BURTON.

A Nobel.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

By RONALD MʻCHRONICLE, Esq.

AUTHOR OF

LEGENDS OF SCOTLAND, (FIRST AND SECOND SERIES,) &c.

On what strange grounds we build our hopes and fears!
Man's life is all a mist, and in the dark
Our fortanes meet us.
If fate be not, then what can we for esce ?
And how can we avoid it, if it be?

DRYDEN.

VOL. I.

BLIO

:

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR
A. K. NEWMAN AND CO. LEADENHAI,L-STREET,

BURTON

CHAPTER I.

Good people all, of ev'ry sort,

Give ear unto my song,
And if you

find it wond'rous short,
It cannot hold you long.

GOLDSMITH's Elegy.

The Introduction.

CUSTOM is very like a pig-driver, and the world is his flock. There are many obstinate and hardy spirits amongst our fra. ternity, who would fain resist or deviate from the prescribed track; but still we go on, through mud or dust, through thick and thin, grunting and grumbling, squeaking and jostling our rough sides against each

other;

VOL. I.

B

other; and if any one gets a little off the path, he is soon lashed on again by custom, while his companions think him a pig of genius, and of an independent judgment.

It has become so much the custom now to write an introduction to every book, of every kind or description, before daring to submit it to the public, that it is scarcely a matter of choice; and whereas in ancient days we used to see preface written in large letters at the beginning of all works that pretended to more dignity than a mere pamphlet, as we used to behold "day-school,” “ boarding-school,” or “ academy,” indicating the places for the instruction of youth, so now“ introduction" takes precedence of every thing but the titlepage, and “ establishments for young ladies,” and “ seminaries for young gentlemen," have succeeded to the unpresuming names used by our more simple ancestors. Even the author of Waverley thinks it necessary to introduce his work to the public, sometimes telling them where he