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diff --git a/1668-0.txt b/1668-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a098ed --- /dev/null +++ b/1668-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1201 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tapestried Chamber, and Death of the +Laird’s Jock, by Sir Walter Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Tapestried Chamber, and Death of the Laird’s Jock + +Author: Sir Walter Scott + +Posting Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #1668] +Release Date: March, 1999 +Last Updated: August 31, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER + +by Sir Walter Scott + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +This is another little story from The Keepsake of 1828. It was told +to me many years ago by the late Miss Anna Seward, who, among other +accomplishments that rendered her an amusing inmate in a country house, +had that of recounting narratives of this sort with very considerable +effect--much greater, indeed, than any one would be apt to guess from +the style of her written performances. There are hours and moods when +most people are not displeased to listen to such things; and I have +heard some of the greatest and wisest of my contemporaries take their +share in telling them. + +AUGUST 1831 + + + + +THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER; + +OR, + +THE LADY IN THE SACQUE. + +The following narrative is given from the pen, so far as memory permits, +in the same character in which it was presented to the author’s ear; nor +has he claim to further praise, or to be more deeply censured, than +in proportion to the good or bad judgment which he has employed in +selecting his materials, as he has studiously avoided any attempt at +ornament which might interfere with the simplicity of the tale. + +At the same time, it must be admitted that the particular class of +stories which turns on the marvellous possesses a stronger influence +when told than when committed to print. The volume taken up at noonday, +though rehearsing the same incidents, conveys a much more feeble +impression than is achieved by the voice of the speaker on a circle of +fireside auditors, who hang upon the narrative as the narrator details +the minute incidents which serve to give it authenticity, and lowers his +voice with an affectation of mystery while he approaches the fearful +and wonderful part. It was with such advantages that the present writer +heard the following events related, more than twenty years since, by +the celebrated Miss Seward of Litchfield, who, to her numerous +accomplishments, added, in a remarkable degree, the power of narrative +in private conversation. In its present form the tale must necessarily +lose all the interest which was attached to it by the flexible voice and +intelligent features of the gifted narrator. Yet still, read aloud to an +undoubting audience by the doubtful light of the closing evening, or in +silence by a decaying taper, and amidst the solitude of a half-lighted +apartment, it may redeem its character as a good ghost story. Miss +Seward always affirmed that she had derived her information from an +authentic source, although she suppressed the names of the two persons +chiefly concerned. I will not avail myself of any particulars I may have +since received concerning the localities of the detail, but suffer them +to rest under the same general description in which they were first +related to me; and for the same reason I will not add to or diminish the +narrative by any circumstance, whether more or less material, but simply +rehearse, as I heard it, a story of supernatural terror. + +About the end of the American war, when the officers of Lord +Cornwallis’s army, which surrendered at Yorktown, and others, who had +been made prisoners during the impolitic and ill-fated controversy, were +returning to their own country, to relate their adventures, and repose +themselves after their fatigues, there was amongst them a general +officer, to whom Miss S. gave the name of Browne, but merely, as I +understood, to save the inconvenience of introducing a nameless agent +in the narrative. He was an officer of merit, as well as a gentleman of +high consideration for family and attainments. + +Some business had carried General Browne upon a tour through the western +counties, when, in the conclusion of a morning stage, he found himself +in the vicinity of a small country town, which presented a scene of +uncommon beauty, and of a character peculiarly English. + +The little town, with its stately old church, whose tower bore testimony +to the devotion of ages long past, lay amidst pastures and cornfields of +small extent, but bounded and divided with hedgerow timber of great age +and size. There were few marks of modern improvement. The environs of +the place intimated neither the solitude of decay nor the bustle of +novelty; the houses were old, but in good repair; and the beautiful +little river murmured freely on its way to the left of the town, neither +restrained by a dam nor bordered by a towing-path. + +Upon a gentle eminence, nearly a mile to the southward of the town, were +seen, amongst many venerable oaks and tangled thickets, the turrets of +a castle as old as the walls of York and Lancaster, but which seemed to +have received important alterations during the age of Elizabeth and +her successor, It had not been a place of great size; but whatever +accommodation it formerly afforded was, it must be supposed, still to +be obtained within its walls. At least, such was the inference which +General Browne drew from observing the smoke arise merrily from several +of the ancient wreathed and carved chimney-stalks. The wall of the park +ran alongside of the highway for two or three hundred yards; and through +the different points by which the eye found glimpses