by Walter Scott
Note E.--Allan Breck Stewart.
Allan Breck Stewart was a man likely in such a matter to keep his word.James Drummond MacGregor and he, like Katherine and Petruchio, were wellmatched "for a couple of quiet ones." Allan Breck lived till thebeginning of the French Revolution. About 1789, a friend of mine, thenresiding at Paris, was invited to see some procession which was supposedlikely to interest him, from the windows of an apartment occupied by aScottish Benedictine priest. He found, sitting by the fire, a tall, thin,raw-boned, grim-looking, old man, with the petit croix of St. Louis. Hisvisage was strongly marked by the irregular projections of thecheek-bones and chin. His eyes were grey. His grizzled hair exhibitedmarks of having been red, and his complexion was weather-beaten, andremarkably freckled. Some civilities in French passed between the old manand my friend, in the course of which they talked of the streets andsquares of Paris, till at length the old soldier, for such he seemed, andsuch he was, said with a sigh, in a sharp Highland accent, "Deil ane o'them a' is worth the Hie Street of Edinburgh!" On inquiry, this admirerof Auld Reekie, which he was never to see again, proved to be Allan BreckStewart. He lived decently on his little pension, and had, in nosubsequent period of his life, shown anything of the savage mood in whichhe is generally believed to have assassinated the enemy and oppressor, ashe supposed him, of his family and clan.
