Then, above all, we had Walter Scott, the kindly, the generous, the
pure--the companion of what countless delightful hours; the purveyor of
how much happiness; the friend whom we recall as the constant benefactor
of our youth! How well I remember the type and the brownish paper of the
old duodecimo _Tales of My Landlord_!... Oh! for a half-holiday, and a
quiet corner, and one of those books again! Those books, and perhaps
those eyes with which we read them; and, it may be, the brains behind
the eyes! It may be the tart was good; but how fresh the appetite
was!... The boy critic loves the story; grown up, he loves the author
who wrote the story. Hence the kindly tie is established between writer
and reader, and lasts pretty nearly for life.--W. M. THACKERAY.
_Roundabout Papers._