquary | Page 9

always overhears
everything, and holds the threads of the plot. Or he may have been
hypercritical enough to think that Elspeth of the Burnfoot is the Meg of
the romance. Few will agree with him that Meg Merrilies, in either of
these cases, is "good, but good too often."
The supposed "originals" of certain persons in the tale have been topics
of discussion. The character of Oldbuck, like most characters in fiction,
is a combination of traits observed in various persons. Scott says, in a
note to the Ashiestiel fragment of Autobiography, that Mr. George
Constable, an old friend of his father's, "had many of those peculiarities
of character which long afterwards I tried to develop in the character of
Jonathan Oldbuck." Sir Walter, when a child, made Mr. Constable's
acquaintance at Prestonpans in 1777, where he explored the battle-field
"under the learned guidance of Dalgetty." Mr. Constable first
introduced him to Shakspeare's plays, and gave him his first German
dictionary. Other traits may have been suggested by John Clerk of
Eldin, whose grandfather was the hero of the story "Praetorian here,
Praetorian there, I made it wi' a flaughter spade." Lockhart is no doubt
right in thinking that Oldbuck is partly a caricature of Oldbuck's
creator,--Sir Walter indeed frankly accepted the kinship; and the book

which he began on his own collection he proposed to style "Reliquim
Trotcosienses; or, the Gabions of Jonathan Oldbuck."
Another person who added a few points to Oldbuck was "Sandy
Gordon," author of the "Itinerarium Septentrionale" (1726), the very
folio which Monkbarns carried in the dilatory coach to Queensferry.
Gordon had been a student in the University of Aberdeen; he was an
amateur in many arts, but antiquarianism was his favourite hobby. He
was an acquaintance of Sir John Clerk of Eldin, the hero of the
Praetorium. The words of Gordon in his "Itinerarium," where he
describes the battle of the Grampians, have supplied, or suggested, the
speech of Monkbarns at the Kaim of Kinprunes. The great question was,
Where is the Mons Grampius of Tacitus? Dismissing Camden's
Grantsbain, because he does not know where it is, Gordon says, "As for
our Scotch Antiquaries, they are so divided that some will have it to be
in the shire of Angus, or in the Mearns, some at the Blair of Athol in
Perthshire, or Ardoch in Strathallan, and others at Inverpeffery."
Gordon votes for Strathern, "half a mile short of the Kirk of Comrie."
This spot is both at the foot of the Montes Grampii, "and boasts a
Roman camp capable of holding an army fit to encounter so formidable
a number as thirty thousand Caledonians. . . . Here is the Porta
Decumana, opposite the Prcetoria, together with the dextra and sinistra
gates," all discovered by Sandy Gordon. "Moreover, the situation of the
ground is so very exact with the description given by Tacitus, that in all
my travels through Britain I never beheld anything with more
pleasure. . . . Nor is it difficult, in viewing this ground, to say where the
Covinarii, or Charioteers, stood. In fine, to an Antiquary, this is a
ravishing scene." He adds the argument "that Galgacus's name still
remains on this ground, for the moor on which the camp stood is called
to this day Galdachan, or Galgachan Rosmoor." All this lore Gordon
illustrates by an immense chart of a camp, and a picture of very small
Montes Grampii, about the size and shape of buns. The plate is
dedicated to his excellency General Wade.
In another point Monkbapns borrows from Gordon. Sandy has a plate
(page 20) of "The Roman Sacellum of Mars Signifer, vulgarly called
'Arthur's Oon.' With regard to its shape, it is not unlike the famous
Pantheon at Rome before the noble Portico was added to it by Marcus
Agrippa." Gordon agrees with Stukeley in attributing Arthur's Oon to

Agricola, and here Monkbarns and Lovel adopt almost his words.
"Time has left Julius Agricola's very name on the place; . . . and if ever
those initial letters J. A. M. P. M. P. T., mentioned by Sir Robert
Sibbald, were engraven on a stone in this building, it may not be
reckoned altogether absurd that they should bear this reading, JULIUS
AGRICOLA MAGNUS PIETATIS MONUMENTUM POSUIT
TEMPLUM; but this my reader may either accept or reject as he
pleases. However, I think it may be as probably received as that
inscription on Caligula's Pharos in Holland, which having these
following letters, C. C. P. F., is read Caius Caligula Pharum Fecit."
"This," Monkbarns adds, "has ever been recorded as a sound
exposition."
The character of Edie Ochiltree, Scott himself avers to have been
suggested by Andrew Gemmells, pleasantly described in the
Introduction. Mr. Chambers, in "Illustrations of the Author of
'Waverley," clears up a