into the woodland +scenery, it seemed to be well stocked. Other points of view opened in +succession--now a full one of the front of the old castle, and now +a side glimpse at its particular towers, the former rich in all the +bizarrerie of the Elizabethan school, while the simple and solid +strength of other parts of the building seemed to show that they had +been raised more for defence than ostentation. + +Delighted with the partial glimpses which he obtained of the castle +through the woods and glades by which this ancient feudal fortress was +surrounded, our military traveller was determined to inquire whether +it might not deserve a nearer view, and whether it contained family +pictures or other objects of curiosity worthy of a stranger’s visit, +when, leaving the vicinity of the park, he rolled through a clean and +well-paved street, and stopped at the door of a well-frequented inn. + +Before ordering horses, to proceed on his journey, General Browne +made inquiries concerning the proprietor of the chateau which had so +attracted his admiration, and was equally surprised and pleased at +hearing in reply a nobleman named, whom we shall call Lord Woodville. +How fortunate! Much of Browne’s early recollections, both at school +and at college, had been connected with young Woodville, whom, by a few +questions, he now ascertained to be the same with the owner of this fair +domain. He had been raised to the peerage by the decease of his father +a few months before, and, as the General learned from the landlord, the +term of mourning being ended, was now taking possession of his paternal +estate in the jovial season of merry, autumn, accompanied by a select +party of friends, to enjoy the sports of a country famous for game. + +This was delightful news to our traveller. Frank Woodville had been +Richard Browne’s fag at Eton, and his chosen intimate at Christ Church; +their pleasures and their tasks had been the same; and the honest +soldier’s heart warmed to find his early friend in possession of so +delightful a residence, and of an estate, as the landlord assured +him with a nod and a wink, fully adequate to maintain and add to his +dignity. Nothing was more natural than that the traveller should suspend +a journey, which there was nothing to render hurried, to pay a visit to +an old friend under such agreeable circumstances. + +The fresh horses, therefore, had only the brief task of conveying the +General’s travelling carriage to Woodville Castle. A porter admitted +them at a modern Gothic lodge, built in that style to correspond with +the castle itself, and at the same time rang a bell to give warning of +the approach of visitors. Apparently the sound of the bell had suspended +the separation of the company, bent on the various amusements of the +morning; for, on entering the court of the chateau, several young +men were lounging about in their sporting dresses, looking at and +criticizing the dogs which the keepers held in readiness to attend their +pastime. As General Browne alighted, the young lord came to the gate +of the hall, and for an instant gazed, as at a stranger, upon the +countenance of his friend, on which war, with its fatigues and its +wounds, had made a great alteration. But the uncertainty lasted no +longer than till the visitor had spoken, and the hearty greeting which +followed was such as can only be exchanged betwixt those who have passed +together the merry days of careless boyhood or early youth. + +“If I could have formed a wish, my dear Browne,” said Lord Woodville, +“it would have been to have you here, of all men, upon this occasion, +which my friends are good enough to hold as a sort of holiday. Do not +think you have been unwatched during the years you have been absent +from us. I have traced you through your dangers, your triumphs, your +misfortunes, and was delighted to see that, whether in victory or +defeat, the name of my old friend was always distinguished with +applause.” + +The General made a suitable reply, and congratulated his friend on his +new dignities, and the possession of a place and domain so beautiful. + +“Nay, you have seen nothing of it as yet,” said Lord Woodville, “and I +trust you do not mean to leave us till you are better acquainted with +it. It is true, I confess, that my present party is pretty large, and +the old house, like other places of the kind, does not possess so much +accommodation as the extent of the outward walls appears to promise. +But we can give you a comfortable old-fashioned room, and I venture +to suppose that your campaigns have taught you to be glad of worse +quarters.” + +The General shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. “I presume,” he said, +“the worst apartment in your chateau is considerably superior to the old +tobacco-cask in which I was fain to take up my night’s lodging when I +was in the Bush, as the Virginians call it, with the light corps. There +I lay, like Diogenes himself, so delighted with my covering from the +elements, that I made a vain attempt to have it rolled on to my next +quarters; but my commander for the time would give way to no such +luxurious provision, and I took farewell of my beloved cask with tears +in my eyes.” + +“Well, then, since you do not fear your quarters,” said Lord Woodville, +“you will stay with me a week at least. Of guns, dogs, fishing-rods, +flies, and means of sport by sea and land, we have enough and to +spare--you cannot pitch on an amusement but we will find the means of +pursuing it. But if you prefer the gun and pointers, I will go with you +myself, and see whether you have mended your shooting since you have +been amongst the Indians of the back settlements.” + +The General gladly accepted his friendly host’s proposal in all its +points. After a morning of manly exercise, the company met at dinner, +where it was the delight of Lord Woodville to