Produced by David Clarke, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS AND OF SCOTLAND. HISTORICAL, TRADITIONARY, & IMAGINATIVE. WITH A GLOSSARY. REVISED BY ALEXANDER LEIGHTON ONE OF THE ORIGINAL EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS. VOL. V. LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 14 PATERNOSTER SQUARE AND NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. 1885. CONTENTS. BILL STANLEY; OR, A SAILOR'S STORY, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ THE SURGEON'S TALES, _(ALEXANDER LEIGHTON_) THE CONSCIENCE STRICKEN RATTLING, ROARING WILLIE, _(ALEXANDER CAMPBELL)_ BILL WHYTE, _(HUGH MILLER)_ THE PROFESSOR'S TALES, _(PROFESSOR THOMAS GILLESPIE)_ THE LAST OF THE PEDLARS DUNCAN SCHULEBRED'S VISION OF JUDGMENT, _(ALEX. LEIGHTON)_ ARCHY ARMSTRONG, _(JOHN MACKAY WILSON)_ THE DOUBLE-BEDDED ROOM, _(WALTER LOGAN)_ THE HIGHLAND BOY, _(ALEXANDER CAMPBELL)_ MAJOR WEIR'S COACH, _(JOHN HOWELL)_ THE DIVINITY STUDENT, _(DAVID M. MOIR, "DELTA")_ WILSON'S TALES OF THE BORDERS, AND OF SCOTLAND. BILL STANLEY; OR, A SAILOR'S STORY. Reader, if thou hast never visited the Fern Isles, but intendest to visit them, thou hast a pleasure in reserve--a positive, downright, profitable pleasure--profitable as regards the health of the body, for a trip upon the sea makes the blood feel ten years younger, and dance in the veins as merrily as the waves around us; and profitable also to the mind, by filling it with fresh objects for wonder and contemplation; and it is a fact very generally overlooked, that the poor jaded mind stands as much in need of new objects to work upon, as its plebeian neighbour, the body, stands in need of rest or change of diet. It is a matter of small consequence, whether you go in a yacht or in a steamer; in the former you will have as much pleasure, in the latter more punctuality. But it is a matter of much consequence what sort of company you have on board--in a word, what materials your fellow-voyagers are made of. If they be all your exceedingly good-natured sort of people--people bowed down with politeness and a desire to please--you won't be half an hour at sea till you find them dead as uncorked small beer that has stood an hour in the sun, or insipid as milk and water. I had as lief dine upon dried veal as be mewed up a day with such society. If you wish to relish the company, and to see character developed, be careful to have it sprinkled with the salt, the pepper, and the mustard of human dispositions; as for the vinegar, even a drop of that would be too much. Sickness might improve your health for the future, but would impair your pleasure for the present; and, in truth, seasickness appears to be as pale, ghostly, and uncomfortable a companion as a man may meet withal. But, if the day be fine, and the breeze moderate, there is but little