having
been originally the helpmate of a pawnbroker, had found opportunity, during the
late unpleasant scenes in Scotland, to trade a little in her old line, and so
became the depositary of the more valuable part of the spoil of half the army.
You may believe the cup was speedily recovered; and it will give me very great
pleasure if you allow me to suppose that its value is not diminished by having
been restored through my means.«
    A tear mingled with the wine which the Baron filled, as he proposed a cup of
gratitude to Colonel Talbot, and »The Prosperity of the united Houses of
Waverley-Honour and Bradwardine!« -
    It only remains for me to say, that as no wish was ever uttered with more
affectionate sincerity, there are few which, allowing for the necessary
mutability of human events, have been, upon the whole, more happily fulfilled.
 

                            Chapter Seventy-Second.

                A Postscript, Which Should Have Been a Preface.

Our journey is now finished, gentle reader; and if your patience has accompanied
me through these sheets, the contract is, on your part, strictly fulfilled. Yet,
like the driver who has received his full hire, I still linger near you, and
make, with becoming diffidence, a trifling additional claim upon your bounty and
good nature. You are as free, however, to shut the volume of the one petitioner,
as to close your door in the face of the other.
    This should have been a prefatory chapter, but for two reasons: - First,
that most novel readers, as my own conscience reminds me, are apt to be guilty
of the sin of omission respecting that same matter of prefaces; - Secondly, that
it is a general custom with that class of students, to begin with the last
chapter of a work; so that, after all, these remarks, being introduced last in
order, have still the best chance to be read in their proper place.
    There is no European nation which, within the course of half a century, or
little more, has undergone so complete a change as this kingdom of Scotland. The
effects of the insurrection of 1745 - the destruction of the patriarchal power
of the Highland chiefs - the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions of the
Lowland nobility and barons - the total eradication of the Jacobite party,
which, averse to intermingle with the English, or adopt their customs, long
continued to pride themselves upon maintaining ancient Scottish manners and
customs - commenced this innovation. The gradual influx of wealth, and extension
of commerce, have since united to render the present people of