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HE author of this novel will have furnish a bad foundation for a narrative

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no one to accuse so much as him- of this length. The law with which the self, if the critical judgment passed up- volumes abound, tho' sometimes witty on it should not be so favourable as he and generally whimsical, is by far too wishes. He has raised the standard by prolix: and the endless definitions of which such productions are tried so Mr. Saddletree, an artisan prone to athigh, that it is not surprising that even tending the court of session, become rehe should sometimes be found to fall ally tedious. To conclude our objecshort of it. In a word, we think The tions, there are more evident symptoms Heart of Mid-Lothian, for such is the of carelessness in this composition than title of the story which occupies these we remember in any of the former; and four volumes, inferior in almost every tho' the author cannot write ill, nor what respect to the preceding works from the would fail to be entertaining, he has Same source, including the Waverley upon the whole permitted as much alloy series with that designated as Tales of to creep into these pages as we could my Landlord. have anticipated at his hands. It appears to us that this new publi- Notwithstanding these defects, howcation has less of the portraiture of na- ever, there are many parts of deep pational manners than the best of its pre- thos; there is great spirit and truth in cursors, while it has more of the uncom- the drawing of most of the characters; mon incidents common to the class of the fabulous portion of the story is adwritings to which it belongs. It pro- mirably connected with the history of duces an inferior effect from delineating, Captain Porteous' death, and its conseand that in a fainter manner, the charac- quences; and the catastrophe is dreadteristics of a sect (Cameronians) neither fully just, though perhaps the moral fesso important nor so interesting as the son instilled by the lives of Euphemia Covenanters, personified in Balfour of Deans and George Robertson, is rather Burley, old Mrs. Headrigg, and their calculated to produce evil than good. teachers and partisans. Its actors are of Novels are to us the most difficult too low an order, and the scene of a things to review in a satisfactory manner. gaol, with the adventures of its inmates Neither a dry outline of the plot, nor an of thieftakers, prostitutes, rogues, roh- extract of any particular part, suffice to bers and murderers, does, we conceive, convey an adequate idea of the subject

B ATHENEUM. Vol. 4.

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New Tales of my Landlord, by the author of Waverley, &c. in hand, and our limits do not admit of sort of adventures; going more at large into illustration. As is to persuade Jeanie Deans to swear far as we may go we now proceed to that her unhappy sister had not concealanalyze the Heart of Mid-Lothian.' ed her pregnancy from her,which would The Heart of Mid-Lothian, then, is do away with the capital charge against the Tolbooth,or Newgate of Edinburgh, her. This perjury the religious and virand it is facetiously declared to be a sad tuous Jeanie refuses to commit, and— heart, a close heart, a wicked beart and Effie is convicted and condemned to die. a poor heart, a strong heart and a high Jeanie now determines to walk to Lonheart. At the execution of one Wilson, don, and solicit her pardon of the Queen; in Sept. 1736, for robbing a custom- and through the mediation of the great house officer, some tumult arose, and Duke of Argyle, she obtains an interPorteous, captain of the town guard, view of Her Majesty, and miraculousfired among the mob, by which several ly carries her point. In her journey, persons were killed. For this offence however, she encounters some strange he was tried, and condemned to death, obstacles. She is made captive by an but reprieved by Queen Caroline on the old gipsy of the name of Murdockson, day appointed for his doom. The pop- who, with her mad daughter, are the ulace were infuriated by this baulk on parties that disposed of Effie's child, out justice as they considered it, and at night of revenge for the seduction of the daughthe extraordinary spectacle was seen of ter by Robertson. She also encounters an organized multitude disarming the Robertson himself, who turns out to be soldiery securing the gates, breaking the son of Mr. Staunton, a dignitary of open the prison, dragging forth the criminal,and hanging him near the usual place for carrying into effect the sentence of the law. No disorder of any kind accompanied this tumultuous rising, in winch politics were deeply concerned.

the Church, and of a very ancient family. He is now reclaimed and repentant. Having accomplished her purpose in London, Jeanie returns, marries Butler, who is presented to a church by the Duke of Argyle; and David Deans, being appointed a kind of overseer at the The fiction woven upon this real in- same piace, the whole family settle comcident is thus managed. In the Tol- fortably on the borders of Dumbartonbooth, at the period of Porteous' mob, shire. Effie, when released, elopes from is a girl named Effie Deans, accused of her father's house, and is secretly united child-murder, and at least of concealing to her lover, who gets her polished by a the birth of a natural child, which was few years' residence upon the continent, a capital offence by the then laws of and returns to England and to large Scotland. She is the youngest daugh- property with his wife, whose history is ter of David Deans, a cow-keeper, near confined to his own bosom, and that of Edinburgh, a rigid Dissenter of the sect her sister. They live in splendid of Cameronians. Reuben Butler, a wretchedness, while the humbler branpoor young schoolmaster in holy orders, ches of the Deans' connection enjoy and attached to Jeanie Deans, the elder comfort and happiness. Mrs. Mursister, is forced by the mob to officiate dockson being very properly hanged at as chaplain to Capt. Porteous; and it Carlisle, her confession affords reason turns out that an accomplice of Wil- to believe that Effie's infant had not son's, who acted a conspicuous part in been murdered; and Robertson, alias this riot in a female dress, is the seducer Sir George Staunton, with his lady, of poor Effie, and the father of her lost visit Scotland, in order to trace him if child. To rescue her is one of his in- possible. In his search he lands at an ducements to undertake this desperate island near Butler's residence, where he exploit, but she refuses to escape when is attacked by a desperate smuggler and the doors of her dungeon are opened to his associates, and killed, it is believed, her. Robertson is obliged to fly, and by a young lad, one of the gang. This figures in half a dozen Jonathan Wild savage is his own son, who had been

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