The Fortunes of Nigel

The fashion of such narratives as the present, changes like other earthly things. Time was that the tale-teller was obliged to wind up his story by a circumstantial description...

This way lie safety and a sure retreat; Yonder lie danger, shame, and punishment Most welcome danger then--Nay, let me say, Though spoke with swelling heart--welcome e'en shame...

Wherefore come ye not to court? Certain 'tis the rarest sport; There are silks and jewels glistening, Prattling fools and wise men listening, Bullies among brave men justling, B...

So pitiful a thing is suitor's state! Most miserable man, whom wicked fate Hath brought to Court to sue, for _had I wist_, That few have found, and many a one hath miss'd! Full...

How fares the man on whom good men would look With eyes where scorn and censure combated, But that kind Christian love hath taught the lesson-- That they who merit most contempt...

Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus, Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat. False man hath sworn, and woman hath believed-- Repented and reproach'd, and then believed once...

Rove not from pole to pole-the man lives here Whose razor's only equall'd by his beer; And where, in either sense, the cockney-put May, if he pleases, get confounded cut. _On th...

Come hither, young one,--Mark me! Thou art now 'Mongst men o' the sword, that live by reputation More than by constant income--Single-suited They are, I grant you; yet each sing...

Bid not thy fortune troll upon the wheels Of yonder dancing cubes of mottled bone; And drown it not, like Egypt's royal harlot, Dissolving her rich pearl in the brimm'd wine-cup...

SWASH-BUCKLER. Bilboe's the word--PIERROT. It hath been spoke too often, The spell hath lost its charm--I tell thee, friend, The meanest cur that trots the street, will turn, An...

Many, come up, sir, with your gentle blood! Here's a red stream beneath this coarse blue doublet, That warms the heart as kindly as if drawn From the far source of old Assyrian...

The next morning found Nigel Olifaunt, the young Lord of Glenvarloch, seated, sad and solitary, in his little apartment, in the mansion of John Christie, the ship-chandler; whic...

Ay! mark the matron well--and laugh not, Harry, At her old steeple-hat and velvet guard-- I've call'd her like the ear of Dionysius; I mean that ear-form'd vault, built o'er his...

Ay, sir, the clouted shoe hath oft times craft in't, As says the rustic proverb; and your citizen, In's grogram suit, gold chain, and well-black'd shoes, Bears under his flat ca...

Twas when fleet Snowball's head was woxen grey, A luckless lev'ret met him on his way.-- Who knows not Snowball--he, whose race renown'd Is still victorious on each coursing gro...

Master George Heriot had no sooner returned to the king's apartment, than James inquired of Maxwell if the Earl of Huntinglen was in attendance, and, receiving an answer in the...

Death finds us 'mid our playthings--snatches us, As a cross nurse might do a wayward child, From all our toys and baubles. His rough call Unlooses all our favourite ties on eart...

Master George Heriot and his ward, as she might justly be termed, for his affection to Margaret imposed on him all the cares of a guardian, were ushered by the yeoman of the gua...

This, sir, is one among the Seignory, Has wealth at will, and will to use his wealth, And wit to increase it. Marry, his worst folly Lies in a thriftless sort of charity, That g...

Such is the exclamation of Gray. Bandello, long before him, has said something like it; and the same sentiment must, in some shape or other, have frequently occurred to those, w...

Now Scot and English are agreed, And Saunders hastes to cross the Tweed, Where, such the splendours that attend him, His very mother scarce had kend him. His metamorphosis behol...

----This is the very barn-yard, Where muster daily the prime cocks o' the game, Ruffle their pinions, crow till they are hoarse, And spar about a barleycorn. Here too chickens,...

O I do know him--tis the mouldy lemon Which our court wits will wet their lips withal, When they would sauce their honied conversation With somewhat sharper flavour--Marry sir,...

You are not for the manner nor the times, They have their vices now most like to virtues; You cannot know them apait by any difference, They wear the same clothes, eat the same...

This is the time--Heaven's maiden sentinel Hath quitted her high watch--the lesser spangles Are paling one by one; give me the ladder And the short lever--bid Anthony Keep with...

Chance will not do the work--Chance sends the breeze; But if the pilot slumber at the helm, The very wind that wafts us towards the port May dash us on the shelves.--The steersm...

Give way--give way--I must and will have justice. And tell me not of privilege and place; Where I am injured, there I'll sue redress. Look to it, every one who bars my access; I...

Give us good voyage, gentle stream--we stun not Thy sober ear with sounds of revelry; Wake not the slumbering echoes of thy banks With voice of flute and horn--we do but seek On...

The sun was high upon the glades of Enfield Chase, and the deer, with which it then abounded, were seen sporting in picturesque groups among the ancient oaks of the forest, when...

We are not worst at once--the course of evil Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, An infant's hand might stem its breach with clay; But let the stream get deeper, and...

Let the proud salmon gorge the feather'd hook, Then strike, and then you have him--He will wince; Spin out your line that it shall whistle from you Some twenty yards or so, yet...

Bingo, why, Bingo! hey, boy--here, sir, here!-- He's gone and off, but he'll be home before us;-- 'Tis the most wayward cur e'er mumbled bone, Or dogg'd a master's footstep.--Bi...

When the rest of the company had taken their departure from Master Heriot's house, the young Lord of Glenvarloch also offered to take leave; but his host detained him for a few...

To this brave man the knight repairs For counsel in his law affairs; And found him mounted in his pew. With books and money placed for show, Like nest-eggs to make clients lay,...

By this good light, a wench of matchless mettle! This were a leaguer-lass to love a soldier, To bind his wounds, and kiss his bloody brow, And sing a roundel as she help'd to ar...

_Mother._ What I dazzled by a flash from Cupid's mirror, With which the boy, as mortal urchins wont, Flings back the sunbeam in the eye of passengers--Then laughs to see them st...

James had no sooner resumed his seat at the council-board than he began to hitch in his chair, cough, use his handkerchief, and make other intimations that he meditated a long s...