rank Jacobin. His Majesty does us | tus bore his newly acquired honours. I found him as usual superintending his stew-pans on one side of his shop, for it serves the double purpose of boutique and cuisine, he being a traiteur as well as a patissier. I could perceive a visible increase of consequence in his air; and upon my desiring to have a gâteau de Provence, he begged leave to recommend a different sort, which he said I should find very good, for they were the same the king had chosen, and every body knows that he is a good judge of pastry. "His visit to you is a proof of it." The citizen smiled, bowed, and replied, that let people say what they would, he, for his part, was always of opinion, that the king knew how to distinguish men of merit; and no doubt, if he were properly advised, things would go better. the honour to drive through sometimes in his rides, and yesterday he actually stopped and purchased some cakes at the shop of the ci-devant citizen Brutus le Voleur, to the inexpressible annoyance of Mademoiselle Mont-Orgueil and her set. The good lady has occupied herself ever since in running about to lament this dreadful affair, which she has ingeniously contrived to convert into a complete triumph for the Jacobins. -I tried in vain to soften her ire by suggesting, that his Majesty's fault might be unintentional, since it was very probable that he never thought of inquiring the man's political principles. "More shame for him if he did not! I dare say he took care enough to inquire whether he made good pastry: but if he had asked the proper questions, he would have gone to poor Bonnefoi, who is an excel- I put my cake into my reticule," lent royalist."" And a very bad and passed on to Bonnefoi's, curious patissier."" That signifies no- to see what effect the occurrence had thing.""Not to you or me perhaps, upon him. I found that all the elobut to a connoisseur in pastry like quence of Mademoiselle Mont-Orthe king, it might not be a matter of gueil had been unable to rouse in actual indifference whether his gå-him any feeling of indignation for the teau was good or bad; to say nothing preference given to his neighbour. of the policy of converting an enemy" It was unlucky," he said, " that his into a friend, for I dare say this mark shop did not happen to be in the of royal favour will have some effect way: but the worse luck now the upon the politics of the patissier.' better another time; the king might drive his way some day or other, and if so, he hoped to have a turn as well as his neighbour." Mademoiselle Mont-Orgueil looked at me as if she more than half suspected I was a Jacobin myself; and muttering, "These English make a jest of every thing," she flounced away with a hasty bon jour, forgetting in her hurry her usual ceremo-hold of his pastry, which, by the nious courtesy. As I did not find myself disposed at that moment to resume my pen, I strolled down the village, for the purpose of seeing how citizen Bru» nd'o sii I was so much pleased with the bonhommie of the honest fellow, that I stuffed my bag as full as it could bye, is execrable; but n'importe, the village children will not complain of it, and it is for them it is destined. Our curé and two or three other genteel inhabitants of the village SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ANCIENT HEBRIDES 198 of On this subject Martin's Descrip- they call the great men; and if any tion of the Western Isles, published persons enter that fertile glen, in 1701, and now a scarce work, con- without first ma an entire re tains some curious particulars. In the small Island of Barras the inhabitants had an ancient custom of sacrificing to a sea-god, called Shony, at Hallowtide, in the following manner: They repaired to the church of St. Malvay, each man carrying provision along with him. Every family f furnished a peck of malt, which was brewed into ale: one of their number was chosen to wade into the sea up to his middle, carrying a cup of this ale in his hand, and standing still in this posture, he cried aloud, Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping you will be so kind as to send us plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground in the ensuing year." With these words he threw the cup of alé into the sea. This ceremony was performed at night. The whole party then proceeded to church, where there was a candle burning on the altar; there, after standing silent for some time, one of them gave a signal, at which the candle was extinguished, and the company immediately went to the fields, where they drank the remainder of their ale, and spent the night in singing and sunt to Supo dancing! In Benbacula there is a valley called Glenflyte, and the people believe it to be haunted by spirits, whom signation of themselves to the conduct of " the great men," they will infallibly go mad. They also believe that they sometimes hear a loud noise LOV in the air as of men speaking. In the Isles, the ancient leagues of friendship were ratified by drinking a drop of each other's blood, which was commonly drawn from the little finger. If any one, after such an alliance, happened to violate the same, he was from that time reputed unworthy of all honest men's conversation. In the Isle of Collonsay, it was an ancient custom to swear by the hand of the chief or laird. 