But I have a mode of convincing you that I am perfectly serious in my denial--pretty similar to that by which Solomon distinguished the fictitious from the real mother--and that is by reviewing the work, which I take to be an operation equal to that of quartering the child....

Kind compliments to Heber, whom I expected at Abbotsford this summer; also to Mr.Croker and all your four o'clock visitors.

I am just going to Abbotsford, to make a small addition to my premises there.

I have now about seven hundred acres, thanks to the booksellers and the discerning public.
Yours truly, WALTER SCOTT.
The happy chance of securing a review of the Tales by the author of "Waverley" himself exceeded Murray's most sanguine expectations, and filled him with joy.

He suggested that the reviewer, instead of sending an article on the Gypsies, as he proposed, should introduce whatever he had to say about that picturesque race in his review of the Tales, by way of comment on the character of Meg Merrilies.