"Jenny," said Lady Margaret, as the damsel came up, "was not that young man who commanded the party, the same who was captain of the popinjay, and who was afterwards prisoner at Tillietudlem, on the morning Claverhouse came there?" Jenny, happy that the query had no reference to her own little matters, looked at her young mistress, to discover, if possible, whether it was her cue to speak truth or not. Being unable to catch any hint to guide her, she followed her instinct, and expressed herself fictitiously. [Illustration: 044] [Illustration: 045] [Illustration: 046] A LEGEND OF MONTROSE, THIS novel, one of the series of the "Tales of my Landlord," was produced while the author was suffering from severe illness; and it was passed through the press without his revision. It was, however, well received by the public, and rapidly obtained a wide circulation. It is chiefly founded on the melancholy fate of John, Lord Kilpont, eldest son of William, Earl of Airth and Menteith, and the remarkable circumstances which attended the birth and career of Stewart of Ardvoirlich, by whose hand he fell. In the accompanying sketch, the artist has represented the meeting of Lord Menteith and Dugald Dalgetty in the Pass of Leny, a picturesque defile in Perthshire, of which the scenery is depicted in the "Lady of the Lake." "The Pass" is approached from the low country by a road winding round the base of Benledi. At a sudden bend of the road is disclosed Loch Lubnaig, the source of the river which flows rapidly on the left. In the background rises the massive summit of Benmore, overtopping the heights of Balquhidder. Lord Menteith, accompanied by his two servants, one leading a sumpter horse, had just wound round the projecting mountain, which skirts the lake's northern shore, when he remarked a single horseman coming down the shore as if to meet him. The stranger was mounted on a powerful horse, and his rider occupied his war-saddle with an air which showed it was his familiar seat. He wore a bright burnished head-piece with a plume of feathers, together with a cuirass, thick enough to resist a musket-ball. These defensive arms he wore over a buff-jerkin, along with a pair of gauntlets, the tops of which reached to his elbows. At the front of his saddle hung a case of pistols, nearly two feet in length, and carrying bullets of twenty to the pound. A buff belt, with a broad silver buckle, sustained on one side a long, straight, double-edged sword, with a strong guard, and calculated either to strike or push. On the right side hung a dagger of about eighteen inches in length; a shoulder-belt sustained at his back a musketoon, and was crossed by a bandalier containing his charges of ammunition. Thigh-pieces of steel called taslets, met the top of his jack-boots, and completed the equipage of Rittmaster Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket. [Illustration: 048] [Illustration: 049-050]