conduce to the display of +the high properties of his recovered friend, so as to recommend him to +his guests, most of whom were persons of distinction. He led General +Browne to speak of the scenes he had witnessed; and as every word marked +alike the brave officer and the sensible man, who retained possession +of his cool judgment under the most imminent dangers, the company looked +upon the soldier with general respect, as on one who had proved himself +possessed of an uncommon portion of personal courage--that attribute of +all others of which everybody desires to be thought possessed. + +The day at Woodville Castle ended as usual in such mansions. The +hospitality stopped within the limits of good order. Music, in which the +young lord was a proficient, succeeded to the circulation of the bottle; +cards and billiards, for those who preferred such amusements, were in +readiness; but the exercise of the morning required early hours, and not +long after eleven o’clock the guests began to retire to their several +apartments. + +The young lord himself conducted his friend, General Browne, to the +chamber destined for him, which answered the description he had given +of it, being comfortable, but old-fashioned, The bed was of the massive +form used in the end of the seventeenth century, and the curtains of +faded silk, heavily trimmed with tarnished gold. But then the sheets, +pillows, and blankets looked delightful to the campaigner, when he +thought of his “mansion, the cask.” There was an air of gloom in the +tapestry hangings, which, with their worn-out graces, curtained the +walls of the little chamber, and gently undulated as the autumnal breeze +found its way through the ancient lattice window, which pattered and +whistled as the air gained entrance. The toilet, too, with its mirror, +turbaned after the manner of the beginning of the century, with a +coiffure of murrey-coloured silk, and its hundred strange-shaped boxes, +providing for arrangements which had been obsolete for more than fifty +years, had an antique, and in so far a melancholy, aspect. But nothing +could blaze more brightly and cheerfully than the two large wax candles; +or if aught could rival them, it was the flaming, bickering fagots in +the chimney, that sent at once their gleam and their warmth through +the snug apartment, which, notwithstanding the general antiquity of its +appearance, was not wanting in the least convenience that modern habits +rendered either necessary or desirable. + +“This is an old-fashioned sleeping apartment, General,” said the +young lord; “but I hope you find nothing that makes you envy your old +tobacco-cask.” + +“I am not particular respecting my lodgings,” replied the General; “yet +were I to make any choice, I would prefer this chamber by many degrees +to the gayer and more modern rooms of your family mansion. Believe +me that, when I unite its modern air of comfort with its venerable +antiquity, and recollect that it is your lordship’s property, I shall +feel in better quarters here than if I were in the best hotel London +could afford.” + +“I trust--I have no doubt--that you will find yourself as comfortable +as I wish you, my dear General,” said the young nobleman; and once more +bidding his guest good-night, he shook him by the hand, and withdrew. + +The General once more looked round him, and internally congratulating +himself on his return to peaceful life, the comforts of which were +endeared by the recollection of the hardships and dangers he had lately +sustained, undressed himself, and prepared for a luxurious night’s rest. + +Here, contrary to the custom of this species of tale, we leave the +General in possession of his apartment until the next morning. + +The company assembled for breakfast at an early hour, but without the +appearance of General Browne, who seemed the guest that Lord Woodville +was desirous of honouring above all whom his hospitality had assembled +around him. He more than once expressed surprise at the General’s +absence, and at length sent a servant to make inquiry after him. The +man brought back information that General Browne had been walking abroad +since an early hour of the morning, in defiance of the weather, which +was misty and ungenial. + +“The custom of a soldier,” said the young nobleman to his friends. “Many +of them acquire habitual vigilance, and cannot sleep after the early +hour at which their duty usually commands them to be alert.” + +Yet the explanation which Lord Woodville thus offered to the company +seemed hardly satisfactory to his own mind, and it was in a fit of +silence and abstraction that he waited the return of the General. It +took place near an hour after the breakfast bell had rung. He looked +fatigued and feverish. His hair, the powdering and arrangement of which +was at this time one of the most important occupations of a man’s whole +day, and marked his fashion as much as in the present time the tying of +a cravat, or the want of one, was dishevelled, uncurled, void of +powder, and dank with dew. His clothes were huddled on with a careless +negligence, remarkable in a military man, whose real or supposed duties +are usually held to include some attention to the toilet; and his looks +were haggard and ghastly in a peculiar degree. + +“So you have stolen a march upon us this morning, my dear General,” said +Lord Woodville; “or you have not found your bed so much to your mind as +I had hoped and you seemed to expect. How did you rest last night?” + +“Oh, excellently well! remarkably well! never better in my life,” said +General Browne rapidly, and yet with an air of embarrassment which +was obvious to his friend. He then hastily swallowed a cup of tea, and +neglecting or refusing whatever else was offered, seemed to fall into a +fit of abstraction. + +“You will take the gun to-day, General?” said his friend and host, but +had to