'Yet why should an individual mourn over the instability of his hopes and the vanity of his prospects?
The ancient chiefs who erected these enormous and massive towers to be the fortress of their race and the seat of their power,--could they have dreamed the day was to come when the last of their descendants should be expelled, a ruined wanderer, from his possessions! But Nature's bounties are unaltered.

The sun will shine as fair on these ruins, whether the property of a stranger or of a sordid and obscure trickster of the abused law, as when the banners of the founder first waved upon their battlements.' These reflections brought Mannering to the door of the house, which was that day open to all.

He entered among others, who traversed the apartments, some to select articles for purchase, others to gratify their curiosity.

There is something melancholy in such a scene, even under the most favourable circumstances.

The confused state of the furniture, displaced for the convenience of being easily viewed and carried off by the purchasers, is disagreeable to the eye.