19 It is believed, that at the death of James Macdonald of Capatil, who was killed at the battle of Killicranky, his cows gave blood instead of milk on that fatal night. In the Isle of Egg, a well, called St. Catherine's Well, is accounted so sacred, that it is unlawful to boil any meat with its water. q ne sul of Sir Norman Macleod, who resides in the Isle of Bernera, went to the Isle of Skye on business, without appointing any time for his return. The servants in his absence being all in the great hall, one of them, who was accustomed to have the second sight, told them they must remove, for they would have abundance of company || landed. Sir Norman, hearing of the in the hall that night. The servants prediction, questioned the seer. He argued on the improbability of this, || answered, that he had seen the spion account of the darkness of the rit called Brownie come several times night, and the danger of passing || and make a show of carrying out by among the rocks which surround the the neck and heels an old woman who isle; but within an hour a person sat by the fire. Sir Norman himself came running to desire the servants related this incident to Mr. Martin. to get lights, as their master had just 1 THE GIANTS OF THE SHARKA VALLEY: (Continued from p. 111.) nial of the charge would be of no avail, threw himself at the feet of the duke, and confessed that he had been again in the valley; but took good care not to mention a syllable concerning the two palaces, and the wonderful things which they contained. The duke, who, at the bottom, was not displeased with this increase of his flock, again pardoned Jaroslaw's offence; but threatened him with the severest punishment in case he should a third time transgress his commands. AFTER the shepherd had well sur- || The shepherd, sensible that his deveyed the palace, he carefully locked the doors, and began to consider whether he should take the fat white sheep with him or not: he was so pleased with the beautiful creatures, that he could not resolve to leave them behind him; especially as he thought within himself, that the duke would not so soon again count his sheep, which, moreover, were not likely to betray him as before by the difference of colour. In this manner he again increased the number of his master's sheep, and returned in safety to the fold; nor was this new disobedience discovered for some time, when one day the duke, chancing to be standing at the window when the sheep were passing, observed that his flock had again received a considerable accession. He sent for the shepherd, and thus addressed him: "How durst thou, disobedient varlet, again presume to go, in defiance of my orders, into the valley of Sharka? Aggravate not thy guilt by an obstinate denial of it, if thou wouldst avert my just indignation, but confess what wicked spirit has impelled thee to such an enterprise." "Vol. IV. No. XXI. Jaroslaw returned home, firmly resolved never to venture more into the valley, lest he should again excite the wrath of the duke: but he was deeply dejected, and nothing gave him so much pleasure as to sit under an oak-tree before his cottage, where he had a view of the valley to which he was so powerfully attracted. One evening he tarried so late at his usual place, that he at length fell asleep. He dreamt that he heard the solemn sound of funeral music issuing from the valley. A singular procession presently approached: on a bier carried by black bearers lay X the first giant whom he had killed; || hill opposite to the castle, and began and these were followed by white figures carrying the second giant. Stopping not far from the shepherd's cot, they made two fires to consume the corpses, and when the flames of both the funeral piles rose aloft in the atmosphere, there stood between them a man, as tall as an ordinary tower, whose face and apparel were entirely of a ruby red. He eyed the shepherd youth with angry gestures, as though he designed to kill him, to avenge the death of his brother giants; while a stately female at some distance pointed to the valley, as if exhorting him to pay it a third visit. A tremendous peal of thunder was heard, the vision vanished, and he awoke from his slumber. to play on his lute, which he accompanied with his voice. Before he had finished his song, there appeared on the tower of the castle a giant with a blood-red face, of such immense stature, as to look like one tower set upon another. He exactly resembled the monster whom the shepherd had beheld in his dream. This terrific colossus was armed with a sword of the same colour as himself, and of proportionate dimensions; and as soon as he perceived the stranger, he hastened down from the castle and the rock towards him. Jaroslaw struck up a merry tune, just at the moment when the giant was striding across the torrent, and he was immediately obliged to begin dancing, till the glowing weapon dropped from his