The Heart of Mid-Lothian | Page 8

according to the reasonable practice of Scotland, to its dogmata, or
opinions, and bound, as it were, by the tie matrimonial, or, to speak
without metaphor, ex jure sanguinis, to maintain them in preference to
all others.
But, nothing denying the rationality of the rule, which calls on all now
living to rule their political and religious opinions by those of their
great-grandfathers, and inevitable as seems the one or the other horn of
the dilemma betwixt which my adversaries conceive they have pinned
me to the wall, I yet spy some means of refuge, and claim a privilege to
write and speak of both parties with impartiality. For, O ye powers of
logic! when the Prelatists and Presbyterians of old times went together
by the ears in this unlucky country, my ancestor (venerated be his
memory!) was one of the people called Quakers, and suffered severe
handling from either side, even to the extenuation of his purse and the
incarceration of his person.
Craving thy pardon, gentle Reader, for these few words concerning me
and mine, I rest, as above expressed, thy sure and obligated friend,*
J. C. GANDERCLEUGH, this 1st of April, 1818.
* Note A. Author's connection with Quakerism.

INTRODUCTION TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN--(1830).
The author has stated, in the preface to the Chronicles of the Canongate,
1827, that he received from an anonymous correspondent an account of
the incident upon which the following story is founded. He is now at
liberty to say, that the information was conveyed to him by a late
amiable and ingenious lady, whose wit and power of remarking and
judging of character still survive in the memory of her friends. Her
maiden name was Miss Helen Lawson, of Girthhead, and she was wife
of Thomas Goldie, Esq. of Craigmuie, Commissary of Dumfries.
Her communication was in these words:--

"I had taken for summer lodgings a cottage near the old Abbey of
Lincluden. It had formerly been inhabited by a lady who had pleasure
in embellishing cottages, which she found perhaps homely and even
poor enough; mine, therefore, possessed many marks of taste and
elegance unusual in this species of habitation in Scotland, where a
cottage is literally what its name declares.
"From my cottage door I had a partial view of the old Abbey before
mentioned; some of the highest arches were seen over, and some
through, the trees scattered along a lane which led down to the ruin, and
the strange fantastic shapes of almost all those old ashes accorded
wonderfully well with the building they at once shaded and
ornamented.
"The Abbey itself from my door was almost on a level with the cottage;
but on coming to the end of the lane, it was discovered to be situated on
a high perpendicular bank, at the foot of which run the clear waters of
the Cluden, where they hasten to join the sweeping Nith,
'Whose distant roaring swells and fa's.'
As my kitchen and parlour were not very far distant, I one day went in
to purchase some chickens from a person I heard offering them for sale.
It was a little, rather stout-looking woman, who seemed to be between
seventy and eighty years of age; she was almost covered with a tartan
plaid, and her cap had over it a black silk hood, tied under the chin, a
piece of dress still much in use among elderly women of that rank of
life in Scotland; her eyes were dark, and remarkably lively and
intelligent; I entered into conversation with her, and began by asking
how she maintained herself, etc.
"She said that in winter she footed stockings, that is, knit feet to
country-people's stockings, which bears about the same relation to
stocking-knitting that cobbling does to shoe-making, and is of course
both less profitable and less dignified; she likewise taught a few
children to read, and in summer she whiles reared a few chickens.
"I said I could venture to guess from her face she had never been

married. She laughed heartily at this, and said, 'I maun hae the queerest
face that ever was seen, that ye could guess that. Now, do tell me,
madam, how ye cam to think sae?' I told her it was from her cheerful
disengaged countenance. She said, 'Mem, have ye na far mair reason to
be happy than me, wi' a gude husband and a fine family o' bairns, and
plenty o' everything? for me, I'm the puirest o' a' puir bodies, and can
hardly contrive to keep mysell alive in a' the wee bits o' ways I hae tell't
ye.' After some more conversation, during which I was more and more
pleased with the old womans sensible conversation, and the naivete of
her remarks, she rose to go away, when