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GUY MANNERING.

CHAPTER XVI.

But this poor farce has neither truth nor art,
To please the fancy or to touch the heart;
Dark but not awful, dismal but yet mean,
With anxious bustle, moves the cumbrous scene,
Presents no objects tender or profound,
But spreads its cold unmeaning gloom around.

Parish Register.

"Your majesty," said Mannering, laughing, "has solemnized your abdication by an act of mercy and charity—That fellow will scarce think of going to law."

"O, you are quite wrong—The only difference is, I have lost my client and my fee. He'll never rest till he finds somebody to encourage him to commit the folly he has predetermined—No! no! I have only shewn you another weakness of my