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diff --git a/old/tpsch10.txt b/old/tpsch10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dbb486 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tpsch10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1169 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Tapestried Chamber, by Scott* +and +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Death of the Laird's Jock by Scott + +#7 and #8 in our series by Walter Scott + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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 Etext of The Tapestried Chamber, by Scott* +and +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Death of the Laird's Jock by Scott + diff --git a/old/tpsch10.zip b/old/tpsch10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dc0fbc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tpsch10.zip |