Note 234 — Chapter IX

While we were children our father used often to read aloud to us—as a schoolmaster and elocutionist he was a proficient in that comparatively rare art—and in course of time we thus became acquainted with nearly all these books. He probably missed the occasional lengthy introductory chapters and other parts which well bear pruning, for memory holds no record of their undeniable tediousness. We certainly did not find Scott “dry.” Why should we? Through him we came to know chivalric Saladin, David of Huntingdon, and tawny-haired Richard of the Lion's heart; to love the noble Rebecca, and to assist at the siege of Torquilstone Castle; to look on at the great fight between the Clan Chattan and the Clan Quhele, and to mourn over Rothesay's slow, cruel doing to death; to know kings and queens, and companies of gallant knights and lovely ladies, and free-booters like Rob Roy and Robin Hood, and wits and eccentric characters who were amusing without being vulgar or impossible. Also was it not Sir Walter who “discovered” Scotland for our delight, and through that discovery contributed largely to his native land's prosperity?