Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-12-19
lEUVkDENCE.-
WIDOW

We give below, an outline Of the tale Of the
Highland Widow" 1t will be found inter-
cs' ing, although We scarcely ever saw a story
that had suffered 50 much by passing through
the condenser of an editor. II was our de-
sign TO have given an abridgement of this tale
from Blackwood's Magazine. of a much supe-
r;or cast. But it was too long for us TO manage
at the present moment: = Com. .adrerfiser.
1.-THE story Of the Highland JVidop pur-
ports 10 have been received by Our new and
esteemed friend Chrystal Crofiapgry (Chronl-
cler Of tho Canongate, for, we hope many years
to GOMEZ from Mrs. Biliol Bethune, an an
cien' lady Of high family, old manners, and his
acquaintance. Nothing more finished and per-
feet was (perhaps) ever executed BY the pen.
Gil of Sir Walter colt, than the picture of this
dame and her establ shment. Many a picture
OH canvass will yet be made of il; but we must
skip even the pen and ink drawing.
The Highland Widow is "A narrative Of great
interest and excitement, and not the less so on
account Of the reader's very soon anticipating
tho catastrophe, though, Of course, it is impos-
sible to foresee its particular circumstances
We will not inJure its effects by any close de-
tails. The scene is laid in the Highlands some
forty or fifty years ago, when Mrs. Bethunc,
travelling with a position of noticeable
q allties donald Mae Leish,) sees, in a wild
pass with a wild waterfall, near Lochawe, a
ruined hut, a scathod oak. and a wretched
woman, more desolate thar the spot, more
forlorn than the dwelling, and more blighted
than the tree. This is the Highland widow,
Elspat Mac TavIsh. Her husband had been n
Rob Roy, in a lesser degree; and she a perfect
c%ateran, sba airing and exciting in all his perlls
and plundcrings. At last (for such lives do
not wear long, or, to use the cxistence-loving
phrase Of the snug wording, are not blessed
with length Of years,) The freebooter is slain
in unequal conflict with the military, Goa this
side Of the forty -five.) and his WIDOW and lit
fant son Hamish. hardly escape. Taking re-
fuge in the fastnesse, and solitude of the soul
inspiring Neutrality-suspicious. Of the north, the
hoy grows to manhood with some knowledge
Of the actual state of society; while his mother
seems TO be UNCONSCIOUS of any change, and
still cherishes her early notions Of lawless lib
erty, and Celtic right Ia take what was want
ed. The difference Of opinion thus leads TO
Hamish's ultimate evasion of his rude home
and fierce though fond parent.
"The prudence that might have weighed
the slender means when the time afforded for
r sis ing the efforts Of a combined g%overpn ent,
which had, il ITS less compact and establ s ed
authority been unable to put down the rava-
ges Of such lawlcss caterans as Mac lavish
Minor, was unknown to a solitary woman,
whose idea still dwelt upon her own early
times. She imagined that her son, had only 10
proclaim himself his fathers successor. in ad-
venture aud enterprise, and that a force Of
men as gallant as those who had followed his
fathers banner, would crowd around to sup
port it when again displayed. To her, Hamish
was the eagle who had only to soar aloft and
rcsu ne his native place in the ski without
her being able To comprehend how many addi-
| tiOnii eyes would have watched his fight, how
mlny additional b'lleis would have been d-
rected at his bosom. To be brief, Elspat was
one who we've the present state of society,
with the same feelings with which she regard
ed the times that had passed away. she had
been INDECENT, neglected., oppressed, SINCE the
days that her husband had no longer been
feared aud powerful, and she thought hat the
term of her attend would retur, when her
son had determ ned to play the part Of his
father. Ifshe permitted her cJe to glance far
ther Oh fiturity, it was but TO anticipate that
she must be for many a day cold IN tho grave,
with the coronach Of her he cri i duly over
her, before her fiir-haircd Hanish could, ac-
cordsng to her calculation, die with hI hand
on the basket hilt Of the red claymore. HIS
fathers hair was gray, ere. af,er II hundr d
d myers, he had fallen with his ar.ns IN his
ha Ids. That she should have en- and sui
vived the sight, " a natural consequence Of
the manners Of that age. And better it WIS
such was her proud thought - that she had
seen him so die, than to have Witnessed his
departure from life in a smoky hovel, on a ,ed
of rotten straw, like an over-worI hound, or a
bullock which died Of disease. But the hour
Of her young. her brave Hamish, was yet far
distant. He must succeed he must conquer,
like his father; and when he fell at Length
for she anticipated for him no bloodlcss death,
-Elspat would ere then have lain long in the
grave, and could neither see his death-struggIe
nor mourn over his grave-sod. With such wild
notions working in her br q, the spirit of Ell
spat rose TO its usra al pitch, or rather TO one
which seemed higher. In the emphatic Ian
guage Of Scripture, which in that idiom does
! not greatly differ from her own, she arose, she
washed and ch,nged her apparel, and ate
bread and was 70 reshed. She longed eagerly
for the return Of her son, but she now longed
not with the bitter anxiety ofdoubt and appre-
hension. She said to herself, that much must
be done ere he could in these mes arise 10 be
an eminent and dreaded loader. Yet when
she saw him again, she almos expected him
n the head Of a daring band. with pipes play
ing, and banners flying, the noble tartans Hat
tering free in tho wind, in despite Of the laws
' which had suppressed, under severe penalties,