extricate the incidents of his narrative at pleasure. There was a
disadvantage, notwithstanding, in treading this Border district, for
it had been already ransacked by the author himself, as well as
others; and unless presented under a new light, was likely to afford
ground to the objection of _Crambe bis cocta_.

To attain the indispensable quality of novelty, something, it was
thought, might be gained by contrasting the character of the vassals
of the church with those of the dependants of the lay barons, by whom
they were surrounded. But much advantage could not be derived from
this. There were, indeed, differences betwixt the two classes, but,
like tribes in the mineral and vegetable world, which, resembling each
other to common eyes, can be sufficiently well discriminated by
naturalists, they were yet too similar, upon the whole, to be placed
in marked contrast with each other.

Machinery remained--the introduction of the supernatural and
marvellous; the resort of distressed authors since the days of Horace,
but whose privileges as a sanctuary have been disputed in the present
age, and well-nigh exploded. The popular belief no longer allows the
possibility of existence to the race of mysterious beings which
hovered betwixt this world and that which is invisible. The fairies
have abandoned their moonlight turf; the witch no longer holds her
black orgies in the hemlock dell; and

Even the last lingering phantom of the brain,
The churchyard ghost, is now at rest again.

From the discredit attached to the vulgar and more common modes in
which the Scottish superstition displays itself, the author was