Two remarks have been repeated, till many receive them as undeniable axioms; and we notice them only for that reason.  One is, that the Author of Waverley’s earliest productions are decidedly his best—­the other, that he is never so great as when he treads on Scottish ground.  In neither assertion is there much truth.  Are Ivanhoe, Peveril of the Peak, Quentin Durward, Nigel, and Kenilworth, inferior to St. Ronan’s Well, the Monastery, and the Abbot?  May not the first mentioned five be ranked among the best of his novels? and must they unquestionably yield to Rob Roy or the Antiquary? or does one of our latest favourites, the Maid of Perth, betray much deficiency of that vigour which characterized the first-born Waverley!  Few will answer in the affirmative.—­Edinburgh Review.

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

Eccentric Preaching[13].—­Mr. Tavernour, of Water Eaton, in Oxfordshire, high sheriff of the county, came, it is said, in pure charity, not out of ostentation, and gave the scholars at Oxford a sermon, in St. Mary’s Church, with his gold chain about his neck, and his sword by his side, and accosted them thus:  “Arriving at the Mount of St. Mary’s, in the Stony stage, where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, and carefully conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation.”

    [13] In the fifteenth century.

SWAINE.

An Unlucky Plank.—­Sometime since a very large tree was cut down near Goulson, in the parish of Hartland, into which it was reported and believed by the peasantry of the neighbourhood, that “Major Docton” was conjured.  The tree was purchased by a builder in Bideford, and cut into planks, one of which was washed away by the tide, and drifted to Appledore, where it was picked up by some boatmen, and sold to the proprietor of the new market, then erecting.  The right owner, however, having heard where the plank was, sent to demand it, but in vain.  The bearer of the message strongly urged the giving of it up, declaring that as the old major had been conjured into it, it would certainly throw the market down.  The words were prophetic, for, while they were yet disputing on the subject, that part of the market-house containing the plank, fell with a sudden crash to the ground.  The giving way of the wall is easily accounted for, by less abtruse rules than those of magic; but it so astonished the builder, that he was as anxious to restore the conjured plank, as he was just before to retain it.

W.G.C.