stones employed, an appearance of solidity very uncommon for a
cottage of such narrow dimensions and rude construction.

Earnscliff; attentive to his motions, no sooner perceived to what
they tended, than he sent down a number of spars of wood suitable

for forming the roof, which he caused to be left in the
neighbourhood of the spot, resolving next day to send workmen to

put them up. But his purpose was anticipated, for in the
evening, during the night, and early in the morning, the Dwarf

had laboured so hard, and with such ingenuity, that he had nearly
completed the adjustment of the rafters. His next labour was to

cut rushes and thatch his dwelling, a task which he performed
with singular dexterity.

As he seemed averse to receive any aid beyond the occasional
assistance of a passenger, materials suitable to his purpose, and

tools, were supplied to him, in the use of which he proved to be
skilful. He constructed the door and window of his cot, he

adjusted a rude bedstead, and a few shelves, and appeared to
become somewhat soothed in his temper as his accommodations

increased.
His next task was to form a strong enclosure, and to cultivate

the land within it to the best of his power; until, by
transporting mould, and working up what was upon the spot, he

formed a patch of garden-ground. It must be naturally supposed,
that, as above hinted, this solitary being received assistance

occasionally from such travellers as crossed the moor by chance,
as well as from several who went from curiosity to visit his

works. It was, indeed, impossible to see a human creature, so
unfitted, at first sight, for hard labour, toiling with such

unremitting assiduity, without stopping a few minutes to aid him
in his task; and, as no one of his occasional assistants was

acquainted with the degree of help which the Dwarf had received
from others, the celerity of his progress lost none of its

marvels in their eyes. The strong and compact appearance of the
cottage, formed in so very short a space, and by such a being,

and the superior skill which he displayed in mechanics, and in
other arts, gave suspicion to the surrounding neighbours. They

insisted, that, if he was not a phantom,--an opinion which was
now abandoned, since he plainly appeared a being of blood and

bone with themselves,--yet he must be in close league with the
invisible world, and have chosen that sequestered spot to carry

on his communication with them undisturbed. They insisted,
though in a different sense from the philosopher's application of

the phrase, that he was never less alone than when alone; and
that from the heights which commanded the moor at a distance,

passengers often discovered a person at work along with this
dweller of the desert, who regularly disappeared as soon as they

approached closer to the cottage. Such a figure was also
occasionally seen sitting beside him at the door, walking with

him in the moor, or assisting him in fetching water from his
fountain. Earnscliff explained this phenomenon by supposing it

to be the Dwarf's shadow.
"Deil a shadow has he," replied Hobbie Elliot, who was a

strenuous defender of the general opinion; "he's ower far in wi'
the Auld Ane to have a shadow. Besides," he argued more

logically, "wha ever heard of a shadow that cam between a body
and the sun? and this thing, be it what it will, is thinner

and taller than the body himsell, and has been seen to come
between him and the sun mair than anes or twice either."

These suspicions, which, in any other part of the country, might
have been attended with investigations a little inconvenient to

the supposedwizard, were here only productive of respect and
awe. The recluse being seemed somewhat gratified by the marks of

timid veneration with which an occasional passenger approached
his dwelling, the look of startled surprise with which he

surveyed his person and his premises, and the hurried step with
which he pressed his retreat as he passed the awful spot. The

boldest only stopped to gratify their curiosity by a hasty glance
at the walls of his cottage and garden, and to apologize for it

by a courteoussalutation, which the inmate sometimes deigned to
return by a word or a nod. Earnscliff often passed that way, and

seldom without enquiring after the solitaryinmate, who seemed
now to have arranged his establishment for life.

It was impossible to engage him in any conversation on his own
personal affairs; nor was he communicative or accessible in

talking on any other subject whatever, although he seemed to have
considerably relented in the extremeferocity of his misanthropy,

or rather to be less frequently visited with the fits of
derangement of which this was a symptom. No argument could

prevail upon him to accept anything beyond the simplest
necessaries, although much more was offered by Earnscliff out of

charity, and by his more superstitious neighbours from other
motives. The benefits of these last he repaid by advice, when

consulted (as at length he slowly was) on their diseases, or
those of their cattle. He often furnished them with medicines

also, and seemed possessed, not only of such as were the produce
of the country, but of foreign drugs. He gave these persons to

understand, that his name was Elshender the Recluse; but his
popular epithet soon came to be Canny Elshie, or the Wise Wight

of Mucklestane-Moor. Some extended their queries beyond their
bodily complaints, and requested advice upon other matters, which

he delivered with an oracular shrewdness that greatly confirmed
the opinion of his possessing preternatural skill. The querists

usually left some offering upon a stone, at a distance from his
dwelling; if it was money, or any article which did not suit him

to accept, he either threw it away, or suffered it to remain
where it was without making use of it. On all occasions his

manners were rude and unsocial; and his words, in number, just
sufficient to express his meaning as briefly as possible, and he

shunned all communication that went a syllable beyond the matter
in hand. When winter had passed away, and his garden began to

afford him herbs and vegetables, he confined himself almost
entirely to those articles of food. He accepted,

notwithstanding, a pair of she-goats from Earnscliff, which fed
on the moor, and supplied him with milk.

When Earnscliff found his gift had been received, he soon
afterwards paid the hermit a visit. The old man was seated an a

broad flat stone near his garden door, which was the seat of
science he usually occupied when disposed to receive his patients

or clients. The inside of his hut, and that of his garden, he
kept as sacred from human intrusion as the natives of Otaheite do

their Morai;--apparently he would have deemed it polluted by the
step of any human being. When he shut himself up in his

habitation, no entreaty could prevail upon him to make himself
visible, or to give audience to any one whomsoever.

Earnscliff had been fishing in a small river at some distance.
He had his rod in his hand, and his basket, filled with trout, at

his shoulder. He sate down upon a stone nearly opposite to the
Dwarf who, familiarized with his presence, took no farther notice

of him than by elevating his huge mis-shapen head for the purpose
of staring at him, and then again sinking it upon his bosom, as

if in profoundmeditation. Earnscliff looked around him, and
observed that the hermit had increased his accommodations by the

construction of a shed for the reception of his goats.
You labour hard, Elshie," he said, willing to lead this singular

being into conversation.
"Labour," re-echoed the Dwarf, "is the mildest evil of a lot so

miserable as that of mankind; better to labour like me, than
sport like you."

"I cannot defend the humanity of our ordinary rural sports,
Elshie, and yet--"

"And yet," interrupted the Dwarf" they are better than your
ordinary business; better to exercise idle and wantoncruelty on

mute fishes than on your fellow-creatures. Yet why should I say
so? Why should not the whole human herd butt, gore, and gorge