repeat the question twice ere he received the abrupt answer, “No, +my lord; I am sorry I cannot have the opportunity of spending another +day with your lordship; my post horses are ordered, and will be here +directly.” + +All who were present showed surprise, and Lord Woodville immediately +replied “Post horses, my good friend! What can you possibly want with +them when you promised to stay with me quietly for at least a week?” + +“I believe,” said the General, obviously much embarrassed, “that I +might, in the pleasure of my first meeting with your lordship, have +said something about stopping here a few days; but I have since found it +altogether impossible.” + +“That is very extraordinary,” answered the young nobleman. “You seemed +quite disengaged yesterday, and you cannot have had a summons to-day, +for our post has not come up from the town, and therefore you cannot +have received any letters.” + +General Browne, without giving any further explanation, muttered +something about indispensable business, and insisted on the absolute +necessity of his departure in a manner which silenced all opposition on +the part of his host, who saw that his resolution was taken, and forbore +all further importunity. + +“At least, however,” he said, “permit me, my dear Browne, since go you +will or must, to show you the view from the terrace, which the mist, +that is now rising, will soon display.” + +He threw open a sash-window, and stepped down upon the terrace as he +spoke. The General followed him mechanically, but seemed little to +attend to what his host was saying, as, looking across an extended +and rich prospect, he pointed out the different objects worthy of +observation. Thus they moved on till Lord Woodville had attained +his purpose of drawing his guest entirely apart from the rest of the +company, when, turning round upon him with an air of great solemnity, he +addressed him thus:-- + +“Richard Browne, my old and very dear friend, we are now alone. Let me +conjure you to answer me upon the word of a friend, and the honour of a +soldier. How did you in reality rest during last night?” + +“Most wretchedly indeed, my lord,” answered the General, in the same +tone of solemnity--“so miserably, that I would not run the risk of such +a second night, not only for all the lands belonging to this castle, but +for all the country which I see from this elevated point of view.” + +“This is most extraordinary,” said the young lord, as if speaking to +himself; “then there must be something in the reports concerning that +apartment.” Again turning to the General, he said, “For God’s sake, +my dear friend, be candid with me, and let me know the disagreeable +particulars which have befallen you under a roof, where, with consent of +the owner, you should have met nothing save comfort.” + +The General seemed distressed by this appeal, and paused a moment before +he replied. “My dear lord,” he at length said, “what happened to me last +night is of a nature so peculiar and so unpleasant, that I could hardly +bring myself to detail it even to your lordship, were it not that, +independent of my wish to gratify any request of yours, I think that +sincerity on my part may lead to some explanation about a circumstance +equally painful and mysterious. To others, the communication I am about +to make, might place me in the light of a weak-minded, superstitious +fool, who suffered his own imagination to delude and bewilder him; but +you have known me in childhood and youth, and will not suspect me of +having adopted in manhood the feelings and frailties from which my early +years were free.” Here he paused, and his friend replied,-- + +“Do not doubt my perfect confidence in the truth of your communication, +however strange it may be,” replied Lord Woodville. “I know your +firmness of disposition too well, to suspect you could be made the +object of imposition, and am aware that your honour and your friendship +will equally deter you from exaggerating whatever you may have +witnessed.” + +“Well, then,” said the General, “I will proceed with my story as well +as I can, relying upon your candour, and yet distinctly feeling that +I would rather face a battery than recall to my mind the odious +recollections of last night.” + +He paused a second time, and then perceiving that Lord Woodville +remained silent and in an attitude of attention, he commenced, though +not without obvious reluctance, the history of his night’s adventures in +the Tapestried Chamber. + +“I undressed and went to bed so soon as your lordship left me yesterday +evening; but the wood in the chimney, which nearly fronted my bed, +blazed brightly and cheerfully, and, aided by a hundred exciting +recollections of my childhood and youth, which had been recalled by the +unexpected pleasure of meeting your lordship, prevented me from falling +immediately asleep. I ought, however, to say that these reflections were +all of a pleasant and agreeable kind, grounded on a sense of having for +a time exchanged the labour, fatigues, and dangers of my profession for +the enjoyments of a peaceful life, and the reunion of those friendly and +affectionate ties which I had torn asunder at the rude summons of war. + +“While such pleasing reflections were stealing over my mind, and +gradually lulling me to slumber, I was suddenly aroused by a sound like +that of the rustling of a silken gown, and the tapping of a pair of +high-heeled shoes, as if a woman were walking in the apartment. Ere +I could draw the curtain to see what the matter was, the figure of a +little woman passed between the bed and the fire. The back of this form +was turned to me, and I could observe, from the shoulders and neck, it +was that of an old woman, whose dress was an old-fashioned gown, which I +think ladies call a sacque--that is, a sort of robe completely loose in +the body, but gathered into broad plaits