Category: Short Stories

Chronicles of the Canongate, 1st Series

“This is the path to heaven.” Such is the ancient motto attached to the armorial bearings of the Canongate, and which is inscribed, with greater or less propriety, upon all the public buildings, from the church to the pillory, in the ancient quarter of Edinburgh which bears, o...

Chapters

14. Chapter 14

Were ever two such loving friends!-- How could they disagree? Oh, thus it was, he loved him dear, And thought how to requite him, And having no friend left but he, He did resolv...

12. Chapter 12

On the evening which preceded his proposed departure, Hamish walked down to the river with his fishing-rod, to practise in the Awe, for the last time, a sport in which he excell...

5. Chapter 5

By a revolution of humour which I am unable to account for, I changed my mind entirely on my plans of life, in consequence of the disappointment, the history of which fills the...

1. Chapter 1

“This is the path to heaven.” Such is the ancient motto attached to the armorial bearings of the Canongate, and which is inscribed, with greater or less propriety, upon all the...

6. Chapter 6

When we set out on the jolly voyage of life, what a brave fleet there is around us, as, stretching our finest canvas to the breeze, all “shipshape and Bristol fashion,” pennons...

8. Chapter 8

It wound as near as near could be, But what it is she cannot tell; On the other side it seemed to be Of the huge broad-breasted old oak-tree. COLERIDGE.

11. Chapter 11

It was in vain that Elspat’s eyes surveyed the distant path by the earliest light of the dawn and the latest glimmer of the twilight. No rising dust awakened the expectation of...

3. Chapter 3

Disguised in a grey surtout which had seen service, a white castor on my head, and a stout Indian cane in my hand, the next week saw me on the top of a mail-coach driving to the...

4. Chapter 4

An hour’s brisk walking, or thereabouts, placed me in front of Duntarkin, which had also, I found, undergone considerable alterations, though it had not been altogether demolish...

2. Chapter 2

“Croftangry--Croftandrew--Croftanridge--Croftandgrey for sa mony wise hath the name been spellit--is weel known to be ane house of grit antiquity; and it is said that King Milco...

13. Chapter 13

It was the day after Doune Fair when my story commences. It had been a brisk market. Several dealers had attended from the northern and midland counties in England, and English...

9. Chapter 9

Oh, I’m come to the Low Country, Och, och, ohonochie, Without a penny in my pouch To buy a meal for me. I was the proudest of my clan, Long, long may I repine; And Donald was th...

7. Chapter 7

Such as I have described Mrs. Bethune Baliol, the reader will easily believe that, when I thought of the miscellaneous nature of my work, I rested upon the information she posse...

10. Chapter 10

“I love not this MacPhadraick,” she said to herself. “It was his race of whom the Bard hath spoken, saying, Fear them not when their words are loud as the winter’s wind, but fea...