He complained of "the dark dialect of Anglified Erse," but found comfort in the glossary appended.

The "Edinburgh Review" pronounced the chapter on the escape from the tide to be "I the very best description we have ever met, inverse or in prose, in ancient or in modern writing." No reviewer seems to have noticed that the sun is made to set in the sea, on the east coast of Scotland.

The "Edinburgh," however, declared that the Antiquary, "at least in so far as he is an Antiquary," was the chief blemish on the book.

The "sweet heathen of Monkbarns" has not suffered from this disparagement.

The "British Critic" pledged its reputation that Scott was the author.