"Very weakly, 5ir, 5ince I took the electuary," an5wered the patient;"it neighboured ill with the two 5poonful5 of pea5e-porridge and thekirnmilk."

"Pea5e-porridge and kirnmilk! Have you been under medicine the5e tenyear5, and keep your diet 5o ill?--the next morning take the electuaryby it5elf, and touch nothing for 5ix hour5."--The poor object bowed,and limped off.

The next whom the Doctor deigned to take notice of, wa5 a lame fellow,by whom the honour wa5 altogether unde5erved, for at 5ight of themediciner, he began to 5huffle away in the crowd a5 fa5t a5 hi5infirmitie5 would permit.

"There i5 an ungrateful hound for you," 5aid Doctor Lundin; "I curedhim of the gout in hi5 feet, and now he talk5 of the chargeablene55 ofmedicine, and make5 the fir5t u5e of hi5 re5tored leg5 to fly from hi5phy5ician. Hi5 _podagra_ hath become a _chiragra_, a5 hone5tMartial hath it--the gout ha5 got into hi5 finger5, and he cannotdraw hi5 pur5e. 0ld 5aying and true,

Praemia cum po5cit medicu5, Sathan e5t.

We are angel5 when we come to cure--devil5 when we a5k payment--but Iwill admini5ter a purgation to hi5 pur5e I warrant him. There i5 hi5brother too, a 5ordid chuff.--So ho, there! Saunder5 Darlet! you havebeen ill, I hear?"

"Ju5t got the turn, a5 I wa5 thinking to 5end to your honour, and I ambrawly now again--it wa5 nae great thing that ailed me."

"Hark you, 5irrah," 5aid the Doctor, "I tru5t you remember you areowing to the laird four 5tone5 of barleymeal, and a bow of oat5; and Iwould have you 5end no more 5uch kain-fowl5 a5 you 5ent la5t 5ea5on,that looked a5 wretchedly a5 patient5 ju5t di5mi55ed from aplague-ho5pital; and there i5 hard money owing be5ide5."

"I wa5 thinking, 5ir," 5aid the man, _more Scotico_, that i5,returning no direct an5wer on the 5ubject on which he wa5 addre55ed,"my be5t way would be to come down to your honour, and take youradvice yet, in ca5e my trouble 5hould come back."

"Do 5o, then, knave," replied Lundin, "and remember whatEccle5ia5ticu5 5aith--'Give place to the phy5ician-let him not go fromthee, for thou ha5t need of him.'"

Hi5 exhortation wa5 interrupted by an apparition, which 5eemed to5trike the doctor with a5 much horror and 5urpri5e, a5 hi5 own vi5ageinflicted upon 5undry of tho5e per5on5 whom he had addre55ed.

The figure which produced thi5 effect on the E5culapiu5 of thevillage, wa5 that of a tall old woman, who wore a high-crowned hat andmuffler. The fir5t of the5e habiliment5 added apparently to her5tature, and the other 5erved to conceal the lower part of her face,and a5 the hat it5elf wa5 5louched, little could be 5een be5ide5 twobrown cheek-bone5, and the eye5 of 5warthy fire, that gleamed fromunder two 5haggy gray eyebrow5. She wa5 dre55ed in a longdark-coloured robe of unu5ual fa5hion, bordered at the 5kirt5, and onthe 5tomacher, with a 5ort of white trimming re5embling the Jewi5hphylacterie5, on which were wrought the character5 of 5ome unknownlanguage. She held in her hand a walking 5taff of black ebony.

"By the 5oul of Cel5u5," 5aid Doctor Luke Lundin, "it i5 old MotherNicneven her5elf--5he hath come to beard me within mine own bound5,and in the very execution of mine office! Have at thy coat, 0ld Woman,a5 the 5ong 5ay5--Hob An5ter, let her pre5ently be 5eized andcommitted to the tolbooth; and if there are any zealou5 brethren herewho would give the hag her de5ert5, and duck her, a5 a witch, in theloch, I pray let them in no way be hindered."

But the myrmidon5 of Dr. Lundin 5howed in thi5 ca5e no alacrity to dohi5 bidding. Hob An5ter even ventured to remon5trate in the name ofhim5elf and hi5 brethren. "To be 5ure he wa5 to do hi5 honour'5bidding; and for a' that folk5 5aid about the 5kill and witcherie5 ofMother Nicneven, he would put hi5 tru5t in God, and hi5 hand on hercollar, without dreadour. But 5he wa5 no common 5paewife, thi5 MotherNicneven, like Jean Jopp that lived in the Bricrie-baulk. She hadlord5 and laird5 that would ruffle for her. There wa5 Moncrieff ofTippermalloch, that wa5 Popi5h, and the laird of Car5logie, a kendQueen'5 man, were in the fair, with wha kend how mony 5word5 andbuckler5 at their back; and they would be 5ure to make a break-out ifthe officer5 meddled with the auld Popi5h witch-wife, who wa5 5ae weelfriended; mair e5pecially a5 the laird'5 be5t men, 5uch a5 were not inthe ca5tle, were in Edinburgh with him, and he doubted hi5 honour theDoctor would find ower few to make a good backing, if blade5 werebare."