upon the neck and shoulders, +which fall down to the ground, and terminate in a species of train. + +“I thought the intrusion singular enough, but never harboured for a +moment the idea that what I saw was anything more than the mortal form +of some old woman about the establishment, who had a fancy to dress like +her grandmother, and who, having perhaps (as your lordship mentioned +that you were rather straitened for room) been dislodged from her +chamber for my accommodation, had forgotten the circumstance, and +returned by twelve to her old haunt. Under this persuasion I moved +myself in bed and coughed a little, to make the intruder sensible of +my being in possession of the premises. She turned slowly round, but, +gracious Heaven! my lord, what a countenance did she display to me! +There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her +being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a +corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions +which had animated her while she lived. The body of some atrocious +criminal seemed to have been given up from the grave, and the soul +restored from the penal fire, in order to form for a space a union +with the ancient accomplice of its guilt. I started up in bed, and sat +upright, supporting myself on my palms, as I gazed on this horrible +spectre. The hag made, as it seemed, a single and swift stride to the +bed where I lay, and squatted herself down upon it, in precisely the +same attitude which I had assumed in the extremity of horror, advancing +her diabolical countenance within half a yard of mine, with a grin which +seemed to intimate the malice and the derision of an incarnate fiend.” + +Here General Browne stopped, and wiped from his brow the cold +perspiration with which the recollection of his horrible vision had +covered it. + +“My lord,” he said, “I am no coward, I have been in all the mortal +dangers incidental to my profession, and I may truly boast that no man +ever knew Richard Browne dishonour the sword he wears; but in these +horrible circumstances, under the eyes, and, as it seemed, almost in the +grasp of an incarnation of an evil spirit, all firmness forsook me, +all manhood melted from me like wax in the furnace, and I felt my hair +individually bristle. The current of my life-blood ceased to flow, and +I sank back in a swoon, as very a victim to panic terror as ever was +a village girl, or a child of ten years old. How long I lay in this +condition I cannot pretend to guess. + +“But I was roused by the castle clock striking one, so loud that it +seemed as if it were in the very room. It was some time before I dared +open my eyes, lest they should again encounter the horrible spectacle. +When, however, I summoned courage to look up, she was no longer visible. +My first idea was to pull my bell, wake the servants, and remove to a +garret or a hay-loft, to be ensured against a second visitation. Nay, I +will confess the truth that my resolution was altered, not by the shame +of exposing myself, but by the fear that, as the bell-cord hung by +the chimney, I might, in making my way to it, be again crossed by the +fiendish hag, who, I figured to myself, might be still lurking about +some corner of the apartment. + +“I will not pretend to describe what hot and cold fever-fits tormented +me for the rest of the night, through broken sleep, weary vigils, +and that dubious state which forms the neutral ground between them. A +hundred terrible objects appeared to haunt me; but there was the great +difference betwixt the vision which I have described, and those which +followed, that I knew the last to be deceptions of my own fancy and +over-excited nerves. + +“Day at last appeared, and I rose from my bed ill in health and +humiliated in mind. I was ashamed of myself as a man and a soldier, +and still more so at feeling my own extreme desire to escape from the +haunted apartment, which, however, conquered all other considerations; +so that, huddling on my clothes with the most careless haste, I made my +escape from your lordship’s mansion, to seek in the open air some relief +to my nervous system, shaken as it was by this horrible rencounter with +a visitant, for such I must believe her, from the other world. Your +lordship has now heard the cause of my discomposure, and of my sudden +desire to leave your hospitable castle. In other places I trust we may +often meet, but God protect me from ever spending a second night under +that roof!” + +Strange as the General’s tale was, he spoke with such a deep air of +conviction that it cut short all the usual commentaries which are made +on such stories. Lord Woodville never once asked him if he was sure he +did not dream of the apparition, or suggested any of the possibilities +by which it is fashionable to explain supernatural appearances as +wild vagaries of the fancy, or deceptions of the optic nerves, On the +contrary, he seemed deeply impressed with the truth and reality of +what he had heard; and, after a considerable pause regretted, with much +appearance of sincerity, that his early friend should in his house have +suffered so severely. + +“I am the more sorry for your pain, my dear Browne,” he continued, “that +it is the unhappy, though most unexpected, result of an experiment of my +own. You must know that, for my father and grandfather’s time, at least, +the apartment which was assigned to you last night had been shut on +account of reports that it was disturbed by supernatural sights and +noises. When I came, a few weeks since, into possession of the estate, +I thought the accommodation which the castle afforded for my friends was +not extensive enough to permit the inhabitants of the invisible world +to retain possession of a comfortable sleeping apartment. I therefore +caused the Tapestried Chamber, as we call it, to be opened, and, without +destroying its air of antiquity, I