 in severe seclusion, and
in the practice of the Roman Catholic religion, in all its formal observances,
vigils, and austerities.
    Jeanie had so much of her father's spirit as to sorrow bitterly for this
apostasy, and Butler joined in her regret. »Yet any religion, however
imperfect,« he said, »was better than cold scepticism, or the hurrying din of
dissipation, which fills the ears of worldlings, until they care for none of
these things.«
    Meanwhile, happy in each other, in the prosperity of their family, and the
love and honour of all who knew them, this simple pair lived beloved, and died
lamented.
 



                                    Reader,

 
This tale will not be told in vain, if it shall be found to illustrate the great
truth, that guilt, though it may attain temporal splendour, can never confer
real happiness; that the evil consequences of our crimes long survive their
commission, and, like the ghosts of the murdered, for ever haunt the steps of
the malefactor; and that the paths of virtue, though seldom those of worldly
greatness, are always those of pleasantness and peace.
 

                       L'envoy, by Jedediah Cleishbotham.

Thus concludeth the Tale of »THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN,« which hath filled more
pages than I opined. The Heart of Mid-Lothian is now no more, or rather it is
transferred to the extreme side of the city, even as the Sieur Jean Baptiste
Popuelin hath it, in his pleasant comedy called Le Médecin Malgrè Lui, where the
simulated doctor wittily replieth to a charge, that he had placed the heart on
the right side, instead of the left, »Cela était autrefois ainsi, mais nous
avons changé tout cela.« Of which witty speech if any reader shall demand the
purport, I have only to respond, that I teach the French as well as the
Classical tongues, at the easy rate of five shillings per quarter, as my
advertisements are periodically making known to the public.
 

                                     Notes

1 It is an old proverb, that »many a true word is spoken in jest.« The existence
of Walter Scott, third son of Sir William Scott of Harden, is instructed, as it
is called, by a charter under the great seal, Domino Willielmo Scott de Harden
Militi, et Waltero Scott suo filio legitimo tertio genito, terrarum de Roberton.
The munificent old gentleman left all his four sons considerable estates, and
settled those of Eilrig and Raeburn, together with valuable possessions around
Lessuden, upon Walter, his third son, who is ancestor of the Scotts of Raeburn,
and of
