* This anticipation proved but too true, as my learned
* correspondent did not receive my letter until a
* twelvemonth after it was written. I mention
this * circumstance, that a gentleman attached to
the cause of * learning, who now holds the principal
control of the * post-office, may consider whether
by some mitigation of * the present enormous rates,
some favour might not be shown * to the correspondents
of the principal Literary and * Antiquarian Societies.
I understand, indeed, that this * experiment was once
tried, but that the mail-coach having * broke down
under the weight of packages addressed to * members
of the Society of Antiquaries, it was relinquished
* as a hazardous experiment. Surely, however it
would be * possible to build these vehicles in a form
more * substantial, stronger in the perch, and broader
in the * wheels, so as to support the weight of Antiquarian
* learning; when, if they should be found to travel
more * slowly, they would be not the less agreeable
to quiet * travellers like myself.—–L.
T.
The last news which I hear from Edinburgh is, that
the gentleman who fills the situation of Secretary
to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,*
* Mr Skene of Rubislaw is here intimated, to whose
taste and * skill the author is indebted for a series
of etchings, * exhibiting the various localities alluded
to in these * novels.
is the best amateur draftsman in that kingdom, and
that much is expected from his skill and zeal in delineating
those specimens of national antiquity, which are either
mouldering under the slow touch of time, or swept
away by modern taste, with the same besom of destruction
which John Knox used at the Reformation. Once
more adieu; “vale tandem, non immemor mei”.
Believe me to be,
Reverend, and very dear Sir,
Your most faithful humble Servant.
Laurence Templeton.
Toppingwold, near Egremont,
Cumberland, Nov. 17, 1817.
IVANHOE.
CHAPTER I
Thus communed these; while to their lowly dome,
The full-fed swine return’d with evening home;
Compell’d, reluctant, to the several sties,
With din obstreperous, and ungrateful cries.
Pope’s Odyssey
In that pleasant district of merry England which is
watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient
times a large forest, covering the greater part of
the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between
Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster.
The remains of this extensive wood are still to be
seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe
Park, and around Rotherham. Here haunted of yore
the fabulous Dragon of Wantley; here were fought many
of the most desperate battles during the Civil Wars
of the Roses; and here also flourished in ancient
times those bands of gallant outlaws, whose deeds have
been rendered so popular in English song.