had such new articles of furniture +placed in it as became the modern times. Yet, as the opinion that the +room was haunted very strongly prevailed among the domestics, and was +also known in the neighbourhood and to many of my friends, I feared some +prejudice might be entertained by the first occupant of the Tapestried +Chamber, which might tend to revive the evil report which it had +laboured under, and so disappoint my purpose of rendering it a useful +part or the house. I must confess, my dear Browne, that your arrival +yesterday, agreeable to me for a thousand reasons besides, seemed the +most favourable opportunity of removing the unpleasant rumours which +attached to the room, since your courage was indubitable, and your mind +free of any preoccupation on the subject. I could not, therefore, have +chosen a more fitting subject for my experiment.” + +“Upon my life,” said General Browne, somewhat hastily, “I am infinitely +obliged to your lordship--very particularly indebted indeed. I am likely +to remember for some time the consequences of the experiment, as your +lordship is pleased to call it.” + +“Nay, now you are unjust, my dear friend,” said Lord Woodville. “You +have only to reflect for a single moment, in order to be convinced that +I could not augur the possibility of the pain to which you have been +so unhappily exposed. I was yesterday morning a complete sceptic on the +subject of supernatural appearances. Nay, I am sure that, had I told +you what was said about that room, those very reports would have induced +you, by your own choice, to select it for your accommodation. It was my +misfortune, perhaps my error, but really cannot be termed my fault, that +you have been afflicted so strangely.” + +“Strangely indeed!” said the General, resuming his good temper; “and I +acknowledge that I have no right to be offended with your lordship for +treating me like what I used to think myself--a man of some firmness +and courage. But I see my post horses are arrived, and I must not detain +your lordship from your amusement.” + +“Nay, my old friend,” said Lord Woodville, “since you cannot stay with +us another day--which, indeed, I can no longer urge--give me at least +half an hour more. You used to love pictures, and I have a gallery of +portraits, some of them by Vandyke, representing ancestry to whom this +property and castle formerly belonged. I think that several of them will +strike you as possessing merit.” + +General Browne accepted the invitation, though somewhat unwillingly. +It was evident he was not to breathe freely or at ease till he left +Woodville Castle far behind him. He could not refuse his friend’s +invitation, however; and the less so, that he was a little ashamed +of the peevishness which he had displayed towards his well-meaning +entertainer. + +The General, therefore, followed Lord Woodville through several rooms +into a long gallery hung with pictures, which the latter pointed out to +his guest, telling the names, and giving some account of the personages +whose portraits presented themselves in progression. General Browne was +but little interested in the details which these accounts conveyed to +him. They were, indeed, of the kind which are usually found in an old +family gallery. Here was a Cavalier who had ruined the estate in the +royal cause; there a fine lady who had reinstated it by contracting a +match with a wealthy Roundhead. There hung a gallant who had been in +danger for corresponding with the exiled Court at Saint Germain’s; here +one who had taken arms for William at the Revolution; and there a third +that had thrown his weight alternately into the scale of Whig and Tory. + +While lord Woodville was cramming these words into his guest’s ear, +“against the stomach of his sense,” they gained the middle of the +gallery, when he beheld General Browne suddenly start, and assume an +attitude of the utmost surprise, not unmixed with fear, as his eyes were +suddenly caught and riveted by a portrait of an old lady in a sacque, +the fashionable dress of the end of the seventeenth century. + +“There she is!” he exclaimed--“there she is, in form and features, +though Inferior in demoniac expression to the accursed hag who visited +me last night!” + +“If that be the case,” said the young nobleman, “there can remain no +longer any doubt of the horrible reality of your apparition. That is the +picture of a wretched ancestress of mine, of whose crimes a black and +fearful catalogue is recorded in a family history in my charter-chest. +The recital of them would be too horrible; it is enough to say, that in +yon fatal apartment incest and unnatural murder were committed. I will +restore it to the solitude to which the better judgment of those who +preceded me had consigned it; and never shall any one, so long as I can +prevent it, be exposed to a repetition of the supernatural horrors which +could shake such courage as yours.” + +Thus the friends, who had met with such glee, parted in a very different +mood--Lord Woodville to command the Tapestried Chamber to be unmantled, +and the door built up; and General Browne to seek in some less beautiful +country, and with some less dignified friend, forgetfulness of the +painful night which he had passed in Woodville Castle. + +END OF THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER. + + +***** + + + + +DEATH OF THE LAIRD’S JOCK + +by Sir Walter Scott. + + +[The manner in which this trifle was introduced at the time to Mr. F. +M. Reynolds, editor of The Keepsake of 1828, leaves no occasion for a +preface.] + +AUGUST 1831. + + +TO THE EDITOR OF THE KEEPSAKE. + +You have asked me, sir, to point out a subject for the pencil, and I +feel the difficulty of complying with your request, although I am not +certainly unaccustomed to literary composition, or a total stranger to +the stores of history and tradition, which afford