hand, and sunk to the bottom of the stream. The shepherd then ceased playing, and the giant, without taking the trouble to pick up his sword out of the water, advanced straight to the hill on which the youth was seated, with the intention of seizing him and dashing out his brains against the rocks. But, behold! no sooner did he extend his hand to grasp Jaroslaw, than the latter held forth his ivory staff and touched the giant, who instantly fell Next morning, unable to contain himself any longer, he set out for the valley, firmly resolving not to bring back from this excursion any thing that might be likely to betray him. Before the stars had quite disappeared in the firmament he drove forward his flock, and by the time that the sun began to gild the tops of the distant hills with his rays, Jaroslaw had made considerable progress up the valley. He reached the crystal palace; but after he had passed it, the valley gradually narrowed; an impetuous torrent dashed over a rug-dead on the ground with a shock that ged bed, and high beetling crags rocked the neighbouring hills to their rose on either side, and obstructed very bases. the way. Jaroslaw, however, bent on seeking a new adventure, climbed over them with the agility of a chamois, and did not rest till he descried a castle seated on a rock: it was of a dark red colour, and seemed as though it had been cut out of a single ruby: it had, nevertheless, the appearance of being empty and uninhabited. The shepherd ascended a Jaroslaw observed at a distance that the giant, in his hurry, had left the door of the ruby-red castle open: he descended from the hill, swam across the stream, and scrambled up the rock on which the castle was seated to the entrance. Here a wild steed, of a blood-red colour and prodigious size, ran neighing and snorting to meet him, but quietly suffer éd Jaroslaw to catch and lead him when the prisoners, creeping like back to his stable. The interior of mice through the chinks in the door the castle was precisely like the two of the fold, followed him, and minothers in every respect excepting co- gled again with the white and black lour: here all was red, and the ar- sheep. All the passengers who met mour, of a species of metal unknown them stopped and surveyed the bloodto the shepherd, was so bright as to red sheep with great astonishment: dazzle his eyes when he looked at it. this extraordinary phenomenon beOn the table, of red marble, stood a came the talk of the whole city, and flaggon of red wine, and there was the story reached the ears of the the following inscription in white let- duke. Burning with indignation, he ters: "When the generous purple summoned the shepherd before his beverage is mingled with thy heart's throne. When Jaroslaw entered the blood, thou shalt be invincible: Sa- hall, "O thou rebellious boy," cried tan himself shall not prevail against the prince in a voice of thunder, thee, but acknowledge thy superio-"thrice hast thou transgressed my rity, and proclaim thee his master." command, and thy temerity would The shepherd locked up every || not fail in the end to bring some sigthing securely, and as he was depart-nal calamity on thyself and me: I ing, peeped into the sheepfold, which will therefore set a vigilant watch upwas full of red sheep with the finest on thee: to-morrow thou shalt be fleeces imaginable: much as it griev- placed under the care of my gardened him to leave them behind, he de- er, that hard labour may wean thee termined not to take a single sheep, from thy fondness for adventures. lest the duke should again guess Go and acquaint thy future master where he had been; but he had with my orders." scarcely reached the foot of the rock, when the red sheep, leaping over the walls, ran after him as though they had always been under his care. In spite of all his efforts to drive them back, they would not leave him, but mixed with his flock as familiarly as if they had been old acquaintances, whom they were glad to see again after a long separation. The shepherd knew not what to do in order to conceal his disobedience from his master: he therefore waited till it was quite dark before he drove home his flock. Next morning with great labour and fatigue, he separated the red sheep from the rest, and shut them up in a fold by themselves, while he drove the others out to pasture; but scarcely had he proceeded a few hundred paces, Jaroslaw withdrew in deep despondency; his mind aspired to higher occupations than digging the ground and planting cabbages and flowers: but he communicated the duke's commands, as he had been directed, to his gardener, who received him kindly, and assigned to him a small apartment in his house. The youth at length became resigned to his lot, and manifested such docility, that the gardener and all the inmates of the ducal palace conceived an extraordinary regard for him. He nevertheless frequently felt most severely the restraint to which he was subject, and solicited the gardener's permission to go abroad: but the duke had strictly forbidden him to suffer the youth to pass the garden-walls. To such a degree, however, had he in |