part of the eighteenth centary—(the writer calls it the seven-
teenth century, though his story begins in the eighteenth). It is mostly founded on facts and records ; this lends an interest to the tale over and above what it naturally pos- sesses. The people in it have lived and acted pretty well as they do in the story, and when we add that Mr. Lowson knows the Scotch character and employs the dialect, if too often, yet with considerable effect, the tale, it will be understood, has a great deal of reality and life in it. The story sometimes hangs fire a little, and some of the characters talk too much ; but we must not, of course, complain of that. The writer is at his best in the dialogue and dialect; and as there is plenty of that, and some beautiful ballads as well, the reader can get over the parts which show only commonplace treatment. There is some smuggling, and a murder (the murderer, by-the-way, gets off too easily) ; and altogether the story gives an interesting and, as we have pointed out, a reliable account of the times.
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