the best copies for +the painter’s art. But although SICUT PICTURA POESIS is an ancient and +undisputed axiom--although poetry and painting both address themselves +to the same object of exciting the human imagination, by presenting to +it pleasing or sublime images of ideal scenes--yet the one conveying +itself through the ears to the understanding, and the other applying +itself only to the eyes, the subjects which are best suited to the bard +or tale-teller are often totally unfit for painting, where the artist +must present in a single glance all that his art has power to tell us. +The artist can neither recapitulate the past nor intimate the future. +The single NOW is all which he can present; and hence, unquestionably, +many subjects which delight us in poetry or in narrative, whether real +or fictitious, cannot with advantage be transferred to the canvas. + +Being in some degree aware of these difficulties, though doubtless +unacquainted both with their extent and the means by which they may be +modified or surmounted, I have, nevertheless, ventured to draw up the +following traditional narrative as a story in which, when the general +details are known, the interest is so much concentrated in one strong +moment of agonizing passion, that it can be understood and sympathized +with at a single glance. I therefore presume that it may be acceptable +as a hint to some one among the numerous artists who have of late +years distinguished themselves as rearing up and supporting the British +school. + +Enough has been said and sung about + + “The well-contested ground, + The warlike Border-land,” + +to render the habits of the tribes who inhabited it before the union of +England and Scotland familiar to most of your readers. The rougher and +sterner features of their character were softened by their attachment +to the fine arts, from which has arisen the saying that on the frontiers +every dale had its battle, and every river its song. A rude species of +chivalry was in constant use, and single combats were practised as the +amusement of the few intervals of truce which suspended the exercise of +war. The inveteracy of this custom may be inferred from the following +incident:-- + +Bernard Gilpin, the apostle of the north, the first who undertook to +preach the Protestant doctrines to the Border dalesmen, was surprised, +on entering one of their churches, to see a gauntlet or mail-glove +hanging above the altar. Upon inquiring; the meaning of a symbol so +indecorous being displayed in that sacred place, he was informed by the +clerk that the glove was that of a famous swordsman, who hung it there +as an emblem of a general challenge and gage of battle to any who should +dare to take the fatal token down. “Reach it to me,” said the reverend +churchman. The clerk and the sexton equally declined the perilous +office, and the good Bernard Gilpin was obliged to remove the glove with +his own hands, desiring those who were present to inform the champion +that he, and no other, had possessed himself of the gage of defiance. +But the champion was as much ashamed to face Bernard Gilpin as the +officials of the church had been to displace his pledge of combat. + +The date of the following story is about the latter years of Queen +Elizabeth’s reign; and the events took place in Liddesdale, a hilly and +pastoral district of Roxburghshire, which, on a part of its boundary, is +divided from England only by a small river. + +During the good old times of RUGGING AND RIVING--that is, tugging and +tearing--under which term the disorderly doings of the warlike age are +affectionately remembered, this valley was principally cultivated by the +sept or clan of the Armstrongs. The chief of this warlike race was +the Laird of Mangerton. At the period of which I speak, the estate of +Mangerton, with the power and dignity of chief, was possessed by John +Armstrong, a man of great size, strength, and courage. While his father +was alive, he was distinguished from others of his clan who bore the +same name, by the epithet of the LAIRD’S JOCK--that is to say, the +Laird’s son Jock, or Jack. This name he distinguished by so many bold +and desperate achievements, that he retained it even after his father’s +death, and is mentioned under it both in authentic records and in +tradition. Some of his feats are recorded in the minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border, and others are mentioned in contemporary chronicles. + +At the species of singular combat which we have described the Laird’s +Jock was unrivalled, and no champion of Cumberland, Westmoreland, or +Northumberland could endure the sway of the huge two-handed sword which +he wielded, and which few others could even lift. This “awful sword,” as +the common people term it, was as dear to him as Durindana or Fushberta +to their respective masters, and was nearly as formidable to his enemies +as those renowned falchions proved to the foes of Christendom. The +weapon had been bequeathed to him by a celebrated English outlaw named +Hobbie Noble, who, having committed some deed for which he was in danger +from justice, fled to Liddesdale, and became a follower, or rather a +brother-in-arms, to the renowned Laird’s Jock; till, venturing into +England with a small escort, a faithless guide, and with a light +single-handed sword instead of his ponderous brand, Hobbie Noble, +attacked by superior numbers, was made prisoner and executed. + +With this weapon, and by means of his own strength and address, the +Laird’s Jock maintained the reputation of the best swordsman on the +Border side, and defeated or slew many who ventured to dispute with him +the formidable title. + +But years pass on with the strong and the brave as with the feeble +and the timid. In process of time the Laird’s Jock grew incapable of +wielding his weapons, and finally of all active exertion, even