that 'The Queen's Wake' has exceeded my expectations,
because I have ever expected great things from you,
since, in 1805, I heard Walter Scott, by his own
fireside at Ashestiel, repeat 'Gilmanscleuch.'[31] When
he came to that line--'I ga'e him a' my goud,
father'--the look and the tone with which he gave it
were not needed to make it go through me. But 'The
Wake' has equalled all that I expected. The
improvements in the new edition are very great, and
they are in the two poems which were most deserving of
improvement, as being the most impressive and the most
original. Each is excellent in its way, but 'Kilmeny'
is of the highest character; 'The Witch of Fife' is a
real work of fancy--'Kilmeny' a fine one of
imagination, which is a higher and rarer gift. These
poems have given general pleasure throughout the house;
my eldest girl often comes out with a stanza or two of
'The Witch,' but she wishes sometimes that you always
wrote in English. 'The Spy' I shall go through more at
leisure.

"I like your praise both of myself and my poem, because
it comes from a good quarter. You saw me where and how
a man is best seen--at home, and in his every-day wear
and tear, mind and manners: I have no holiday suit, and
never seek to shine: such as it is, my light is always
burning. Somewhat of my character you may find in
Chaucer's Clerk of Oxenford; and the concluding line of
that description might be written, as the fittest
motto, under my portrait--'Gladly would he learn, and