I NEED not begin this story, my dear, since it is addressed only to you, with a full account of my pedigree. You know the antiquity of the family, with which you are so closely connected. You are aware that we came into Scotland towards the middle of that interesting period, which learned people talk of under the name of “the Anglo-Saxon colonization.” In fact, the tree was Norman originally, and had scarcely taken root in England ere it was transplanted hither—where, upon the whole, it may be said to have thriven. The estate which my ancestor received from King Robert's bounty was not indeed large, but one or two prudent marriages augmented it considerably in the course of the century; and as the father and eldest son always adhered to the ancient rule of taking different sides on every occasion of public tumult and political dissension, while the younger branches were invariably portioned off with a sword or a crucifix, there was little chance of the barony's suffering any remarkable curtailment during several subsequent ages. We were so lucky as to see through all the abominable errors of the Popish system earlier than most of our neighbours, and our timely conversion was not unrewarded even in this world. We were also good enough to stick by the Covenant, so that although the estate was given to an English officer in 1679, we recovered it in 1688, much improved by the management he had bestowed on it. Besides hedges and ditches, before unimagined, he had built a good house, and furnished it in a handsome manner; and I have even heard it whispered, that there was some money in the cabinet, which he never had any opportunity of claiming, otherwise than by letters from Spain,—for the gentleman was pleased to take service in that country immediately after the Revolution. At the commencement of the last century, then, our affairs may be said to have been rather in a prosperous condition.