of the +most ordinary kind. The disabled champion became at length totally +bedridden, and entirely dependent for his comfort on the pious duties of +an only daughter, his perpetual attendant and companion. + +Besides this dutiful child, the Laird’s Jock had an only son, upon +whom devolved the perilous task of leading the clan to battle, and +maintaining the warlike renown of his native country, which was now +disputed by the English upon many occasions. The young Armstrong was +active, brave, and strong, and brought home from dangerous adventures +many tokens of decided success. Still, the ancient chief conceived, +as it would seem, that his son was scarce yet entitled by age and +experience to be entrusted with the two-handed sword, by the use of +which he had himself been so dreadfully distinguished. + +At length an English champion, one of the name of Foster (if I rightly +recollect), had the audacity to send a challenge to the best swordsman +in Liddesdale; and young Armstrong, burning for chivalrous distinction, +accepted the challenge. + +The heart of the disabled old man swelled with joy when he heard that +the challenge was passed and accepted, and the meeting fixed at a +neutral spot, used as the place of rencontre upon such occasions, and +which he himself had distinguished by numerous victories. He exulted +so much in the conquest which he anticipated, that, to nerve his son to +still bolder exertions, he conferred upon him, as champion of his clan +and province, the celebrated weapon which he had hitherto retained in +his own custody. + +This was not all. When the day of combat arrived, the Laird’s Jock, in +spite of his daughter’s affectionate remonstrances, determined, though +he had not left his bed for two years, to be a personal witness of the +duel. His will was still a law to his people, who bore him on their +shoulders, wrapped in plaids and blankets, to the spot where the combat +was to take place, and seated him on a fragment of rock, which is still +called the Laird’s Jock’s stone. There he remained with eyes fixed on +the lists or barrier, within which the champions were about to meet. +His daughter, having done all she could for his accommodation, stood +motionless beside him, divided between anxiety for his health, and for +the event of the combat to her beloved brother. Ere yet the fight began, +the old men gazed on their chief, now seen for the first time after +several years, and sadly compared his altered features and wasted +frame with the paragon of strength and manly beauty which they once +remembered. The young men gazed on his large form and powerful make as +upon some antediluvian giant who had survived the destruction of the +Flood. + +But the sound of the trumpets on both sides recalled the attention +of every one to the lists, surrounded as they were by numbers of both +nations eager to witness the event of the day. The combatants met in the +lists. It is needless to describe the struggle: the Scottish champion +fell. Foster, placing his foot on his antagonist, seized on the +redoubted sword, so precious in the eyes of its aged owner, and +brandished it over his head as a trophy of his conquest. The English +shouted in triumph. But the despairing cry of the aged champion, who saw +his country dishonoured, and his sword, long the terror of their +race, in the possession of an Englishman, was heard high above the +acclamations of victory. He seemed for an instant animated by all his +wonted power; for he started from the rock on which he sat, and while +the garments with which he had been invested fell from his wasted frame, +and showed the ruins of his strength, he tossed his arms wildly to +heaven, and uttered a cry of indignation, horror, and despair, which, +tradition says, was heard to a preternatural distance, and resembled the +cry of a dying lion more than a human sound. + +His friends received him in their arms as he sank utterly exhausted by +the effort, and bore him back to his castle in mute sorrow; while his +daughter at once wept for her brother, and endeavoured to mitigate and +soothe the despair of her father. But this was impossible; the old man’s +only tie to life was rent rudely asunder, and his heart had broken with +it. The death of his son had no part in his sorrow. If he thought of +him at all, it was as the degenerate boy through whom the honour of his +country and clan had been lost; and he died in the course of three +days, never even mentioning his name, but pouring out unintermitted +lamentations for the loss of his noble sword. + +I conceive that the moment when the disabled chief was roused into a +last exertion by the agony of the moment is favourable to the object of +a painter. He might obtain the full advantage of contrasting the form +of the rugged old man, in the extremity of furious despair, with the +softness and beauty of the female form. The fatal field might be thrown +into perspective, so as to give full effect to these two principal +figures, and with the single explanation that the piece represented a +soldier beholding his son slain, and the honour of his country lost, the +picture would be sufficiently intelligible at the first glance. If it +was thought necessary to show more clearly the nature of the conflict, +it might be indicated by the pennon of Saint George being displayed at +one end of the lists, and that of Saint Andrew at the other. + +I remain, sir, + +Your obedient servant, + +THE AUTHOR OF WAVERLEY. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tapestried Chamber, and Death of +the Laird’s Jock, by Sir Walter Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TAPESTRIED CHAMBER *** + +***** This file should be named 1668-0.txt or 1668-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1668/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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